email/reply

http://www.teflon.com/Teflon/consumer/na/eng/brandWorld/brand_world_flash.html


received from a friend today:


A good reminder!

>>> 5/23/2007 7:14 am >>>

CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN  HOPKINS

       1. No plastic containers in microwave.

       2. No water bottles in  freezer.

       3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

       John 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.

       This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life!



replied:



hey you,

if you google (i "dogpile," but that's another story) "john hopkins,
plastic, dioxins," the top results include words like,

"urbanlegend, myth, hoaxslayer"

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_frozen_plastic_dioxin.htm


see what an actual JH associate has said about this, here:

http://www.jhsph.edu/PublicHealthNews/articles/Halden_dioxins.html


it 's not dioxins in plastic, but Phthalates (among other things), that are worrisome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalates


dioxins are some bad sh*t.   but, these are most commonly encountered in
bleached, white, paper products.


the concern in your email about plastics is justified, but not exactly for
the reasons given.


see:

"What's inside some noted Californians;
Tests done to back biomonitoring bill find toxic chemicals"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/31/BAGD0EFOIG1.DTL&type=printable

excerpt:

"Actor Peter Coyote has high levels of mercury, he thinks from eating fresh
fish in his quest for a healthy diet. He describes himself as 'a guy who has
eaten organic food for 30 years, drunk bottled water and lived in West Marin
with the cleanest air on the coast.'

...Coyote, Jones, Lee, the Rev. Stephen Privett, president of the University
of San Francisco, and seven other prominent Californians had their hair, blood
and urine tested two months ago for dozens of substances, including mercury,
DDT, PBDE flame retardants and the chemicals in hard plastic bottles,
Gore-Tex and Teflon."

see also, "The Body's Wisdom, The Body's Burden:"

http://wholelifetimes.com/2006/01/wh_toxins0601.html

"Most synthetic molecules are like 'second-hand smoke'-they spread with
invisible stealth, they are eaten, inhaled, imbibed and absorbed through the
skin. They can be found in adhesives, plastics (like Nalgene water bottles),
food containers, Teflon-coated stick-resistant pans, the fumes from new-car
interiors, underarm deodorants, cosmetics and shaving creams, hair sprays,
colognes and perfumes, contact lens cleaners, dental sealants, VCR head
cleaners and stain-resistant rugs and fabrics.

No one knows the safe levels for most of the more than 80,000 synthetic
molecules now circulating around the globe. In 1962, when Rachel Carson
first alerted the world to the environmental and health dangers of the
pesticide DDT, there were only a few thousand synthetic molecules. By 1974,
there were 25,000 new man-made molecules. By 2000, there were more than
85,000, and new synthetic molecules were being manufactured at a rate of
1,500 per year. Today, the US produces or imports more than one million
pounds each of 2,800 industrial chemicals."


the govenator vetoed state funding for that "biomonitoring" bill [SB600]
last year.  i've lost track of where this effort stands.


wanna really pull back the veil? PFCs . . .

"carcinogenic" . . ."detected in all of the wildlife species analyzed."
[polar bears, caspian seals, dolphins . . .] . . ."Through studies conducted
in the late 1980s, 3M learned that terminal breakdown products of many
PFCs - PFOA and PFOS, for example - will not break down in the environment."

http://www.ewg.org/reports/pfcworld/es.php


feel better now?

so, like, "yes, but . . ."