[fizzynut]

It is strange to see people with such mistrust of a microwave because it is "unnatural" and therefore unhealthy.

The process of cooking anything using something "natural" like a fire creates a lot more carcinogens than a microwave.

You wouldn't put plastic in a pan or oven to cook your food in, so if you want to reduce your exposure to plastic just use another container, it would be useful to know what the objective harm of this practice is compared to say using gas stove.

[Ancapistani]

> You wouldn't put plastic in a pan or oven to cook your food in

Someone should probably tell Costco. They offer a variety of ready-made frozen dinners that instruct you specifically to place the plastic container into the oven at 300ºF.

[reducesuffering]

Ya frozen tv dinners are a big culprit here. Fortunately, atleast Trader Joe’s in my area has just switched to paper containers. Who’s got the over/under whether that paper is lined with plastic…

[coffeebeqn]

It is. Unless the liquid has seeped through it or something

[FooBarBizBazz]

Generally paper containers are covered in PFAS.

[danjc]

I wonder about glue present in the paper/cardboard.

[NelsonMinar]

The article has a whole section on why microwaving plastic creates a specific risk.

[fizzynut]

Yes, but the risk is not quantified, one also exposes themselves to carcinogens when eating anything that has been smoked and I'm sure if you put kidney cells in a bath of carcinogens it would also not do so great.

Tthe fact that there is no clear data on the danger of microwaving plastic containers despite millions of people doing it all the time means suggests the danger is low/negligible.