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Comment by drob518 | Hacker News Reader

Way to ruin my Friday. Sigh. Now, I can’t even drink to forget society’s ills.

If you're going to worry about beer, worry about the alcohol, which is unquestionably toxic and carcinogenic.

This study is almost like an intentional parody of people who miss the forest for the trees: "lead poisoning a leading cause of death in gunshot victims!"

Also liver damage has got to be one of the worst lived experiences that exists. And alcohol seems to slowly accumulate that damage over time. After seeing the end state with my grandparents and experiencing the end state with a viral infection I decided that alcohol just isn't worth it. It's not that good of an experience compared to alternatives to justify that awfulness.

What sorts of alternatives are you comparing to, if I might ask? (I personally find cannabis very different than alcohol in lots of ways)

So you're right, cannabis seems to produce a "drunk" effect in some people but I've never had it. Not the kind of thing I would take if I wanted to party.

MDMA in my opinion produces "happy-lovey-drunk+" and it seems from friends it produces that effect even for people who are sad drunks. It does come with a crash but it's about the same as a hangover. And ice cold water tastes amazing rather than having to force it down.

Ketamine (at low doses, too much and you'll stare off into space) also produces a drunk like effect. You'll feel euphoric, blurry vision, loss of motor control. It feels tipsy-ish. The biggest pro is that there's no crash, your high just kinda ends.

Don't misunderstand me: I enjoy a drink now and again, but it's obviously silly to be obsessing about PFAS in beer when the alcohol is the definitive risk to your health, with a double underscore.

That said, as long as you aren't consuming regularly in excess, even the alcohol isn't going to affect your lifespan. It just goes to illustrate the relative levels of absurdity involved here.

And now you’re going to give me another thing to worry about?!?!

You still can, just don't drink beer made in US plague states.

Here's the study map: https://pubs.acs.org/cms/10.1021/acs.est.4c11265/asset/image...

And here's the 2024 presidential election map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/El...

Or.. drink enough of it until you forget that you were worried in the first place.

I feel it's needless to say that's not actual advice.. but well, better safe than sorry lol.

EDIT: I mean, of all the health reasons not to drink beer.. PFAS is _probably_ not the main one to worry about? I'm not a doctor, but it seems there's already enough known adverse effects that this additional piece of information is probably not a dealbreaker for those who drink?

Now do the crime map!

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