[at-l] Cooling in Plastic - from someone who does this for a living

[wdaniels@bestweb.net (Walt Daniels)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net
> [mailto:at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net]On Behalf Of Clark Wright
> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 9:42 PM
> To: Leslie Booher
> Cc: DTimm65344@aol.com; daveh@psknet.com; jbkramer@afn.org;
> ellen@clinic.net; at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Cooling in Plastic - from someone who does this for
> a living
>
>
> Having spent almost 20 years in env. law, here are a few zingers to
> thing about.  First, it's all a game of deciding how much effort you
> want to put into minimizing what are generally very low risks, but which
> can cumulatively add up.  An IMPORTANT factor here is your own stress
> level, if you WORRY too much about avoiding all trace carcinogens, etc.
> you actually can end up doing your body/mind more damage than the
> chemicals are doing  . . . with that caveat, here are a few oddball
> things to "gently" worry about: :)
>
> 1)  All older wine has lead foil wrappers around the top; EPA studies
> show it can leach in, or you can get some from traces on the bottle
> rim.  EPA banned lead foil in wine bottle tops several years ago . . .
> so, before you enjoy that 1963 cabernet, take care in removing the foil,
> and wipe the top of the bottle.
>
> 2)  Brandy stored for any time in leaded crystal decanters will contain
> leached lead; better yet, don't use any of that fancy (or cheap) leaded
> crystal with any alcoholic beverage.
>
> 3)  It always is possible for all plastic containers to leach small
> amounts of various "chemical stuff" into whatever liquid or solid food
> is being containerized.  I always thought it was funny to find fancy
> "spring water" in those 1 gal. plastic jugs . . . or the chug sized ones
> people buy to "drink healthier."
>
> 4)  All kinds of debates rage re chlorinated and flouridated tap water;
> I don't run the other way, but we've used for years those filters you
> can get that attach to the kitchen tap, so that 80% of what we drink is
> filtered - but then again, I have not thrown out the plastic ice trays!
> :)
>
> 5)  Most good sized fish is guaranteed to have bioaccumulated something,
> whether trace heavy metals (tuna/swordfish), or river fish (dioxins,
> DDT, PCBs, etc.) or who knows what??
>
> 6)  Most campfire rings on the Trail have trace plastic, garbage, etc.
> in them - I bet we all inhaled some lovely stuff in good ole campfire
> smoke, not to mention that particulates alone are bad enough.
>
> 7)  Then there's all that unfiltered sunshine to give us skin cancer . .
>
> 8)  Then there's who knows what in those plastic filters we use . . .
>
> 9)  Then there's all that iodine - or chlorine bleach we're consuming as
> alternate water treatment methods . . .
>
> 10)  Then there's all that nylon/plastic/DEET/seam sealer traces and who
> knows what else smell we breathe at night if we sleep in a zipped up
> tent in the winter . . .
>
> 11)  Then there's the aromatic hydrocarbons from white gas . . .
>
And Clark Wright left out ....
15) walking under powerlines instead of walking around the other end
16) using a cell phone (microwave radiation)
17) or flying in an airplane to get to one end or the other (more cosmic
rays)
18) or even climbing to the tops of mountains (more cosmic rays)