Melamine found in apple juice, lemonade, children's cereal.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

As well as plastic knives and spoons, plastic coffee mugs, etc.

Actually it's been known for at least a few years now. Melamine leeches out of the plastic. In one paper they found levels in beverages at 1-2 parts per million. That's several thousand times higher than what they've been finding in hogs and chickens and fish. So if you're eating organic foods with plastics, you're probably exposing yourself to more melamine than people eating these contaminated chickens off of ceramic.

Just thought you'd all like to know.

[JeffR]

1. Thanks for the pick-me-up

I was worried that my day was in danger of brightening. Depression accomplished.;(

[Bluebear]

15. 'I took my share down by the sea, paper plates and Javex bottles on the tide"

Name THAT tune :)

[Bjornsdotter]

25. I don't remember the name but

....I think it was by Joni Mitchell?

cheers

[Clark2008]

33. Yep... Javex Bottles is the name.

:)

[Bjornsdotter]

35. Thanks!

:hi:

[Bluebear]

38. It's called "Banquet" :)

[JeffR]

27. It's getting easier and easier to lose one's appetite at this "banquet"

Gonna be interesting to see what Joni's new album has in the way of current events as subject matter.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. If it makes you feel any better...

the plastic that leeches out melamine's been around for a hundred years or so. You may know it by other names. "Formica" for instance.

Now dihydrogen monoxide, on the other hand...

[JeffR]

34. Yeah, much of this isn't new

but even the old stuff is around in much greater quantities than ever before. And Big Science is working round the clock to introduce more toxic conveniences into our exciting, fast-paced lives.

[villager]

2. One of the first best things anyone can do in this regard is to *stop microwaving* on/in plastic

and just use ceramic or glass....

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Maybe.

But then you run the risk of cutting yourself on broken ceramic or glass.

:shrug:

[villager]

10. You do? How often do you break plates/bowls while microwaving?

And when you break them, how often do you plow ahead and eat the thing with the glass shards in it?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. You remember when shampoo came in glass bottles?

That caused lots of nasty accidents.

When was the last time you cut yourself on broken glass? Now what was the last time you cut yourself on broken plastic?

[Salviati]

24. I cut myself on broken plastic a lot more recently than broken glass...

I mean have you TRIED to open one of those plastic clamshell containers?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. clamshell containers?

You mean like the things those new lightbulbs come in? Yeah, those bastards are tricky. Still, a lot better than having broken lightbulbs and mercury all over the floor.

[villager]

36. well, I've never ever "cut" myself using china or glass to microwave something

And it's damn preferable to the extra plastic molecules that would otherwise be in my body

Nor is my microwave surrounded by soapy water, a la a typical shower...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. Is that a glass keyboard you're typing on?

[villager]

42. Luckily, I don't eat my keyboard! Or heat food on it!

Why are you defending the use of plastics for heating food, after being the one posting about its dangers? I find your reversal -- and your need to argue "heatedly" for plastic as a food heating container -- very baffling.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

44. Do you use your hands for other things besides typing?

Such as handling food?

"Why are you defending the use of plastics for heating food, after being the one posting about its dangers? I find your reversal -- and your need to argue "heatedly" for plastic as a food heating container -- very baffling."

Who's posting about the dangers of using plastics for food? I'm certainly not, are you?

[villager]

46. "...As well as plastic knives and spoons, plastic coffee mugs, etc."

from your OP.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. LOL!

Yep, the world is a dangerous place!

[Dora]

41. Only if you're using broken ceramic or glass.

I doubt that people who are capable choosing to use glass/ceramic rather than plastic in the microwave would be inclined to abusively microwave their glass/ceramic containers into a state of disrepair dangerous enough to cut onself.

I've cut myself on knives and broken glasses in the sink, but I've never cut myself on a microwaved bowl of leftover spaghetti.

[bdamomma]

43. exactly, I was just thinking the same thing.

do not use plastic to microwave in, use glass instead.

[Exultant Democracy]

3. So you seem to know a thing or two, what level was the

melamine at in the fatal pet food when compared with what they are finding in the pigs fish and chicken?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. I haven't seen a report on that yet.

In fact, there are plenty of reports saying it wasn't melamine that killed the pets.

That said, the level in the pigs, fish, etc. are many orders of magnitude lower than what's needed to kill anything.

[StarryNite]

9. And how do you know that?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. It's all over the news.

:shrug:

[StarryNite]

16. Silly me

I should have known that if it's in the news then it must be true. Just like they said it was safe to walk the streets of Manhattan right after Sept 11. The air was perfectly safe. :eyes:

[JuniperLea]

20. Indeed! Wot? Me Worry? Hell no! We have the FDA!!!

Sounds like a bunch of lefty moon-bat cry baby crap to me! Why do you hate America? Why can't you take the Kool Aid you are being spoon fed and love it?

:sarcasm:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. How do you know it's higher?

We could come up with conspiracy theories until the cows come home.

Maybe the chickens contain plutonium, deadly nightshade, and Saddam's missing WMDs. How do you know they don't?

[StarryNite]

28. What conspiracy theory are you referring to?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. The logic that because people lied about WTC...

that therefore, since they work for the government, that these people are lying about melamine concentrations in the chickens.

The conspiracy apparently involves the chicken companies have powerful lobbies, and the lobbyists tell the politicians (in the Bush administration?) that they don't want the public to know about the melamine in food because it will hurt their profits (apparently customers keeling over wouldn't hurt their profits), and therefore the Bush wonks go down to the FDA and conspire with the guy in the lab who makes 40,000 a year to lie about the concentration in the food, and they somehow conspire with all of the independent labs and the media in order to keep it a big secret. You know, that conspiracy theory.

[StarryNite]

31. The best predictor of future

behavior is past behavior. You are very naive if you don't think our government would lie to us to protect themselves and corporate America. They have done it time and time again. So why should they be trusted in this instance? Trust is something that needs to be earned and this administration has not done one thing to earn any trust at all.

[Exultant Democracy]

17. I'm not going to pretend I have been paying a lot of attention

(I don't have any pets and I am a vegetarian) but what else do they think might have been killing those pet?

[SmokingJacket]

37. I read one report that said it was a combination of melamine and

cyanuric acid. Together they formed crystals in the animals' kidneys.

But... I wouldn't be surprised if it was something else altogether...

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. I read one article that claimed it was not the melamine or the other

chemical which they found that was the problem - the levels were easily in the safe range - but when the two chemicals were combined in the kidneys they instantly crystalized, in effect creating massive kidney stones and shutting down the kidneys.

That was like a week ago, and I haven't seen any follow up on that story, so it may have been more speculative than correct.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Yeah, I think it's just a hypothesis.

Doesn't add up to me. Why doesn't swimming in a pool (cyanuric acid = ~ 20 ppm) and then having an ice tea (melamine = ~ 1 ppm) cause the same sort of thing?

Now here's some speculation- cyanuric acid is just the oxidized form of melamine, and both are urea derivatives, and the purpose of kidneys is to remove urea. So could melamine/cyanurate crystals be an effect of kidney malfunction, and not the cause?

[Exultant Democracy]

30. Thanks a lot.

One of the many reasons I love DU.

[panader0]

5. Stick to beer exclusively

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Beer contains diacetyl.

Which has recently been implicated in the deaths of several microwave popcorn assembly workers.

[StarryNite]

8. But only in glass bottles,

aluminum is bad.

[lovuian]

11. its not melamine its melamine cyanurate thats whats toxic

and kills you...the news media is really being deliberately decieving saying it Melamine

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Maybe.

Doesn't make much sense though, since melamine cyanurate is just melamine and cyanuric acid. And the former is common in household plastics, and the later is even more common in swimming pools.

[JuniperLea]

21. Exactly

My CE son can tell you what the difference is, but I can't... nor can most Americans... or Earthlings.

We are all at the mercy of the-powers-that-be.

[AtomicKitten]

39. It was added by the Chinese to boost the protein content of food.

And our government inspects approximately 1.3% of imported food products.

Yikes.

[mzmolly]

45. Good to know,

got a link/source?

[Horse with no Name]

47. Well you know

margarine is just one molecule away from plastic...;)