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Cubytus

macrumors 65816
Mar 2, 2007
1,436
18
My apologies if I misinterpreted . I interpreted it as 'DDT, as a GMO, wasn't known to be so toxic [because]….' … and then the explanation.

I suspect English is not your first language so it's possible we're miscommunicating slightly.
Indeed I never had a proper, academical course of English. During critical years my teacher was buying into the "immersion" thing without even basics in the language's structure. Most of it was learnt online and on the job as a telemarketer, where the language is treated as vehicular (lingua franca), rather than vernacular (with all cultural nuances that appear in different varieties of English). I don't really know how to improve the idiomatic side of the language, as most anglophones in this city aren't natives either.

I don't mean to be rude but siting other suspect practices does not make what happened with DDT acceptable. This is rather poor logic on your part. Might also mention that comparing a chemical compound that is designed to be a poison with "miracle drugs" is ... well pretty much a lackluster offering. As well, though primitive a great deal of drugs of the named generation you mentioned were in fact tested in experimental labs and more including sulfa based drugs.

We can concur that the public is fed a great deal of hype on a multitude of topics including cleanliness of the body and the home.
It doesn't have to do with the nature of the chemical itself or its intended goal. It has to do with lack of proper testing. Cooling transformers has its own requirements, but seemingly no one has properly though about their eventual disposal.

About drugs, one should read about how they were rushed to market.
 

LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,766
36,273
Catskill Mountains
In some countries, it's pretty much "Wash it, peel it, cook it or forget it." I think it's more so in the USA for me now than it used to be. And it's not about country of origin, either. It's about everything that has happened to that product since the fruit was formed, no matter where it was grown. Because of chemical concerns, I think I peel a lot of things more deeply than I ever used to. Of course if the fruit has taken up a chemical, that's not going to help...

I'm hardly obsessive about housekeeping in general, never mind keeping my kitchen floor clean enough to eat something I've dropped on it, but I keep the work surfaces well cleaned off, and if I'm going to eat veggies without cooking them, they get a brief vinegar-water soak, then are peeled, rinsed again before ending up in the dish I'm preparing. Maybe there are microbes getting stronger every day in my salads, if they just love that vinegar. But, so far the HCl in my stomach has them beat, apparently. Or maybe it's my favored Tabasco Jalapeño that scares some of them to death.

Food safety is about more than just starting with clean foods and work surfaces. An often overlooked risk relates to how one handles the REMAINDER of ingredients when not all of something is going to be used in preparing a dish. I have become more cautious about how I handle dried herbs and spices. I used to just sprinkle them from the jar into the sauté pan or pot I was cooking in. One day it occurred to me that approach guaranteed the introduction of moisture into the remainder. Who could know what various molds or anaerobic critters would enjoy in that environment once I capped the jar again? Oy. So now I tip my seasonings out onto one of a bunch of small dipping sauce dishes I got from an Asian market. And THEN into the pan or saucepot.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
The most important part of the article. Basically the European commission is having a knee jerk reaction and banning something. When they don't actually know if it is harmful.

Also does this chemical come off when the fruit is washed? I don't know about others but I always wash my produce before eating or cooking.

It's a moot point for me anyways. Most of the produce I buy is organic from Whole Foods. Not that I specifically want organic. They just have great tasting produce much of which is organic.

I would rather have a government agency charged with protecting the people have a proactive stance than a reactive one.

Far too many pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics are in our food. WAY to many.

Humanity is insane with the 'why not' rather than 'why' when it comes to introducing more chemicals into the environment. Look at MTBE for instance.

Industry should have to prove that what they create is not harmful, rather than prove, evidently, that they can make a profit from it. Many chemicals should never of been released to the general public. I can't help but shudder when I walk through the lawn chemical and insect control areas of local stores. Some of the crap that it available is VERY toxic and not just for the bugs, and yet people will buy those poisons and hose down their homes, yards, bedrooms with it. And runoff runs right into the ground and streams, lakes, the ocean...

I become more pessimistic over the future of man nearly every day. Every time I see a Bayer commercial...
 

pianojoe

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2001
461
26
N 49.50121 E008.54558
Here’s a personal observation. I don’t claim this to be universally valid.

I live in Germany. A couple of years ago, when I worked in the U.S. for some time, I felt that the food (restaurants, supermarket) made me feel less healthy. I had a feeling that the overall food quality was inferior to my home country’s produce—unless you paid a premium.

I also used to live in Italy. There, I had the opposite notion: Food seemed to be of higher quality, and after three months, I could feel a positive impact on my mind and body.

Of course, this all could be an illusion. Who would not prefer the sweet downs of Bolzano to a flat in noisy Lower Manhattan anyway?

On a side note, there are more adipose people in Germany than in Italy, and more in the USA than in Germany.
 

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
Why would Europeans need to hide behind protectionism? EU apples actually taste like apples unlike the tasteless imitation plastic apples found in American supermarkets.

I would interpret it differently... they aren't 'hiding behind protectionism' so much as they're banning a hazardous food that can be sold cheaper due to being artificially preserved.
 
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