The Saran Wrap - Microwave - Cancer connection. Fully debunked?

[The Backlash Cometh]

Snopes appears to have debunked the position, but I don't know if it's a partial debunking specifically applicable to plastic containers and frozen water in the microwave, or if it applies to saran wrap in the microwave, as the study that was performed by the high school student back in 2002.
Here is the snopes link:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cookplastic.asp

Also, there was a valid study by a high school student that involved saran wrap, oil, and leaching that occurred with microwaves, but this article suggests that though leaching did occur, there is no harm as long as you use plastic which is FDA approved.

"According to FDA , “While it is true that chemicals used to make plastics can leach into food from plastic containers and films, all of the regulated chemicals used to make plastics for food contact, including DEHA, have been reviewed by FDA and have been found safe for their intended use.”

Although a real student named Claire Nelson did receive an award for a school project in the late 1990s, the award was based on her systematic approach to exploring a question, not for identifying a danger to human health as suggested in the e-mail hoax"

http://www.plasticsmythbuster.org/carcinogens.asp

So, the conclusion of the second article is that leaching does occur, but if you use appropriate regulated containers, you should be okay. That leaves out the obvious. What about containers which don't meet requirements, but you have no way of knowing?

[clmbohdem]

1. "though leaching did occur"... Why take the risk?

If I have the choice of eating chicken with FDA approved levels of dioxin and chicken without dioxin, I'll take the latter.

[havocmom]

3. Yep. FDA works for corporations, not us these days

FDA= Forget Dioxin, America!

[kurth]

2. Always a good idea to leave a gap

whether plastic or paper is used.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. All that microwavable food comes in...

approved containers. Not that you should necessarily believe that there is no danger at all even from the approved containers, even though the FDA says they haven't found any problems. It's the problems they haven't found yet... Most of these chemicals are inert and just flushed through the body, but you just never really know.

I don't eat much microwavable mac&cheese and such, but it doesn't bother me to eat some frozen dinners once in a while. What I will NOT do is nuke something in a cheesy plastic dish I got at the dollar store. You don't know anything about that container.

In fact, I got rid of all the cheesy plastic stuff I collected over the years, even those thermal coffee cups. No need to deal with them when there's plenty of glass and metal containers around. Besides all the peanut butter and tomato sauce jars I don't throw away, I even found a $10 stainless steel coffee cup for the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter.

It's not much trouble at all to get away from excessive plastics use, but I am kinda pissed at how difficult it's getting to find mayonnaise in a glass jar now. Quart mayonnaise jars are useful for lots of things.

[Mugu]

5. Glass is my preference for microwave cooking.

I don’t know about today’s plastics, but some non-food plastic containers of yesteryear used fungicides to prevent molds etc.

I always liked the gallon glass jars with metal lids for storage. They are getting much more difficult to find.

[napi21]

6. I personally think this is all scare tactics. I've been warming foods

on, in, and covered by plastics for 35 years, and I still don't see any problem with it!

If you want to worry about something, check into what they are feeding and injecting into the beef, pork and chickens of this Country to make them grow faster and bring them to market quicker JUST for a better profit! Why do you think a Pork chop doesn't taste as good as you remember it as a child? Why do most, if not all, organic meats and free range meats taste so much better than the standard fare? (Not that a lot of us have been able to spend the extra $$ to try free range & organc!)

With all the food engineering thats been going on for many years, I suspect the last thing you need to worry about is warming your lunch on a plastic plate!

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Well, I did find something organic that did taste like shit.

Organic licorice. Yech!

[napi21]

8. Hmmm, I WAS talking primarily about meats. I don't know anything about

licorice.

For 13 years, I worked for a big health food company. They had their own production facilities and used to make a lot of different "health foods". Twice each year, the research guys would bring their "new ideas" to the home office for the employees to evaluate.

You want to talk about tasting like ?????? Most of the things I tasted reminded me more of cardboard or dog food. think they all hated me becasue I would always say, if it doesn't taste good, you're not going to be able to sell it!