If you don’t have academic credentials to log in (and I suspect you don’t), LPT you can email or tweet the study’s authors and they’ll happily send you access for free.
e: a key takeaway: ‘Furthermore, an in vitro study conducted to assess the cell viability showed that the extracted microplastics and nanoplastics released from the plastic container can cause the death of 76.70 and 77.18% of human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) at 1000 μg/mL concentration after exposure of 48 and 72 h, respectively.’
Just to add more emphasis, they'll happily send it because they often just as (if not significantly more) pissed at the systems in place to keep academic papers out of public circulation so corporations can pocket the money.
I hate Wired as much as the next Zippie, but they’re just passing on the info here. And what plastics are microwave safe?
Boland disagrees: “I don’t believe that there are microwave-safe plastics.” Trasand and Enck agree that while independent studies should continue testing how much plastic is being released from food packaging, there is already enough evidence to show that “microwave-safe plastic” isn’t really safe. “I think the FDA needs to tell companies that they can no longer say any plastic is microwavable,” says Enck.
That’s literally NOT what it’s saying? They literally are saying, verbatim, that they don’t think ANY plastic we know of is microwave safe. Are you dumb or intentionally trying to mislead people?
It boils down to “don’t microwave plastics that aren’t microwave safe” What a fucking revelation
The main plastic the article calls into question is polypropylene. I’ve got bad news for you. Its used frequently in microwavable food products and sold as “microwave safe”. Polypropylene is recycle symbol #5.
Here’s a perfect example. That cup of rice is #5 plastic, polypropylene. You can see the package says right on it “Microwave for one minute”. This isn’t the only product I’ve seen with a polypropylene container. Here’s another one for BBQ pulled porkyou can even see on the package itself in the bottom right hand corner at the recycling symbol it says its polypropylene. And if you look at the preparation instructions it gives microwave directions.
I can’t speak to the science in the article, but it certainly is talking about a plastic that consumers are regularly told is safe to microwave.
Isn’t all radiation– from colours we can see all the way to microwave and nuclear – just the frequency of wavelengths? Like radio is light waves? So microwaves being a longer wavelength, when it passes through different materials (say, plastics) it can be sped up* and distorted, bringing it into the spectrum of UV light?
I don’t know, I’m not a physicist, but that would be my guess. I’d love for someone with knowledge to educate me here.
The problem here is that in order to change a microwave to UV, you need to add energy to it. Generally, diffraction and distortion of light waves don’t change what part of the spectrum they’re on - that’s why water doesn’t change the color of light passing through it. The wavelength changes, but critically, the frequency doesn’t, and frequency is really what defines the energy of a given photon, which in turn defines the part of the spectrum it’s on. So if the microwave is turning into UV somehow, that means it has to be stealing energy from the container or food, which would make the food colder.
I’d expect the only UV rays that would be emitted within a properly functioning microwave would be from the appliance light bulb inside of it if it’s still an incandescent design or from the food/container itself if it gets sufficiently hot. I’m not sure of any mechanism in the magnetron that would make UV in any substantial amounts.
All Elon has to do is… nothing. He doesn’t have to come up with ‘hilarious’ tweets, he doesn’t have to make an everything app, he doesn’t need to run any of his companies. He could retire right now and just do whatever he felt like in his private life.
But he’s such a needy little attention whore that he won’t do that.
If he does not want to be in charge of a non-profitable company, why bring the responsibility upon himself? Oh yes, because Tesla is involved in scandals and any investment is better than that.
You’re saying all that as if he couldn’t have done the very same thing like 25 years ago back in the 90s. Technically, he never had to become an “entrepreneur” in the first place… daddy’s apartheid emerald mine gave him a cushy little trust fund to live off for the rest of his life without anyone ever knowing anything about him. But sadly, he’s a spoiled little bitch who throws a tantrum when the media spotlight is off him for longer than 5 minutes.
They definitely wouldn’t. But if push came to a shove, I wonder if they’d really be able to stop them? I’m not really clear on the finer legal points. But I know that for the American Civil War, the south all left the federal government (which presumably would have made it easier to pass any bills regarding the south) and they also basically forced armed conflict (both by attacking first and by seizing federal bases).
I’m not sure if a single state leaving would have the same effect, especially with how divided American politicians are. I don’t fully understand if anything actually needs to be voted on (I do know that the American Civil War didn’t formally declare war), but if anything had to be, it’s hard to picture even a single GOPer doing anything (nor enough Democrats to pass anything – never mind that in the Senate, the fillibuster means that if the GOP refuses to vote, that’s the end of things).
So it’s a pretty big worry, in my mind. With all the shit states like Florida have done, I wouldn’t put it past them to try and secede. And no matter what, there’s no way that would end well. Either things will get a lot worse for any Floridans that aren’t cis, straight, and white, or there’ll be a war that costs a lot of lives. It’s a lose-lose.
There is no way in hell a state would be allowed to secede as long as the federal government stands. Even ignoring the economic and geopolitical consequences, that precedent cannot be allowed to be set if the US is to remain a functioning nation.
You’re assuming they’ll do it alone and not as part of a coalition that controls large swaths of the American interior. A federation doesn’t mean shit if half the parties involved walk out.
The U.S. won’t allow Florida to secede. I think it’s by design. As in, no State is allowed to leave the United States, and if Florida fucks around, they will find out.
It was undercover detectives that “caught” him and they didn’t approach him until he tried to leave. They also arrested 3 other people.
Who ever volunteered to watch these guys cum in a porn theater just to handcuff their slimy wrists… I’m no comedian, but that entire situation is so insane I feel I could do at least 10 minutes on it.
He also had vintage photos that could be (and were by the police) considered child pornography. That’s probably more important than the porno theater incident.
last time I was on a delta flight they unbelievably had those thick, heavy, foodservice style coffee cups. in a perfect world this wouldn’t have happened, but in a just-slightly-better-than-ours world, this dumb fuck spent most of those 9 hours doctoring a concussion.
I got covid a year ago. I’ve been having trouble recalling information and will now stumble over my words all the time. That didn’t happen before I got covid. :(
Me too, but I attribute it to my excessive cannabis intake. Still happens a lot more now though. Also “hitting the wall” happens to me regularly, and that’s very new. I’m an outdoorsman, I used to be active morning to night, now I’m lucky if I make to afternoon.
while i am a bit sceptic of the value of this article, no i dont. I have never in my life put plastic in the microwave and never in my life did i think that this would be a good idea. Not because of conviction or anything but because i developed a fight and flight reaction towards heating plastic.
There are tons of foods packaged in plastic that are (according to the directions) meant to be microwaved, never mind people heating up leftovers in takeout containers or whatever. It’s super common. And even if you never do it yourself, I can almost guarantee that your favourite restaurant does so you’re still consuming foods microwaved in plastic one way or another.
I stopped 30+ years ago after microwaving chili and it melted the side of the plastic container.
Fyi there's been stories about this for years (usually having to do with chemical contamination from the plastic) but the FDA never seemed to look into it.
Imo that's because Big Oil didn't want them to, because it would not only remove a HUGE source of their revenue but would also open them up to massive lawsuits.
e: I’ve been buying Steamables because I’m disabled and can’t easily cook. For those who don’t know, it’s basically a meal in a plastic bag, that you microwave for six minutes, and apparently the literal worst thing you can do.
Now I think of it, as a disabled and poor person, I’m struggling to think of a meal I can make that isn’t riddled with plastics. I guess we’re doomed.
I have a set of nesting glass containers like this that only cost like $40 for the whole set. You can probably find similar sets for cheaper; that was the first google result I found.
Just dump the contents from your plastic container into one of those and voilà – no more nanoplastics. :)
e: oh, it just occurred to me you weren’t talking about reheating in their packaging, but how it’s served. I suppose if it were me and I knew them well, I might try to gently mention to them that their packaging isn’t great, and maybe suggest they look into a paper-based option instead. More likely I’d puss out and never say anything, because I’m a social coward. Best of luck to you, and I’d say never reheat in the package they give you.
Yup, I use glassware at home almost exclusively. Just that piping hot restaurant food in plastic ware. Honestly, I just rather cook my family food that I know is made with love and care. Can’t do it all the time though.
I’m guessing it has less to do with heat (unless you’re bringing it close to the melting point) and more to with microwaves breaking down plastics at the microscopic level.
It's a combination of heat, UV irradiation, and hydrolysis that happens within a microwave and affects said plastic containers.
However the article refers towards polypropylene as the main cause of concern, due to its amorphous nature, it tends to break into microplastics and nanoplastics.
The earlier tends to be discarded by our kidneys (at a cost), the latter can get through membranes due its size and cause different types of trouble.
From the article: “In general, they found that hotter storage temperatures cause more plastic particles to leak into food. For example, one polypropylene container released over 400,000 more microplastics per square centimeter after being left in a hot room than after being stored in a refrigerator (which still caused nearly 50,000 microplastics and 11.5 million nanoplastics per square centimeter to shed into the stored fluid). “I got terrified seeing the amount of microplastics under the microscope,” Hussain says.”
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