plastic containers, plastic wrap & water bottles

[jmidthun]

Very important!

Cancer update -- Johns Hopkins -- Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.
Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.
Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.

Cover food with a paper towel instead.

[mikes]

This is good advice.

Also, there is teflon and other harmful cooking utensils.

Then there is chlorine in the water. Most are not aware that more chlorine is absorbed in the bathtub than from drinking. So people buy expensive drinking water to avoid chlorine, and then go soak in it.

For those of us living in the country, there is atrazine in the water.

Then there is BGH in milk.

And this is just scratching the surface.

A person trying to eat right and stay healthy is fighting an uphill battle.

Just to show you how bad it has become, I recently discovered that some stores selling organic vegetables, spray them with chlorinated water so that they will "stay fresh"

[cardoso]

Sorry, Mike, but it´s an Urban Legend, and and old one. At least from 2002.

Check it out:


http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cookplastic.asp

[jmidthun]

think i will air on the safer side, just in case it is true.

[mikes]

Hi Cardoso,

I checked out your link. The first thing I noticed was a pop-up ad for Chilies restaurant. Not very dignified.

History is repleat with drug call-backs. The most recent was Vioxx from Merck. This drug was approved after years of testing and a rigorous FDA approval procedure. The last people you should trust on important matters is the "experts". The problem with "experts" is that most often, they don't know what they don't know.

George Washington died from the treatment he received for a sore throat. The "experts" of his day (and for over a hundred years later) were absolutely "sure" that bloodletting was the way to treat disease.

Mike

[moxie]

Thank god i read this, i used to warm some soups in micro with plastic containers.

.......

Lol i read now it's a hoax rofl

[Jean222]

There are safe for microwave plastics available now.

You need to read the small print and learn which plastics are fine.

As for drinking bottled water, most of it, exept Perrier, is bottled from municipal water sources.

If you read the bottle, most DO say which municipal water supply is used to fill their bottles.

Think of the landfills and drink your tap water, as long as there is no locally known problem.

As for freezing wating in bottles, in your freezer.....I've done it for many years.

My kids always took an 'ice bottle' in their lunches during hotter weather to help keep their foods safe.

I also have some half-frozen, to which I add tap water, for car trips.

I love water, drink lots of it ........ mostly from our very safe municipal water supply.

Toronto water is very, very safe.....constantly tested and very well filtered.

There was a huge problem in Walkerton, Ontario a few years back, many died, many were made ill.....but the workers were drinking buddies and not doing their jobs.

Since then, everything has been tightened up something fierce!

Besides, you can't be 'afraid' of everything, we have to live in this world.

Cancer is a multi-factorial disease in my experience.


Jean

[moxie]

Cancer is a multi-factorial disease in my experience.

I always agreed that line of thought.

[romankorvinus]

in the way of dioxins lets not forget pesticides, steal smelting, improper incineration of plastics and various other products containing chlorine, pulp manufacturing, automotive industry such as the DuPont plant on the Saginaw river, regular emissions etc.

[bill5]

I concede the possibilty, but good luck finding one reliable source that says heating foods in plastics causes cancer. Further, there are no dioxins in plastics. Further still, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals anyway. Don't believe me? Go to John Hopkins' site and search on "plastic cancer."

This is indeed urban legend. I always check snopes when stuff like this comes out; they're very thorough in checking RELIABLE sources.

[bill5]

I give up: what does asbestos have to do w/this conversation? It provides no useful or relevant info to this topic that I can see.

[SFGiants13]

For #1 and #3, I rarely use the microwave, only to heat things like popcorn, a heating pad for body aches, or leftover food that doesn't have any veggies. I know a lot of people don't have time to cook and instead use the microwave for convenience but for me I prefer the right way to use the stove and the food tastes better. As a design major, in the past I took a plastics technology course in such I learned that heating up a plastic container is hazardous to your health and many types of plastics for example PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, other, do have toxicities yet some people still continue to do it, either out of ignorance or just don't care. As for #2, it's actually not good to drink freezing ice cold water since your body is warm inside, it's best to drink lukewarm at the most.

[bill5]

I learned that heating up a plastic container is hazardous to your health

This is an extreme oversimplification at best. Most plastic containers are safe, but common sense needs to be applied (a tall order in today's society, I know). ie use those that are labelled "microwave safe" which are indeed safe. Even those which should not generally be used (eg margarine tubs etc) would have to be heated to a point where they started to warp/melt before any real danger would be present.

[SFGiants13]

Yes you are correct bill5 as for certain plastic containers are approved microwave safe. As for other types though when heated to a point, watch out, their odors are dangerous. =D

[snv1]

Great advice.These are really important for taking cure against cancers.
One more precaution against the utensils we are using can also be harmful
Also like other points like some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Thanks.