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Poison, Poison Everywhere

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Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#191

Post by marcosdumay »

kragen wrote: post #63
marcosdumay wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It allowed people to use engines with better gas mileage, what is a different thing. Just adding the lead addictive to gasoline reduced your gas mileage. But it made better engines work.

It surely reduced it by a tiny amount compared to just straight octane, but ethanol reduced it by something like 10%. So using TEL instead of ethanol gave you about 10% higher gas mileage.

If you are comparing it to pure ethanol, yeah, that's the ballpark.

Leaded gas compared to ethanol mixed gas with equivalent octane numbers should have something around 1% or 2% difference.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#192

Post by lr4444lr »

kgwxd wrote: post #149
lr4444lr wrote: post #3

This is precisely why I happily pay for an annual subscription to ConsumerLab[0]. It's largely just for supplements and a few functional foods, but with a tiny staff they are doing more work to help the public on the unregulated medicine market than the entire FDA, IMHO. [0] https://www.consumerlab.com/

I don't see anything new here. How is it not just another "quality" seal that can be bought through some under-the-table deal?

You should read their methodology. For one, they are entirely subscriber supported. Secondly, they send out people to buy the product at random stores off the shelf, not solicit manufacturers to send possibly biased batches. Thirdly, manufacturers often write in to them when they receive bad reviews, urging a retest. (The back and forth of those letters gets published.)

Sure, it could all be a hoax. But we don't have too many alternatives.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#193

Post by ch4s3 »

IAmBroom wrote: post #182
ch4s3 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's depressing how few studies actually show benefit over placebo Look at it another way, isn’t it good to know you probably don’t need suplements.

Also, not surprising. The odds of snake oil actually curing anything are likely to hover just above zero (while bad side effects hover much higher). If it isn't proven with multiple, independent studies, it is snake oil.

Even then, if the effect size is tiny it's little better. Almost every time I see some supplement that's supported by good studies the effect is always minuscule.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#194

Post by xnx »

OgsyedIE wrote: post #28

Equally as large and interesting is the industry of targeting and subverting consumer watchdog groups. Wirecutter's infiltration and takeover is a fascinating example.

> Wirecutter's infiltration and takeover

Where can I find details on this?

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#195

Post by antonchekhov »

A former coworker who was a serious gun enthusiast experienced dangerously high levels of lead in his bloodstream - he had chronic headaches and other bodily pains. He visited shooting ranges several times per week, and also packed (assembled? made? I'm not sure the nomenclature) his own bullets. His doctors believe he aspirated atomized lead particulate doing so much shooting practice, and/or bullet manufacture. He underwent chelation therapy (a protocol involving taking certain medications that bind to heavy metals in the blood, and the patient excretes it out via urination) to reduce lead levels.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#196

Post by noduerme »

IAmBroom wrote: post #177
noduerme wrote: post #46

Amazon is so completely irresponsible for their marketplace that recently, shopping for a glass oral thermometer (because the digital ones suck) I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. These were still for sale. I feel like even 10 years ago, online marketplaces would have taken measures to prevent stuff like t…

> I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. I played with mercury a bit when I was a kid, as did every kid who could - it was COOL! From that I learned: mercury is almost omniphobic. Oil avoids mixing with water. Mercury avoids mixing with, holding on to, and generally touching anything . So how could a blob of m…

In the photo I saw, the tip was metal and had a blob resembling an amalgam on it so it may not have been pure liquid mercury there.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#197

Post by coppsilgold »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #92
coppsilgold wrote: post #89

Bloodletting is a solution. Donate blood as frequently as they allow you. Plasma donation works even better (higher frequency) if you trust the machines and the process. Sadly, it's not a complete solution as some harmful substances bio-accumulate in other tissues. A benefit may be had regardless as some substances leach back into the blood if the concentration gradient is sufficient.

Source?

Aside from the fact that dilution of blood is obviously dilution of any and all substances in the blood?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35394514/

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#198

Post by coppsilgold »

missingdays wrote: post #125
coppsilgold wrote: post #89

Bloodletting is a solution. Donate blood as frequently as they allow you. Plasma donation works even better (higher frequency) if you trust the machines and the process. Sadly, it's not a complete solution as some harmful substances bio-accumulate in other tissues. A benefit may be had regardless as some substances leach back into the blood if the concentration gradient is sufficient.

What makes you think it's a solution? If the logic is "get rid of your bad blood, let your body make some good blood instead", why would the body make the good blood if all we consume is full of plastic anyways?

Even by that logic you should still dilute your blood, because if you don't you will accumulate plastic faster...

You will see a benefit for any and all harmful substances for which blood tests exist. Because the blood test implies blood levels being a proxy for the substance so it either accumulates there or leaches into it.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#199

Post by fuzzfactor »

foofoo12 wrote: post #13

> This was lead poisoning. ... Nobody knew. Good article. But just to note, lead was already a known poison at the time when it was added to gasoline. Significant concerns were raised. Production was even halted for a while in the US due to health incidents.

The article doesn't mention it, but at some point the yellow paint on the pencils that young students often chew on would have likely been pigment having high lead content.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#200

Post by LorenPechtel »

IAmBroom wrote: post #177
noduerme wrote: post #46

Amazon is so completely irresponsible for their marketplace that recently, shopping for a glass oral thermometer (because the digital ones suck) I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. These were still for sale. I feel like even 10 years ago, online marketplaces would have taken measures to prevent stuff like t…

> I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. I played with mercury a bit when I was a kid, as did every kid who could - it was COOL! From that I learned: mercury is almost omniphobic. Oil avoids mixing with water. Mercury avoids mixing with, holding on to, and generally touching anything . So how could a blob of m…

It's inside the tip.

Bulb of mercury. Fine tube extending up from it. Thermal expansion of the bulb produces a big effect on how far up the tube it goes.

They work. They're safe unless you break them. But they can break.

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