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Comment by westward | Hacker News Reader

And it wasn't until the 1970s that the US banned lead paint in houses. 200 years after Ben Franklin wrote that it was bad.

Like, clearly plastics are bad. And yet, humans like the convenience, the utility.

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"Plastic is bad" is the current fad. There is nothing clear about it. Sure Macroplastic causes well documented damage. I don't know of any proven effects of Microplastics in large animals/humans. The argument seems to be more "it can't be good". I'm not at all invested in plastic and I'm all for protecting our environment, but I sense some sort of mass hysteria going on here again. Good that people are documenting the spread of man-made stuff and look for negative effects, no need for the permanent fearmongering. Also plastics are very different, some are rather bad (pvc,epoxy) others quite harmless (pe,pp).

I remember, about 1968-1972, my parents replacing the dishes we ate off of. The old ones were some kind of glazed pottery-type stuff. I didn't at all understand at the time, but I'm fairly sure now that they replaced them because of concern for lead in the glaze.

Then there’s also the radioactive glow in the dark cookware that used to trend.

And the profits! Why would someone exchange a personal short term profit for the society health? :-)

What profits? Cardboard wrapping is cheaper than plastic. Plastic is chosen because it’s better.

But then people on the internet can't rant about a cartoon caricature of what capitalism actually is.

I think that's more because we don't have better options than anything else.

Also, as a reminder, leaded gas (avgas) is still used all over the United States pumping lead into the environment. If you live near an airport you are especially at increased risk of lead exposure in the environment.

The FAA finally approved 100UL gas for small airplanes. I'm not sure how widely it's available now.

Also also, shit tons of poor folk all over the country live in homes full of lead pipes and paint that their landlords are too cheap to fix.

Asbestos too, though that's less threatening as long as it's not being actively fucked with.

Generally speaking, it's better to cover up asbestos than it is to remove it. Remediation attempts can easily go wrong, moving the asbestos from "hidden and staying put under tiles" to "free floating dust in the air and your lungs". One of my parents' friends got mesothelioma from doing just that.

This is just for general aviation though. Jet fuel has no lead in it. Not that this means it’s healthy, just that jet exhaust pollution does not include appreciable amounts of lead.

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