Anyone Trust the FDA?

[Natasha]

What's up with these (relatively) new "steam in the bag" vegetables and other side dishes? Premise: Microwaving edibles in a plastic bag = what could possibly go wrong? Creepy.

Natasha Ufema

[lquade]

i don't cook anything in the microwave except heat water or coffee. microwaving plastic is like a double whammy..

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Various types of "cooking" plastic bags have been around for decades. I used what was sold as a turkey baking bag back in the early '80s for sterilizing and sealing lab ware. They have an extremely stable molecular structure, if I remember correctly the turkey bags were rated for 300-400 degrees.

That being said, no I wouldn't eat anything cooked in them.

"Only fear real things, such as minds full of delusions." -Last Aphorisms

[Mr nice guy]

I don't use a bag to steam vegetables, but I do use a microwave to reheat occasionally.

Plastic is an absolute shet material for disposable items.

Another way to ingest chemicals you may not have thought of: Ever notice pitting on plastic containers and foil after storing tomato sauces?

Check out your old containers for horizontal bands of hazing/pitting.

Yummmy!

Glass is good.

[terracore]

Use a glass dish. Sure, there is the chance that the glass could break, you could cut yourself, possibly get an infection from it and potentially even die. There are solid statistics showing that glass is dangerous. I have scars showing where glass has cut me. One time we broke a glass dish in the kitchen, was positive we cleaned it all up, but must have missed a shard because the next morning it went into the bottom of my foot. It hurt for weeks.

There are a lot of wild theories and speculation about how dangerous plastic is to cook with, but plastic has never left a scar or made me limp when I walk. I don't care what the FDA says, plastic is safer.

[Natasha]

Oh, terracore, I respectfully disagree. There is something horrible that has been unleashed with these petrol-based plastics. They are endocrine disruptors (e.g. change your DNA and express otherwise-repressed bio-markers). The disturbing increase in Autistic Disorders has been linked to the increased use of plastics (and pesticides). My now-grown son was diagnosed with Asperger's (on the Autism Spectrum). When he was born in 1989, we knew very little about the disorder, how it manifested, or what caused it. Looking back, I realized that the convenience of using the new "microwave oven" to heat plastic baby bottles may have triggered his already-compromised genetic predisposition to Autism (he already hails from a very odd and eccentric genealogy). So, he was born with a genetic predisposition AND his reaction to endocrine disruptors (nuking his baby bottles) combined to make a perfect storm. He's an incredible person - a Master's in Bio-Chem and works in a lab at Penn State, but not the best people-person. His early development was a challenge for sure.

Since the baby bottle microwave warming, I personally eschew all microwaves. Just saying . . . We can't rule anything out at this point in time.

Natasha Ufema

[Natasha]

Here on the Primal Edge: Crack me up. In summary: Plastic baking bags meet the criterion and yet you wouldn't use them. Case closed.

Natasha Ufema

[MarkP]

Not trying to be a jerk (just a natural talent I guess) Natasha but your story is the classic example of anecdotal evidence. Also I would probably be dead by now if heating food in plastic was that bad.

[Lodestone]

This is my favorite study regarding autism...
https://boingboing.net/2013/01/01/correl...m-dia.html

I'm pretty much with MarkP on this one...wayyyy too many microwaved meals back in my bachelor days of the late-mid 20th century to look back now!

Anyway Natasha, welcome to Punaweb and sorry about your son, but be advised the our fearless leader/moderator strongly desires that we keep subject matters "Puna" related, lest our beloved forum winds up like so many others.

[Obie]

Bought my 1st microwave in about 1970, heated plastic in that one and every one I have owned since !

70 years old and still kicking !