Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
Microwave popcorn bags are full of harmful “forever chemicals” (salon.com)
3 points by samdung on April 3, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment



If you want to get an endocrine disruptor into the body, I can't think of a better vehicle to achieve it than putting heat into greasy sugary food, next to a surface which has something like PFAS in it.

It's going to get into the bloodstream. The gut will extract the fat or sugar molecule, and the disruptor will come along for the ride in many cases. Sure, lots would be excreted.

A microwave is basically a machine designed to increase rate of reaction for any process which is endothermic. In fact if I recall correctly, some flow processes use microwaves for contactless heating to increase rate of reaction outside the flow chamber.

All my microwave plastics which have had spag bol in them are now stained. There is clearly some kind of binding to the tomato and oil and sugar component. Some of them are blistered. The surfaces have interacted, something has been absorbed and also caused contact-heat change.

I would argue this indicates the reverse is true too: something in the plastic has had massive opportunity to cross the barrier the other way.

Decoré do not use PFAS in their plastic tubs, and never have. I asked them, when PFAS-FREE labelling emerged into the wild for plastic food containers from other manufacturers: they were quite testy about this, going to the "never have" end of the story.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: