Paper and bamboo straws contain PFAS chemicals more often than plastic straws do
nbcnews.com
nbcnews.com
So basically nothing new. I was actually surprised they didn't find tons of pfas in paper straws as those stuff are lined with waterproof coating. On a tangent, paper straws are a symbol of everything that's wrong with current climate politics; we have to deal with inferior products, while the actual corporations responsible are free to act with impunity. All these edicts banning stuff such as plastic straws are passed on high from the ivory towers of conventions filled with politicians and successful businessman, flown in on private jets and driven the last mile in photogenic electric cars, to talk about what the lower classes do and do not deserve to have.
You all are grasping at straws. Of all the things in the world to want to stop making from oil, plastic straws have got to be at the bottom right before medical supplies.
And I'm definitely not saying they're significant, but saying this is "not a climate change issue" is just plain incorrect.
Keeps my lips and areas around my mouth clean, so I don't waste a napkin.
Don't have to put my lips on the cup/glass, so more sanitary if eating/drinking out.
Wait have you ever gotten an illness that was attributed to a rim of a beverage glass that wasn’t also present in the rest of the beverage?
but if i would take this consideration seriously then my conclusion would be to not consume anything at this place rather than assuming that the rim of a glass is the only place that is less likely to be clean.
I've seen this happen everywhere from the cheapest joint to the poshest of posh establishments that I view it as simple inevitability so long as humans are involved in serving.
but you waste a straw instead. i don't see any net benefit wrt this particular aspect
There are also accessibility reasons to need to use a straw. And some people prefer the taste of a drink with a straw.
I never felt this was a big effort. Is this like people driving automatic transmission that assume it's dangerous to drive stick because it's "distracting"? It's not distracting once you get used to it.
Most of these things if you do them often enough will not require any mental energy.
I'd argue you shouldn't be driving in those many situations (say, daily commute). But I'd rather a person's morning coffee be sucked than sipped behind the wheel.
So what I do now is not even worry about the order, but when the drinks arrive I strain out all the ice, to stop the melting and dilution process. Unfortunately I still see an appalling amount of ice displacing the volume of beverage.
Also, I have a beard, and so a straw is the best thing to prevent milk or soda or whatever soaking into my facial hair.
Currently I have a vast stockpile of plastic straws, because I usually order two drinks but use one straw. Mostly, the only sustainable, crap straws are the ones I've purchased separately.
Also, "Boy Was Near Death After Metal Straw Pierced Throat, Brain Artery", https://www.today.com/health/health/metal-straw-punctures-th....
Straws are useful for drinking lemon water, and maybe other drinks which have the wrong kind of acidity that can damage tooth enamel.
The straw can help to prevent the liquid from making contact with the teeth as you're drinking.
So, there's 2 different untested theories there, I am careless spreading around without having tested either of them myself, because I have unusually strong teeth, which is an uncommon but not rare thing.
Source: https://mtpak.coffee/2023/05/takeaway-coffee-cupsforever-che...
If I’m at a restaurant or home I rarely use one. Some cocktails at a bar also benefit similarly but others just a stirrer suffices for when it comes improperly mixed.
When bartending, they’re used to taste a drink if the bartender wants to ensure it tastes right before serving.
Reusable bamboo/metal straws are always an option of course (or even a requirement people with for certain disabilities) but for most people throwaway straws are the most ridiculous luxury people get upset about being taken away from them.
Because banning them is highly visible and enshittifies life in general (paper straws are fucking garbage and everyone knows this) without solving the actual problem (pollution should trend downwards).
This makes environmentalists happy, because making life worse for everyone is their goal (actual progress on the problem means they lose relevance/social power and nobody ever destroys their own meal ticket); and it makes the greenwashers happy, because it makes most people think something's being done even when it isn't (and can continue to sell truthy solutions that feel good but don't work, plus the profit and power that comes from having massive capital stores in an economic context artificially driven to zero-sum with environmentalism as the excuse to impose it).
I'm all for action against excessive packaging (as long as we don't cause food waste, i.e. by banning the plastic keeping fruits and vegetables edible for much longer) but nested plastics seems to be rather rare in my experience. Even sixpacks of cans come in cardboard packaging these days. It's been months since I last saw nested plastic packaging.
I've never seen any law specifically targeting straws. Most of the laws target single-use plastics, such as plastic cutlery and plates. The people focusing on straws seem to be "the damn liberal environmentalist communists want to make your life worse" types of media.
Well.. come to Europe.
But to be fair yeah, I think they banned most non biodegradable single use utensils.
Straws just turned out harder to replace compared to plates and forks. The plastic coated paper straws which are just as bad (if not worse) in most ways are just a perfect illustration why this policy wasn’t thought out that well.
I wonder if they are making the common mistake of searching for fluoride and assuming it must be a PFAS.
Additionally, PFAS surface coatings are often intentionally applied to glass to make it more hydro or oleophobic. [5] It stands to reason that PFAS could either be applied on purpose to glass straws, ('easy clean!') or for some other product in the same factory.
[1]: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/pfas/docs/sept_2020_pfas_samp...
[2]: https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/investigations/samplin...
[3]: https://www.mass.gov/doc/field-sampling-guide-for-pfas/downl...
[4]: https://epaz.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Conference/2-D1-13...
Meaning they are not being careful to distinguish between PFAS as included by the manufacturer, and PFAS that comes later.
So all the PFAS they found - is that just PFAS from the local water supply? If so the entire research is called into question.
(I highly doubt glass straws are being marketed as easy clean - the coating doesn't stay, you have to reapply it, so I doubt they would bother spending that money on straws for something temporary.)
On coatings: If you're a glass factory who has been pumping out say, PFAS coated glass beakers for years and then you decide to get into the straw game, why not coat those too if your beaker customers like the coating? Doesn't seem like much additional cost at 'shipping container scale' if you're running the coating shop anyway. And, I believe polymeric glass coatings can be attached 'for life' these days. Again I'm not an expert but I believe they are applied to smart phones, solar panels, exteriors of buildings, etc.
Cynically, a coating doesn't even have to stick around to be important enough to spend money on. Maybe it falls off immediately but just keeps the straws smudge free during packing with 20% less time on washing or something. Given the social understanding to wash new food grade stuff before use, I don't believe is a situation out of the ordinary.
I'd like to know more about all this as someone who uses glassware for ingested items - will do more research.
Because one applies to everyone, and the other only to those people who live in the same place as where the test was performed.
Controlling for contaminants is like rule one of this kind of study.
> If you're a glass factory who has been pumping out say, PFAS coated glass beakers for years
You're not. Those are not common things, they are specialty items. And most likely applied elsewhere, not as part of a glass factory anyway.
> And, I believe polymeric glass coatings can be attached 'for life' these days.
If that were true then the PFAS isn't leaving the glass to go into the human, which just calls the study even more into question. But I doubt there are any coatings in the first place (on glass), the PFAS came from elsewhere. (On the paper straws though, I totally believe the PFAS was applied deliberately - but this study is not where I'm learning that.)
Usually water is adsorbed on everything we interact with.
Myself, I prefer metal straws, with came also with a tool to clean them.
Perhaps skin diffusion has been taken into account somewhere but this is not carte blanche to up that dosage by some unknown exponent by shoving unknown, non-food grade plastic (whose constituent parts you don't even know) into your mouth
Polypropylene is most often used for single-serve containers like yogurt cups, but also shows up in reusable containers that can store leftovers. On top of being one of the FDA approved food contact materials, it's microwave safe and nonvolatile, meaning it will not react with any type of food you store in it, whether it's acidic, basic or liquid.
Bic pens are composed from polystyrene in their barrels for example, being the most sold pen in the world I'd take note and carefully research whether you've been looking at the materials list for the correct part.
I see no issue with plastic straws that are then used by peaker electric plants.