I pretend that I am avoiding a ton of it by religiously reading labels to everything I consider buying. But I do end up getting stuff to eat or cosmetics that have unknown compounds in them. I don't know what the roles of these chemicals are or what they are capable of messing up in my body. I place my blind trust in the fact that they can't be excessively harmful because *someone out there* is definitely regulating them.
Fact is, there is very little regulation. Products that proudly proclaim that they are not been tested on animals actually scare me. I get all the arguments of PETA and animal rights activists and their gory pictures of animal suffering are shocking. But let's face it. At some point, we need to draw the line at just how much we want to compromise safety and health for humans in favour of "humane treatment of animals". Scientific research has primarily reached its current status because we could use animals to test our experiments.
We cannot emulate the living system otherwise. We cannot foresee the consequences of chemicals on living systems if we have never tested them on any. You cannot persuade me that reactions that you have seen on cell cultures come close to what happens in real life. My cynicism stems from first hand experience of the limitations of non-living systems for experimentation. It seems so paradoxical to me that we have such complicated and expensive clinical trials for drugs consumed by a minority sick population and yet NO regulation or trials for products that a vast majority of the general population uses and consumes daily and all the time. Prevention is definitely nowhere in the agenda here.
Another alternative is of course to use just edible and known natural substances in everything. While this is a logical and perfect alternative to the dilemmas of animal testing, it is also sometimes not very practical in today's world where products are global rather than local in their distribution and audience.
Anyway, I just ate some hummus:
It had "less than 0.5% of":
- Sorbic Acid
- Sodium Benzoate
- Phosphoric Acid
Preservatives. But why can't salt and olive oil suffice? Maybe I need to just make my own Hummus from (e:libertad)'s awesome (secret?) recipe.
I agree with you, but forcing any subset of population, be it prisoners or grad students to take part in drug testing borders on what Nazis did back in the day. Cruelty to any living being is wrong be it animals or humans but is there any other alternative? This is where people come up with "there is always cell culture, there is always cadaver skin" etc. These are NOT living systems. We are not capable of creating life in the laboratory yet. There has to be compromise somewhere. Call me selfish or call me "species-cist", but being a human, I vote in favour of NOT subjecting humans to cruelty.
don't get me wrong I'm not a crazy PETA member but do think that cruelty is wrong... That being said you can kill an animal and eat it in a non cruel way.... I know that it is unethical to grab prisoners (bet they do it in china though) and force testing on them... but if they are guilty and really guilty not this eh I didn't do anything that happens sometimes... Why not offer them time off for time in medical testing you know the dangerous stuff that you would want to try on an animal that doesn't have all the same biology as humans.......
Yes! They do pay people to take part in trials. :) In fact, believe it or not, some people are career "trialists". Many grad student make small money out of taking part in studies. You are right in saying that all living systems are not equivalent. However, some testing is better than no testing at all. When products proclaim that there has been no animal testing, it inspires ZERO confidence in my and I immediately place it back. I'd rather see things like dermatologist-approved or some such comment OR chemicals/ingredient lists that I know about.
Yes, I prefer that there are no substitutions. If it is non-fat (apart from some really simple things like milk), manufacturers do add in other things to compensate. Not all non-fat/low-fat/low-sugar/low-salt stuff has substituted chemicals though. I literally read all the labels before making a decision to buy. Grocery shopping is often an intense speed-reading trip for me. But things like the potassium bromate does slip through, which is why I am posting here. I want to be more familiar with what I am consuming.
Yes, containers do leach out into food. I try not to heat plastics in the microwave. Glass/ceramic/stainless steel (for stovetop/baking) are my materials of choice. Plastics are all over the place however, it's hard to assess their complete effects because of difficulties in measurement.
I have this idea or theory on this drug and here is what it is supposed to do and have this effect so lets see what it does in an animal.... Now I get that there are things that can be deadly you don't know about or things you can perfect... But here is where the problem lies for me.... The Biology is different so if something works or doesn't it then would have to be altered cause a chimp or rabbit or rat or Lemur or what ever isn't a human.... So as bad as this sounds just go right to human testing... Yes I get that side effects and that kind of thing only happen to some people because we all don't have the exact same make up... But also shouldn't medicine or cosmetics be tested on sick people as well.... How will they be effected?
Now some would say that isn't ethical but why not as a starting point offer people who are sick in some form full payment of any medical bills from illness past and future as payment for being the animal....
Comment One of I think about 3.... Avoiding Chemicals is a good idea but not sure how possible it is... As an example there is this claim of things being Healthy... Like fat free or low fat or low Sodium or sugar free.. Well though if you take that stuff out you need something else in its place... Every chemical Sugar in some form (high heat like is setting in the bed of a truck or being stored in a garage hot enough not sure)... But some things when you take fat out to keep the same feel and taste something else has to be added and most times I'm guessing it is chemicals.....
I thought I remembered reading it only occurred at warm temperatures such that refrigerated soda was not as much an issue as warm pop. Personally I am equally as paranoid about the plastic bottles. Whatever bleaches put of that crap is not even on the label.
I meant ascorbic acid, not citric acid - both of which are naturally found in fruits and are not a health risk per se.
Hmm.. the benzene is formed via reaction with citric acid. I wonder what sorbic acid and phosphoric acid are reacting to form with sodium benzoate. Disturbing.
Nice. Now I feel I like I should dump the rest of the hummus in the garbage. Actually, I don't quite like the artichoke in it. Tastes iffy unlike the awesome (e:libertad)'s version.
This is a great idea. I really, really try to avoid things with chemicals other than the medicines I take. I realize you can't control everything but I can't tell you home many things I don't eat because of Sodium Benzoate after I read about how it forms benezine :::link:::