Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 886 posts

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#291

Post by everdrive »

bluGill wrote: post #288
ahoka wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in developed countries like the US a lot of people burn fossil fuels for indoor cooking, even when they could choose a better alternative.

What better option? resistance electric is clearly worse in other ways. I've heard induction is good but it is an expensive luxury option and not common even in that niche. i've heard it is reasonable priced in other countries but not the us.

It's a tale as old as time: "I don't want to poison myself, but I also cannot bear a minor inconvenience." This is honestly one of the main reasons I believe that environmentalism will never meaningfully succeed.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#292

Post by whoitwas »

After I learned about the harmful effects of Teflon, I became much more cautious about consumption. It's nearly impossible to avoid the toxins when eating out because wax has been replaced with synthetics that leach into food from packaging.

Just use metal wood or glass. One thing I'm not aware of is if Pyrex or the other tempered glasses are safe or if they also contain plastic. That would be good to learn.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#293

Post by infecto »

Aachen wrote: post #284
pcthrowaway wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your coffee maker is exposed to at most 100 degrees C. Spatulas are exposed to temperatures over 200 C. Instinctively, I'm much more worried about the latter, though I admittedly don't know anything about the science behind what temperatures flame retardants or other undesirable contaminants might leach out of the plastic.

Might not matter: The article also speaks of a black necklace for children that was found to be 3% flame retardant chemicals by weight, saying > Those flame retardants migrate into toddlers’ saliva and into the dust in our homes Perhaps it's fine if you don't lick your coffee machine, or perhaps not. I guess being less worried makes sense but I'm not sure that we need not be worried about boiling our drinks in fire r…

Ugh you reminded me how much I hate flame retardants and the horrible laws we have in America that have us spray it everywhere.

I was just recently looking at bicycle seats for small kids and the one I found interesting happened to recently have a recall (Thule) as they grossly over applied the flame retardant to a point where it was immediately toxic. I am guessing it was in the foam pieces but such a depressing idea that we need to make outdoor bicycle seats flame retardant.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#294

Post by namibj »

bluGill wrote: post #288
ahoka wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in developed countries like the US a lot of people burn fossil fuels for indoor cooking, even when they could choose a better alternative.

What better option? resistance electric is clearly worse in other ways. I've heard induction is good but it is an expensive luxury option and not common even in that niche. i've heard it is reasonable priced in other countries but not the us.

You can get an induction hob for 50 bucks at IKEA.

So spending more than a 200 $ premium over a resistance stove with 4 hobs means you're being ripped off or spending on luxury.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#295

Post by galangalalgol »

echoangle wrote: post #191
euroderf wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This entire discussion points me towards a conclusion that metal-on-metal is the conservative way to go. So what is the problem with this as a solution ? Do we have to worry about microbits of metal disrupting physiology ?

The problem with metal is that it isn’t nonstick, so stuff sticks to it.

I thought we had found that all non stick pans were toxic? They said at first just to avoid teflon, but then the replacements were found bad too, or even worse. Are there actually safe ones now?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#296

Post by Moru »

Glawen wrote: post #144
Saline9515 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very common in Europe, I have several at home. If you properly wash them, there is no bacterial danger either.

Some people even carve them from lumber. If you are into DIY and you have no Christmas gift ideas :)

It's a common thing in woodworking class at school. We have a spoon, butter knife and a cutting board made by our daughter. We also have a bunch of other wooden kitchen utencils since half the family works with wood on their free time... :-)

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#297

Post by ethagnawl »

Aachen wrote: post #286
ethagnawl wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's admittedly been a while since I've looked but there don't seem to be any (automated) drip makers whose use doesn't result in plastic coming into contact with hot water. I'm well aware of and own many of the more manual options that don't have this issue. However, the automatic feature is killer (heh) and this seems like an obvious miss by manufacturers.

The article does speak of black specifically, not just any plastic. Even if there aren't any that don't put the hot liquid in contact with plastic, it might be worth looking at the color (is my understanding from the article)

Yeah, sorry, that was implied. I would assume that's what they all use. Based on my recent personal experience, even the higher end options like Moccamaster and OXO use black plastic.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#298

Post by burnt-resistor »

whoitwas wrote: post #292

After I learned about the harmful effects of Teflon, I became much more cautious about consumption. It's nearly impossible to avoid the toxins when eating out because wax has been replaced with synthetics that leach into food from packaging. Just use metal wood or glass. One thing I'm not aware of is if Pyrex or the other tempered glasses are safe or if they also contain plastic. That would be good to learn.

Modern Pyrex is ordinary glass, mostly, and sometimes strengthened glass.

Old Pyrex was borosilicate glass.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#299

Post by andruby »

bluGill wrote: post #288
ahoka wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in developed countries like the US a lot of people burn fossil fuels for indoor cooking, even when they could choose a better alternative.

What better option? resistance electric is clearly worse in other ways. I've heard induction is good but it is an expensive luxury option and not common even in that niche. i've heard it is reasonable priced in other countries but not the us.

Is $59 for a single hub, or $849 for a full cooktop really that much of an "expensive luxury"? These things last for decades and cost less than most mobile phones.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/induction-cooktops-20813/

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#300

Post by methyl »

whoitwas wrote: post #292

After I learned about the harmful effects of Teflon, I became much more cautious about consumption. It's nearly impossible to avoid the toxins when eating out because wax has been replaced with synthetics that leach into food from packaging. Just use metal wood or glass. One thing I'm not aware of is if Pyrex or the other tempered glasses are safe or if they also contain plastic. That would be good to learn.

From what I know, Teflon is neutral as long as you don't overheat it and breathe in the gas. Can you point some sources stating otherwise?
Post reply on HN