URBAN LEGENDS AND OTHER HOAXES ?AN EXAMPLE BELOW
Subject: FW: Johns Hopkins Newsletter - Please read
John Hopkins Newsletter
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in their newsletters. This
information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer. Especially breast cancer. Don't freeze
plastic water bottles with water in them as this also releases dioxin from
the plastic. Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle hospital was on a TV program
explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program
at the hospital.) He was talking about dioxins and how bad they are for
us.
He said we should not heat our food in the microwave using plastic
containers. This applies particularly 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. Dioxin are carcinogens
and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead, he recommends using
glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the
same results ...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. Just safer to use tempered glass,
Corning Ware, etc.
Remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam
containers to paper? The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. To add to
this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat,
actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels instead.
Please pass this on to your family & friends, & those who are important in
your life.
RESPONSE
There is a reason why in academia and in journalism, one is always encouraged to
check original sources where ever possible. See the following:
The Johns Hopkins
News-Letter
http://www.jhunewsletter.com/
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Dispelling the Dioxin Myth
The Johns Hopkins Newsletter
Report by the Bloomberg School of Public Health
September 01, 2004
http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/articles/Halden_dioxins.html
June 24, 2004
Researcher Dispels Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles
The Internet has been flooded with email warnings to avoid freezing water in
plastic bottles so as not to get exposed to carcinogenic dioxins. Recently, one
hoax email has been attributed to Johns Hopkins University. The Office of
Communications and Public Affairs discussed the issue with
Rolf
Halden, PhD, PE, assistant professor in the
Department of
Environmental Health Sciences and the
Center for Water and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health. Dr. Halden received his masters and doctoral degrees
researching dioxin contamination in the environment. We sat down with him to set
the record straight on dioxins in the food supply and the risks associated with
drinking water from plastic bottles and cooking with plastics.
Office of Communications and Public Affairs: What are dioxins?
Rolf Halden: Dioxins are organic environmental pollutants sometimes
referred to as the most toxic compounds made by mankind. They are a group of
chemicals, which include 75 different chlorinated molecules of dibenzo-p-dioxin
and 135 chlorinated dibenzofurans. Some polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) also
are referred to as dioxin-like compounds. Exposure to dioxins can cause
chloracne, a severe form of skin disease, as well as reproductive and
developmental effects, and more importantly, liver damage and cancer.
OC&PA: Where do dioxins come from?
RH: We always thought dioxins were man-made compounds produced inadvertently
during the bleaching of pulp and manufacturing of pesticides like Agent Orange
and other chlorinated aromatics. But dioxins in sediments from lakes and oceans
predate these human activities. It is now generally accepted that a principal
source of dioxins are various combustion processes, including natural events
such as wild fires and even volcanic eruptions.
Today, the critical issue is the incineration of waste, particularly the
incineration of hospital waste, which contains a great deal of polyvinyl
chloride plastics and aromatic compounds that can serve as dioxin precursors.
One study examined the burning of household trash in drums in the backyard. It
turns out that these small burnings of debris can put out as much or more
dioxins as a full-sized incinerator burning hundreds of tons of refuse per day.
The incinerators are equipped with state-of-the-art emission controls that limit
dioxin formation and their release into the environment, but the backyard trash
burning does not. You set it ablaze and chemistry takes over. What happens next
is that the dioxins are sent into the atmosphere where they become attached to
particles and fall back to earth. Then they bind to, or are taken up, by fish
and other animals, where they get concentrated and stored in fat before
eventually ending up on our lunch and dinner plates. People are exposed to them
mostly from eating meat and fish rich in fat.
OC&PA: What do you make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins
can be released by freezing water in plastic bottles?
RH: No. This is an urban legend. Freezing actually works against the
release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures,
which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we dont
think there are.
OC&PA: So its okay for people to drink out of plastic water bottles?
RH: First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the
water they are drinking rather than the container its coming from. Many people
do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead.
The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for
quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not
tolerate in municipal drinking water.
Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that
are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle.
Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior
by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up
plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into
water and food.
OC&PA: What about cooking with plastics?
RH: In general, whenever you heat something you increase the likelihood
of pulling chemicals out. Chemicals can be released from plastic packaging
materials like the kinds used in some microwave meals. Some drinking straws say
on the label not for hot beverages. Most people think the warning is because
someone might be burned. If you put that straw into a boiling cup of hot coffee,
you basically have a hot water extraction going on, where the chemicals in the
straw are being extracted into your nice cup of coffee. We use the same process
in the lab to extract chemicals from materials we want to analyze.
If you are cooking with plastics or using plastic utensils, the best thing to do
is to follow the directions and only use plastics that are specifically meant
for cooking. Inert containers are best, for example heat-resistant glass,
ceramics and good old stainless steel.
OC&PA: Is there anything else you want to add?
RH: Dont be afraid of drinking water. It is very important to drink
adequate amounts of water and, by the way thats in addition to all the coffee,
beer and other diuretics we love to consume. Unless you are drinking really bad
water, you are more likely to suffer from the adverse effects of dehydration
than from the miniscule amounts of chemical contaminants present in your water
supply. Relatively speaking, the risk from exposure to microbial contaminants is
much greater than that from chemicals.
And heres one more uncomfortable fact. Each of us already carries a certain body
burden of dioxins regardless of how and what we eat. If you look hard enough,
youll find traces of dioxins in pretty much every place on earth. Paracelsus the
famous medieval alchemist, used to put it straight and simple: its the dose that
makes the poison.--Tim Parsons
Public Affairs media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health: Tim Parsons or Kenna Lowe at 410-955-6878 or
paffairs@jhsph.edu.
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American Scientist
Volume 92, Number 4 July-August 2004
starting on page 342
Amazing Organohalogens *
Although best known as synthetic toxicants, thousands of halogen compounds are,
in fact, part of our natural environment
Gordon W. Gribble
Halogens have a bad reputation. These elements are found in dioxins,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticide DDT. With such infamous
company, many peopleeven many scientistsbelieve all halogenated chemicals are
uniquely man-made poisons. This assumption is false, according to Dartmouth
chemist Gordon W. Gribble. In fact, protists, plants and animalseven humansmake
thousands of distinct halogen compounds for their own defensive purposes. Some
species even use organohalogens, which contain carbon along with chlorine,
bromine, iodine or fluorine, to mount chemical offensives against encroaching
competitors. Gribble highlights many remarkable examples of these natural
halocarbons, and describes several that, like class-members morphine, penicillin
and quinine, show promise as powerful medicines.
ENTIRE ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE AS A pdf FILE:
http://www.junkscience.com/aug04/2004-07Gribble.pdf