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Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

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Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#251

Widely used chemical *(that was generally phased out in the 70s) linked to Parkinson's. Still important, but you don't need to start searching product labels in 2023 for it.

It's used in dry cleaning in the USA, and their suppliers will deliver it to you by the gallon [0]. MSDS of course [1]. If you're in Australia and go to the dentist, there's this as well [2] although surely that container with its death's head and POISON label are kept well out of sight. Of course there's the lab supply chain, but that's usually more expensive. It's really easy and legal to get if you want it. I've k…

Yeah, automotive brake cleaner comes to mind.

Proven to cause neurological damage, horrifically acutely toxic and chronically toxic, causes colorblindness of all things...

Oh yeah, when it thermally decomposes into phosgene, a WWI-era chemical weapon. Spray brake cleaner on hot brakes and you're pretty much instantly dead.

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#252
post #181

Widely used chemical *(that was generally phased out in the 70s) linked to Parkinson's. Still important, but you don't need to start searching product labels in 2023 for it.

> But in the 20th century, TCE was used for many purposes, including making decaffeinated coffee, dry cleaning, carpet cleaning, and as an inhaled surgical anesthetic for children and women in labor. The things we did with (now known) hazardous chemicals in the 20th century are really disturbing. My question is are there now enough safeguards in place that we're unlikely to be repeating the same mistakes? My guess is…

> are there now enough safeguards in place that we're unlikely to be repeating the same mistakes?

I doubt it. One obvious example is plasticizers: there was a big ruckus about BPA a few years ago, so manufacturers phased it out and switched to different plasticizers, many of which are incredibly chemically similar to BPA. It's seems very plausible that they have similar negative health effects, but there's no regulation (or even disclosure, in most cases) of which plasticizers are being used.

https://www.science.org/content/article/bpa-substitutes-may-...

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#253
Michael J Fox in his wikipedia said

> I used to go fishing in a river near paper mills and eat the salmon I caught; I've been to a lot of farms; I smoked a lot of pot in high school when the government was poisoning the crops. But you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out

There's TCE in paper mill wastewater...

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This is why most dry cleaners won't accept bedding. It's considered too high-contact. (If they do accept it, they wash it with something other than TCE) Source: a college friend of mine, years ago, who worked as a dry cleaner. After talking to her, I've never used one since.

> After talking to her, I've never used one since. What do we do about our formal wear then?

go casual? (not entirely /s)

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#255
Isn't this the same stuff found in Mountain View by Google? Ah yah it is. https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fus...

So is this chemical very stable and folks just dumped it into pits or something and it seeped into the groundwater? How did it get deep into the earth like that without being degraded or reacting with other stuff down there etc?

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This is why most dry cleaners won't accept bedding. It's considered too high-contact. (If they do accept it, they wash it with something other than TCE) Source: a college friend of mine, years ago, who worked as a dry cleaner. After talking to her, I've never used one since.

> After talking to her, I've never used one since. What do we do about our formal wear then?

Hand wash gently?

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#257
post #41

Widely used chemical *(that was generally phased out in the 70s) linked to Parkinson's. Still important, but you don't need to start searching product labels in 2023 for it.

Some of the most populated zones of the Bay Area are built on top of superfund sites, which have high concentration of TCE underground. https://www.epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment/superfund-sites-...

There are small TCE plumes virtually everywhere in urbanized California. Every dry cleaner in history was just dumping waste TCE and PCE into holes in the ground. If you click around on this map, half of these sites are TCE/PCE (the other half are usually gas, diesel, and MTBE).

https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/map/?global_id=SL60019...

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#258
post #83

"After adjusting for differences in age, sex, race, and ethnicity, the scientists found veterans from Camp Lejeune had a 70% higher rate of Parkinson’s disease than the Camp Pendleton group." Why didn't they adjust for socioeconomic status? Wealthier people tend to be able to afford better medical care, live in healthier environments, eat healthier foods, etc. These could all be confounding factors, and a study like…

The problem with this study is even more profound. They only looked at two military bases. One with high TCE, and one with low TCE. ...but there could be thousands of causal differences between two locations. They should have looked at dozens of military bases across the country/world.

Why?

This wasn’t a fishing expedition where they took two cohorts of marines and looked down a list of 20 diseases to find one with p> Occupational exposure to the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) was previously associated with a 6-fold increased risk of Parkinson disease (PD) in a small study of twin pairs discordant for PD.1 Animal studies provide biological plausibility for this association by recapitulating key pathologic characteristics of PD

Given this - a previous finding, a plausible mechanism - they went and found two good existing cohorts who had different exposure to the compound of interest and for whom they could access medical records.

That is good study design. Which is probably why it got published.

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very curious about SWP. How does it taste compared to good light roasted single origins?

Based on some light reading just now: - SWP is a means of treating green coffee beans pre-roast. They can be roasted any which way afterwards. - Any type of bean can be treated this way. - The process is pretty specific in targeting just caffeine. In removing caffeine though, the total dissolved solubles in the end coffee will be lower for the same amount of beans. Probably a lessor body unless you use more. Interest…

I roast my own coffee beans. I usually get decaf SWP beans from Sweet Marias. https://www.sweetmarias.com/green-coffee/decaf.html The decaf SWP beans start out a different color of green bordering on tan compared to the light green of regular "green" coffee beans. Its not just the starting color, they roast differently too. Coffee beans crack during roasting - there is a first crack and then if you want it dark there is a second crack. The sound is usually pronounced. With the SWP beans the crack sound is more of a poof. Apparently SWP changes the structure of the beans, possibly introducing cracks or holes. The roasted beans seem drier and duller brown in color, less mahogany, less shiny. Its hard to know what the flavor impact of SWP was b/c I haven't tried the same beans before they were made decaf. It could just be my own prejudice or lack of skill in roasting but I would say on average the decaf coffee turns out 5-10% worse in quality.

Re: Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease

#260
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no longer uncommon to (carbon) filter drinking water at the tap or in your fridge, which then makes a hot shower likely a major avenue into your body by way of your lungs unless you filter water for the whole house plumbing system.

These developments are not pulling local groundwater.

Doesn't matter - it's in the air, too. Read the article.
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