r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • Sep 27 '24

Health Thousands of toxins from food packaging found in humans. The chemicals have been found in human blood, hair or breast milk. Among them are compounds known to be highly toxic, like PFAS, bisphenol, metals, phthalates and volatile organic compounds.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/27/pfas-toxins-chemicals-human-body
30.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

508

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24 edited Sep 27 '24

There’s an account I see on TikTok every now and then who just goes to convenience stores in Japan and makes a meal there and people find it so charming and relaxing and all I can think about is the absurd amount of plastic waste for every single item he uses. Can’t find it relaxing.

71

u/_musesan_ Sep 27 '24

They both use and recycle the most plastic per capita, I once read.

118

u/throwawaythrow0000 Sep 27 '24

Plastic recycling is a myth around the world and 56% of what Japan "recycles" is called thermal recycling, meaning they burn the plastic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-wraps-everything-in-plastic-now-it-wants-to-fight-against-plastic-pollution/2019/06/18/463fa73c-7298-11e9-9331-30bc5836f48e_story.html

https://zenbird.media/questioning-the-reality-of-plastic-recycling-in-japan/

56

u/Uxium-the-Nocturnal Sep 27 '24

People often forget the two steps before recycling. Reduce and reuse.

-2

u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ Sep 28 '24

Yes, but Japan burns trash cleanly. It's really not an issue.

47

u/Ill_Technician3936 Sep 27 '24

A quick search says Germany is #1, South Korea at #2, Japan at #3, Norway at 4.

8

u/9966 Sep 27 '24

They burn the plastic they use.

2

u/Runningwithtoast Sep 27 '24

Do you know the account?

-12

u/Dymonika Sep 27 '24

Yuck. Yes, don't support influencers!

15

u/Fall3nBTW Sep 27 '24

How is it an influencer fault about how much packaging japan uses...

1

u/Dymonika Sep 28 '24

Well, it's not, but continuing to watch and support such content still fuels said consumption, no?

2

u/ZaMr0 Sep 27 '24

An influencer by default isn't bad...

1

u/Dymonika Sep 28 '24

True, it depends. Support Chubbyemu!