Black plastic kitchen ware is toxic? Not so much. :-)

[ssfc72]

There have been news articles lately about black plastic kitchen ware being toxic due to the use of recycled black plastic, which usually contains a fire retardant chemical.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/black-plastic?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAQsojd69bJx6smGOGNgYaE3ZrMtwEqDwgAKgcICjCZ1o4IMOP7dQ&utm_content=rundown&gaa_at=g&gaa_n=AVINqTy8szIx1bkJO2Mec3098W1iOSxQBDKjrz_5xaEC_VaTgHiRn0Wo00ICI5rrCrCKUzCQYTagpQ%3D%3D&gaa_ts=6759a4c3&gaa_sig=YXC4jbNZHVxUp1RTdIOhaTqIE9lEIesOWwgpQxy4C-Z6AcGUKJfd7xUmjT0cT3jv2Y4X4nxj_MRzvjIovALsZQ%3D%3D


I think Buster and Mike would be interested in the math mistakes, that are pointed out in the article.

But it is another example of science being led astray in describing risk. Schwarcz does not generally like measurements of risk expressed in percentages. Absolute numbers tend to be more useful, as in this study. He gives the example of a lottery ticket. If you have one lottery ticket, your chances of winning are, say, one in a million. If you buy another, your chances of winning have increased by 100 per cent, which sounds like a lot until you realize they are still just two in a million.

[William]

Either way, I don't use those plastic spatula/turners, because of their low melting points.  Yes, they melt on my frying pans.

[Jason]

Thanks for bringing this study correction up, Bill.

My wife mentioned hearing about the study and I told her about an hour ago that I read that the study was flawed because of the error. The confusion between "percentages" as he puts it, is an ongoing problem in media. I phrase it as 'relative' vs. 'absolute risk'. We often hear headlines like 'XYZ doubles increases ABC by 50%'. Some of the public think it's going up 50% in absolute terms. So if it was 1% before, it's now 51%. Of course, the actual study will say it in relative terms (e.g. it went from 1% to 1.5%). It makes great headlines to scare people with the 50% as if it's an absolute risk.

Joe Schwarcz is awesome. The department Joe heads at McGill regularly debunks misinformation in the media,  Universities and scientists need to do more debunking like this. The amount of misinformation that pops up in search engines and social media boggles the mind.

Also, the publisher of that journal has dropped it because of that messed-up study. That's how seriously they take the mistake.

[Jason]

Either way, I don't use those plastic spatula/turners, because of their low melting points.  Yes, they melt on my frying pans.

Do you leave them in the frying pan while you're cooking? That's probably why.

[William]

I prefer "pan toast" more than the regular toaster-oven.  So, my frying pan is subject to high temperature.

[Jason]

I prefer "pan toast" more than the regular toaster-oven.  So, my frying pan is subject to high temperature.

I figured that out. I remove the spatula from the frying pan while it cooks and put it back in when I flip it and haven't noticed that problem. But once I left it in, the edge became misshapen. I've never used a toaster oven but leaving them in that would be worse, I'd suspect. I once left a phone in the oven. It wasn't a pleasant experience for me or the phone.