Let's discuss bad ingredients

[sunterp]

Apr 24, 2014 11:27:57 GMT -5 gpw said:

Apr 24, 2014 11:26:40 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

You get me.

uh oh, pixy0stix, look what mesh made me do....

My kids say thank you for posting this video, again.

[Velar Fricative]

I'm guessing shit like Glade or Lysol will also give me cancer too, yes? Our bathroom doesn't have a window (only a fan) and I have a DH who unfortunately does not shit roses.

[Deleted]

I originally bought a bunch of these glass bottles to make my pantry pretty, planning to re-bottle oils, vinegars, etc and slap lovely chalkboard labels on them. Then I realized I don't actually care and tried drinking water out of them instead.

I'm ruined for ever drinking out of plastic again. It tastes so much cleaner to me out of glass.

[marshmallowhands]

I work with GMOs and I will say they are very heavilly regulated and satety tested.

[SallyJ]

I try not to stress about most of this because I'm thinking that the air I breathe a gajillion times in my life is way more hazardous. That being said we try to:

Buy organic and hormone free food and cook from scratch
Skip anything with red dye 40 due to DD sensitivity
Use hair and body products that are handmade and all natural, with the exception of makeup
Use the natural cleaners with exception of laundry soap

Things I want to be better at: reducing use of plastic

[summer]

Apr 24, 2014 13:38:58 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

stories like this freak me out with giving kids metal bottles, please teach your kids not to stick their tongues in the bottle or buy one that has a top to drink out of.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/jayla-small-tongue-stuck-in-water-bottle_n_1894670.html

microwaving plastic resources seem to tell me that as long at the plastic is approved for microwave use then it is ok to microwave. I am having trouble finding non-nutter sources that tell me not to microwave plastic, but I am also having trouble finding recent research, it all seems to be 2007-2008ish.

www.cancer.org/aboutus/howwehelpyou/microwaving-plastic (American Cancer Society)

www.plasticsinfo.org/Functional-Nav/FAQs/Plastic-in-Microwave (America's Plastics Makers) (industry link)

www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2004/halden-plastics.html (John Hopkins)

www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/appliances-and-thermometers/cooking-safely-in-the-microwave/cooking-safely-in-the-microwave-oven (USDA)

askkaren.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1305/~/can-chemicals-from-packaging-migrate-into-food%3F (USDA)

www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm297954.htm (FDA)

www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/26/283030949/government-studies-suggest-bpa-exposure-from-food-isn-t-risky

questionable study:
www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html (newspaper tested plastics and was overseen by Frederick vom Saal - who I am seeing mixed things about online, none really great sources, especially as it relates to plastics) endocrinedisruptors.missouri.edu/vomsaal/vomsaalres.html

I'm not understanding how you get your tongue stuck in there.

[Velar Fricative]

Apr 25, 2014 6:40:39 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Apr 24, 2014 14:24:30 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I'm guessing shit like Glade or Lysol will also give me cancer too, yes? Our bathroom doesn't have a window (only a fan) and I have a DH who unfortunately does not shit roses.

Artificial fragrance = pthalates, I believe?

Sorry. :-P

Dammit! Back to candles. Although I'm sure my favorite Yankee Candle scents probably poison us too.

[winecat]

Apr 25, 2014 6:59:38 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Apr 25, 2014 6:40:39 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Artificial fragrance = pthalates, I believe?

Sorry. :-P

Dammit! Back to candles. Although I'm sure my favorite Yankee Candle scents probably poison us too.

Lighting a match helps.  Though I have no idea if that's any better or not.  

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2014 6:59:38 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Apr 25, 2014 6:40:39 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Artificial fragrance = pthalates, I believe?

Sorry. :-P

Dammit! Back to candles. Although I'm sure my favorite Yankee Candle scents probably poison us too.

Unfortunately burning candles does hurt your indoor air quality (by adding particulates to the air) butI don't know if it is worse for health than air fresheners.

[aurora]

Apr 24, 2014 22:17:11 GMT -5 marshmallowhands said:

I work with GMOs and I will say they are very heavilly regulated and satety tested.

Sources? Especially for studies not funded by Monsanto?

To be fair, though, my concern about GMOs is more due to the concern about what happens when we modify living beings that we can't control and the long-term implications on biodiversity than near-term human health.

[UMaineTeach]

Apr 25, 2014 4:20:13 GMT -5 summer said:

Apr 24, 2014 13:38:58 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

stories like this freak me out with giving kids metal bottles, please teach your kids not to stick their tongues in the bottle or buy one that has a top to drink out of.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/jayla-small-tongue-stuck-in-water-bottle_n_1894670.html

I'm not understanding how you get your tongue stuck in there.

I couldn't find the first story I had heard about it, but in that one they said the girl stuck her tongue all the way in to catch the last drips of water and suction was created so she couldn't pull it off.

It's rare, for sure - but it would be better to get a metal one with a drinking top or straw and if you can't, then tell your kids to only sip out of it and not drink with their whole mouth around the top.

www.today.com/news/metal-water-bottles-can-endanger-kids-1B7904393

[marshmallowhands]

Apr 25, 2014 8:39:53 GMT -5 aurora said:

Apr 24, 2014 22:17:11 GMT -5 marshmallowhands said:

I work with GMOs and I will say they are very heavilly regulated and satety tested.

Sources? Especially for studies not funded by Monsanto?

To be fair, though, my concern about GMOs is more due to the concern about what happens when we modify living beings that we can't control and the long-term implications on biodiversity than near-term human health.

Not sure what you are looking for re: sources. I'm speaking about my experience in the job. I work for a biotech company (not Monsanto) and we are 100% funded by grants (USDA, NIH, DOD).

There are very strict rules about labeling our material, transporting/storing our material, not to mention growing it. We need shipping permits (where the seed had to be in a thick bag, in a plastic bag, in a metal container, in a box). We need growing permits where we detail out everything from packaging the seed in our lab, transporting it to the field, labeling it and tracking it in the field, preventing "escapes." We can't grow with 1 mile of any other crop of our plant type. A rep from the USDA comes and watches us in the field at least 3 times during our growing season. There are tons of rules in place.

Then, to have a product go to market there is a while process for testing our product for safety and efficacy. If it's a potential food product (one of ours is), you have to get FDA approval which is a long process to the tune of millions of dollars. I wouldn't say GMO products are handled lightly. (ETA: not that you did)

[marshmallowhands]

Apr 25, 2014 8:39:53 GMT -5 aurora said:

Apr 24, 2014 22:17:11 GMT -5 marshmallowhands said:

I work with GMOs and I will say they are very heavilly regulated and satety tested.

Sources? Especially for studies not funded by Monsanto?

To be fair, though, my concern about GMOs is more due to the concern about what happens when we modify living beings that we can't control and the long-term implications on biodiversity than near-term human health.

Just to speak to your second paragraph, I agree with your point. In our lab, we use a GMO system as a way to over-produce a specific protein of interest. Then, we typically purify the protein out and use it. So we aren't trying to make the crop "different" (e.g taste better, grow better, etc). So I guess my experience is a little off point with where you are coming from.

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2014 12:15:56 GMT -5 marshmallowhands said:

Apr 25, 2014 8:39:53 GMT -5 aurora said:

Sources? Especially for studies not funded by Monsanto?

To be fair, though, my concern about GMOs is more due to the concern about what happens when we modify living beings that we can't control and the long-term implications on biodiversity than near-term human health.

Not sure what you are looking for re: sources. I'm speaking about my experience in the job. I work for a biotech company (not Monsanto) and we are 100% funded by grants (USDA, NIH, DOD).

There are very strict rules about labeling our material, transporting/storing our material, not to mention growing it. We need shipping permits (where the seed had to be in a thick bag, in a plastic bag, in a metal container, in a box). We need growing permits where we detail out everything from packaging the seed in our lab, transporting it to the field, labeling it and tracking it in the field, preventing "escapes." We can't grow with 1 mile of any other crop of our plant type. A rep from the USDA comes and watches us in the field at least 3 times during our growing season. There are tons of rules in place.

Then, to have a product go to market there is a while process for testing our product for safety and efficacy. If it's a potential food product (one of ours is), you have to get FDA approval which is a long process to the tune of millions of dollars. I wouldn't say GMO products are handled lightly. (ETA: not that you did)

My "sources" question was mostly related to the safety of GMO's because of all of the accusations that Monsanto has been the key player funding research but only allowing pro-Monsanto results to be published, and in fact destroying careers of researchers who have tried to publish results opposing their interests.  However, I'm not in this field, so I'm actually genuinely curious about scientific research supporting the safety of GMOs for food in research that is funded by less biased sources.  I think my post may have come across as more antagonistic than I meant, though.

I absolutely understand that not all GMOs are equal in so many different ways, though, so I'm probably asking for the moon since I'm not sure how to be more specific (I'm sure there are thousands of different publications on different elements of this question).