I recently received and email being circulated on the internet entitled “Cancer Warnings from John Hopkins”. It warned against microwaving food in plastic storage and packing containers and also using plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave. I sent it out to my friends list.
Someone in the first group I received it from countered with an email providing a link to Snopes.com that states this concern is false - but I disagree.
I’m the one who always advises that we should all check out any undocumented claim or “urban legend” that circulates on the internet and almost always relies on Snopes to provide the truth. In this case, I think Snopes got it wrong by not explaining that this is in fact partially true or is at the very least undetermined. While it may be false that this warning came from John Hopkins or that dioxins are released, it is not false that heated plastic constitutes a health hazard. And while we are on the subject of microwaves, there is still a concern that microwaves themselves are advcersely effecting your health.
Snopes has called the email claim false that plastics used in microwaves might cause cancer and their refute quotes Dr. Halden of John Hopkins as saying, “This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don’t think there are.” Halden says “we don’t think there are” dioxins in plastic. He hedges because he doesn’t know. But if you do a little research you will find that dioxins are in fact used in the production of many plastics.
But, he doesn't refute the fact that heating food in plastics can affect your health, only that he doesn't think dioxins are released. Halden states, “In general, whenever you heat something you increase the likelihood of pulling chemicals out. Chemicals can be released from plastic packaging materials like the kinds used in some microwave meals.”
Duh! Even Dr. Halden, who states cooking in plastic does not release dioxins and he “doesn’t think” there are dioxins in plastic, goes on to say “Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food.” Why didn’t Snopes point this out? Were they only concerned with dioxins?
According to the Food and Drug Administration, freezing and microwaving plastic food containers and wraps are safe. They say although small amounts of chemicals used to make certain plastics may leach into food; any chemicals that do leach into food are within safe limits.
Oh, I see. And who do you think it was that came to that conclusion? I'm sure it was the lobbyists and the chemists that work for the chemical and plastics industry that were asked by the government, by the Food and Drug Administration, to assure the public there is no danger from using their products. They responded and the Food and Drug Administration has passed this industry conclusion along to us – the concerned public. Oh, there may be a few carcinogens here and there that will be released but "trust us" they say, these chemicals that enter your body are within safe limits.
Where and how many times have we heard that before?
Firstly, their research people are biased. They get paid support corporate decisions and to deliver good news. Do you know how long a chemist would stay employed by his employer if he told them their product is endangering the health of consumers and it can’t be fixed? Even prominent university research scientists have been found guilty of forging research data that hides the truth so they can continue to get federal grants (our tax dollars) to keep their job and continue their research.
And when they talk about safe amounts what about safe amounts for infants? Who recalls the findings that low levels of bisphenol-A in plastic baby bottles were linked to reproductive abnormalities?
If you as a consumer don’t believe that you and your children’s health is being compromised every day of your life by manufacturers and puveyors of products, especially those in the pharmaceutical and food production and distribution industry, you are living in a fool’s paradise. The sources and exposures are too numerous to cover here.
Getting back to heating food in the microwave oven, common sense should tell anyone who has smelled burning plastic, technically educated or not, that plastics are toxic and that any form of chemicals entering your body is harmful in some way. The claim in the email that freezing water in plastic containers releases dioxins doesn’t make sense – but eventhough, I’m not certain. Usually lowering the temperature of anything makes it more inert. Raising the temperature causes the atom structure all materials to become more active, liberating components and eventually changing composition, breaking up completely, usually transported by the surrounding air and suffusing into nearby or equally heat-excited substances.
I worked in and was trained in quality control and research laboratories when I worked for Monsanto Company and was exposed to a plethora of dangerous chemicals and production processes. I have a feel for the processes and the manner in which chemicals react and have experienced first hand how people’s health can be affected. While it is second nature for me, I suppose people who have no chemistry or physics background often just don’t have a clue.
Regardless, why would anyone compromise their health for a little convenience? Only because they’ve been led down a rosy path by the pied pipers of industry. Anyone who has worked for a large corporation knows how the corporate hierarchy tells lies and spins things in their favor.
As a member of Monsanto’s management team I observed first hand how this company compromised their responsibility for safety of employees and routinely and knowingly broke laws and regulations regarding pollution control – all in the name of profits for those at the top and for corporate growth - which are one and the same. When I expressed concern that we might be producing a product whose residues and by-products could be very harmful to the environment and a health hazard to people who came in contact with them, I was told that’s not my concern and that future science would learn to deal with it.
As St Paul said in the Bible (and you know I’m not a crazed Christian just because I quote him) “love of money is the root of all evil”. You must note, he didn’t say money is evil, only love of it; the insatiable drive to get more and more. I think I have actually witnessed the presence of evil in the eyes of greedy people.
I’m currently re-reading a book entitled “Our Kind” by Marvin Harris, an anthropologist that goes into how the barter system most likely arose. They have observed female pigmy chimps in the wild that trade sex for food and theorize that’s how early man began what has evolved into the economic system of commerce we know today. However back then, when homo sapien was first developing, this form of prostitution was dignified and had a positive outcome for the group. Today’s uber-greed has spawned industrial and commercial forms of prostitution that are infused with evil and without conscience. This out-of-control greed sacrifices the less wealthy members of the group for the benefit and upkeep of the wealthiest.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will avert their eyes or delude themselves when they see injustice and dishonesty in business or politics as long as they see themselves profiting as a result. How does one rationalize profiting from behavior that causes suffering and pain to others? What makes some people feel a sense of guilt for such behavior while others somehow reason they are not guilty? What is it about the lust for wealth and the lifestyle it allows that will cause people to sell their soul to the devil – even if it’s just one little piece at a time?
Those who produce consumer products are all guilty of exposing us to disease and hazards of one type or another but they always play it down in their favor. They are fond of claiming that the danger that haunts their products is either not there or are is there but in such small quantity it can’t hurt you. They also like to claim we are exposed to these same hazards by Mother Nature. For example, they like to point out that each of us already carries a certain body burden of dioxins regardless of how and what we eat. If you look hard enough, they say, you’ll find traces of dioxins in pretty much every place on earth. They remind us that Paracelsus, the famous medieval alchemist, declared: “it’s the dose that makes the poison”, meaning any chemical can be toxic if you eat, drink or absorb too much of it.
Maybe so, but who the f--- wants the heavily stock optioned corporate executives of General Foods to decide what dose is okay for us and our children to absorb on a daily basis?
Not me!
