this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2024
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What item you use frequently would you be least surprised to learn is secretly bad for you? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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This is sort of a shower thought because this morning I was using some shaving cream and I thought, if it turns out in 5 years this was giving me cancer, I wouldn't be surprised.

Comes out a goo, ejected from a can with force, immediately becomes a foam?

Do you have anything you use that you think might be too good to be true?

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[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 87 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I work in hazardous materials handling and safety, and I studied chemistry. I've done a lot of soil remediation and I'm pretty up to date on how we (Europeans) handle the safety of our air, food and water.

So, good news: your air hasn't been cleaner since basically we started burning coal. Your drinking water hasn't been this safe since, oh, pre-agrarian times. Your food is probably less nutritious per gram thanks to faster growing food, but your diet is (potentially) better than any human has ever had (depending on your personal choices).

That said, there are some things I avoid like the plague:

  • Swimming in open water. It's (potentially) full of parasites, toxic algae, human and cattle feces and chemical runoff. Probably not all at once, but still. YMMV if you don't live near the sea, mountain streams are much cleaner then those at the river delta.

  • Home grown food from urban gardens. Your soil is probably completely untested, and the idea of "maybe I shouldn't just pour chemical waste out of the window" is barely 4 decades old. And that's counting the dubious quality of planter soil that is basically unregulated, and what people use as decoration. (Do NOT use wooden railroad ties or tires as planters for food). And of course what people use as pesticides isn't exactly closely monitored either.

  • Drinking water from wells, springs etc. see all the above.

  • Ordering anything with wish/aliexpress that comes in contact with food. You know that stuff is completely unregulated, why the hell would you lick it? Nobody knows what it's made of.

And there's one thing I don't avoid, but it's super unhealthy: wood fires. Yeah, a hearth or a campfire is awesome, but the smoke is super fucking bad for you. The carcinogens are stronger and last longer than in cigarettes, and its a hell of a lot more of them. I lie to myself and say it's worth it though, and that I don't do it every day, and other bad excuses.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wood fires are bad? Does this have to do with the wood? What about charcoal? No more bbqs then?

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Charcoal isn't as bad as wood, it creates less smoke and the most complex chemicals are already gone. Gas is better, since it burns much cleaner, and electric obviously doesn't create any gasses at all.

On the other hand, grilling and smoking red meat means dripping fat, which means smoke, meaning you create a whole new set of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), which you breathe in and get stuck to the meat and those are carcinogens. On top of that, red meat is already not too great for you. Eating burned food (charring) is also really unhealthy.

But assuming you don't spend every day breathing mostly bbq-smoke and gasses, I wouldn't worry about this too much. If your main diet is home grilled beef over self-made charcoal, you definitely need to reevaluate your lifestyle choices though.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Welp. Thanks for sharing. Is burning candles also bad?

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

Burning essentially anything but hydrogen or methane is generally bad to some degree or another (and even the latter has a carbon monoxide risk), but it ultimately comes down to how much smoke it makes. Smoke is bad to breathe

[–] rational_lib@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Home grown food from urban gardens. Your soil is probably completely untested, and the idea of “maybe I shouldn’t just pour chemical waste out of the window” is barely 4 decades old.

And let's not forget that any soil near a road had a ton of lead released nearby throughout much of the last century, and that just stays there. As well as lead paint chips from buildings.