[devindotcom]

Looking forward to more testing like this. I've been trying to consciously avoid anything combining "hot" with "plastic" though there's only so much you can do.

Fish are aggregators of this stuff so that's not surprising. Spam and other processed meats and prepared foods also not too surprising (though what's with the Annie's organic mac and cheese being so full of it? Maybe it's the sauce?)... I think the tap water was the scariest one to me. Sure, you expect some but ... wildly unsafe levels?!

[ghostly_s]

Are you looking at the results in the table on the main page? That is tap water treated with some purifying tablet, not straight tap water. There is plain tap water in the full database but it doesn't seem to have levels of anything in excess of established limits.

[devindotcom]

My mistake, I didn't see that part. I thought the tablet treatment was just something they did to prepare it for testing. Maybe the tablets kill the microfauna via microplastic overdose.

[RajT88]

Manufacturers are putting more and more plastic into things to cut costs it seems.

My favorite pour over coffee maker almost entirely had water in contact with metal and glass during brewing. Glass reservoir, glass decanter, metal grounds basket - only rubber tubes going from reservoir to heating element.

When it died (your average coffee maker only lasts 5 years) all of their newer more expensive models had mostly plastic everything except for the decanter.

[maroonblazer]

Hmmm...I'm now worried about my Aeropress, which I love. Perhaps it's time to switch to a french press.

[kristofferR]

They have an Aeropress in glass now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pw0hc7CB64

[pj_mukh]

Also, is there an aggregate plastic danger metric? It would be great to develop an aggregate metric that combines the different types of plastics and multiplies them by their known potential dangers to the human body. I realize the multiples will change over time as more research comes in, but right now, there's no way to quantify BPA vs DEHP dangers.

This would make the main giant aggregate list: https://www.plasticlist.org a lot more useful.

[roseway4]

The PlasticList site explores safety levels, including a discussion of aggregate levels across products and chemicals. It’s an interesting but frustrating read.

[SoftTalker]

Have "unsafe levels" been established, or are we just assuming that any is bad?

Edit: I see they appear to be using the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) intake limits for most of their tests.

[paulryanrogers]

Initial data says they're at least bad for sea life. Doubtful it's good to have such durable micro materials bouncing around our lungs and digestive tracts. Stopping pollution is also much easier than cleaning up after the fact.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10151227/

[thaumasiotes]

> Doubtful it's good to have such durable micro materials bouncing around our lungs and digestive tracts.

Having odd things in your lungs is bad. Having things bouncing around in your digestive tract means nothing. The whole point of the digestive tract is that you put untrusted materials into it.

[jcims]

As long as it actually makes it out the other end. Bits of undigestable matter the size of smoke particles is a relatively new phenomenon.

[lazide]

Uh, smoke particles and mineral dusts are generally non digestible - and we’ve been eating smoked/cooked meats and slightly dirty things for at least as long as recorded history?

[thatcat]

isnt smoked/charred food associated with colon cancer?

[falafels]

> Fish are aggregators of this stuff so that's not surprising.

I doubt the BPA in fish originates from the fish themselves. It's more likely from the can linings used to package the fish.