I have to agree. For as much as people complain about things like microplastics, I think it’s a bit absurd how ignorant everyone seems to be about what is actually allowed in food production. Now, I’m not saying eating bugs or rodent hairs will kill you but at the same time insects and rodents are all potential carriers of disease, just like microplastics that may be toxic to our bodies as well.
In fact, if one starts reading up on the various food manufacturing standards, they very specifically call out how many bugs, or foreign objects, etc… are allowed to be present in X units of food products. This is all published for anyone to see. Just pulling one right from the top of the list:
Apple Butter
Mold
(AOAC 975.51)
Average of mold count is 12% or more
Rodent filth
(AOAC 945.76)
Average of 4 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams of apple butter
Insects
(AOAC 945.76)
Average of 5 or more whole or equivalent insects (not counting mites, aphids, thrips, or scale insects) per 100 grams of apple butter
So these are the action level limits…that seems like quite a bit of contamination that could be present in a single batch of product.
This doesn’t take away the fact that, sure, there are probably harmful microplastics in our food and beverages, but there are also a ton of other potentially harmful contaminants also present in our food and beverages as well.
I thought 100% that my sarcasm would come through with all my colorful language.
But really. The contaminates in just about everything else are so intense, not really sure why we are worried about this very small amount of contamination. There are more microplastics in the water we use to CLEAN THINGS including all the stainless steel mills… you know what I’m saying?
Like either its a real issue and we should 100% stop with all plastics now, cause the fuck they are destroying the whole planet and our bodies along with it… or its not a real issue and creating more “concern” is just sensationalizing some bullshit for MARKETING.
Like all those companies trying to sell you toothpaste that doesn’t have “plastic” in it. Or those companies trying to sell laundry detergent that isn’t in a plastic bottle or in a “pod”.
Do we all agree that these things are super terrible and we should stop manufacturing them now and come up with technology to remove them from our environment? Cause I don’t see anyone talking about that. What I saw was someone say - this product is not good because REASONS. And this other product is good because it doesn’t have those problem reasons.
Without any actual consideration on additional contaminates. Ability to monitor/control for them. Or relative safety.
I’ve seen insane heavy metals using some mills (many actually) that would cause lots of failures, if people were testing post-grinding (most states test before…).
I’ve seen so many issues with papers and glue. And now people are doing crazy shit like dosing things with more chemicals (terps, and other flavor agents). So are we really talking about contaminate concern? Or are we just trying to win over a market by sensationalizing a concern?
I’m not really sure. On the one hand - I no longer use plastic straws because turtles! On the other hand - the sheer amount of contaminates in basically everything makes singling out one process, piece of equipment, or product seem really fucking silly.
But maybe I’m just hormonal. Or maybe I just hate the universe today cause my wife just had chemo and you better believe the fucking toxicity of that shit that is saving her life is enough to kill like all the fish in my local pond…but I still watched them pump it into her body two days ago…
I 100% got what you were saying and agree for the most part, but there will still always stuff like asbestos that is widely used and accepted as “safe” that turns out to be quite deadly when no respiratory mitigation is considered for workers who interact with it on a daily basis (brake repair guys, people working in mechanical rooms with asbestos insulation / gaskets near steam etc)… humans are stupid and greedy. Nothing wrong with pointing out that we’d prefer to have as little (in lieu of none) contaminant in our already unhealthy hobby.
@Cassin I worte the article. That was a masterful rant. Sorry to hear about your wife. No I do not work for the ‘mill industry’, just a regular lab rat, check my about page. I thought I would just bring it up for awareness. My goal for this article is pre-roll sellers see this and improve their process.
@Cassin, I really hate to hear that you and your’s are going through it. I just wanted to say that I have ALWAYS loved reading your posts/rants/wisdom. I always appreciate your contributions, and I hope for the best possible outcome for your situation. If there is anything that I or anyone else can do, please let us know! Loves, hugs, and shrugs inbound!
Hahah for sure. I think our policy should be to cut down on any exposure possible when convenient. But if it’s inconvenient we shouldn’t worry about it cuz the stress will prolly cause more harm than the contaminant. Plus… who’s gonna give up the modern world. That would be a good plan if everyone did it, but for a country to do it would be just asking to be invaded lol.
Society isn’t involved in fuck all decision making. Nor are they informed about the shady shit going down.
Now I will admit, the vast majority would be complacent when faced with the facts.
But I, for one, had no fucking say in this alleged societal consensus…anyone else here particpate in FDA or any other regulatory agency’s rule making process?
Another caveat lies in the delayed research study results of any substances on the human biology over a generational time period. We are continuously discovering shit that wasn’t blatantly killing us in the short term actually turned out to be devastating over 30 years of exposure/ingestion.
In the days/places of illegal weed, they would charge the ‘paraphernalia’ as a additional offense, so smoking out of something disposable like aluminum foil was smart in the sense of helping get away with a crime, even if it was dumb in other ways. When something is illegal, not getting caught is always a priority over one’s health.
lol I remember a week after I smoked out of an aluminum foil pipe with my friend, my right lung collapsed, doctor was like, “Your lung collapsed 80%, crushed like a soda can.” Spontaneous pneumothorax is what they called it, not sure if the aluminum had anything to do with it really but apparently I was born with air bubbles in my lung and they just popped out of nowhere.
i smoked out of a can 1 time harsh and sucked.
i kept a deep dish craftsman 3/8" socket.
good stealth with other tools on the floor.
many friends did the same after using mine.
as for plastic it is in everything now.
