Researchers found low concentrations of so-called forever chemicals in various “eco-friendly” straws, raising doubts about whether they’re an appropriate alternative.
When the craze first started I remember seeing paper straws in plastic. Someone was close but didnt quite get it.
You do know that thin film clear “plastic” isn’t actually plastic right? Most of that is cellophane, which is made from plants and is biodegradable.
That’s why I used the word plastic and not “cellophane.” There were and still are companies that use non-biodegradable, non-plant based plastics to package their paper straws. But thank you…? I know you were going for a big internet gotcha moment there.
Like 99% of people don’t need straws they just want them. Learn to drink like an adult and you’re good
No comment on the level of PFAS aside from
though the levels were low
This is just feeding the outrage machine to get clicks. If it was a story they’d be citing concentration guidelines and telling you what concentrations were found in the products. It’s not a story, it’s rage bait.
Agreed. If it was “intentionally added” PFAS, it would say that, and that might be a big deal. I read through the article and didn’t see that. Just speculation that it might be. PFAS is everywhere.
I agree 99%. The 1% left is that, honestly, it is shitty that they contain any kind of PFAS to begin with. If PFAS in any kind of concentration are part of the production process, then it just isn’t sustainable in the long run.
But the question is why do we need straws at all. I doubt that back in 1970 anyone would drink a latte macchiato with a straw. I found it strange just 15 years ago. If you fancy straws, you can get one high quality reusable one (steel, bamboo whatever) and carry it with you - I find this proposition much less offensive then expecting me to always carry a huge reusable cup with me. And for the most part you can consume drinks without a straw.
Now, there is people who have disabilities that require them to use a straw. For them, have some in store as a vendor, and hand them out if requested.
It really depends on the levels, they are called forever chemicals because they last forever. In many cities you can detect cocaine in drinking water…
How’s cocaine got in your comment?
But then it doesn’t depend on the level actually. If something toxic has a half life of a billion years then it shouldn’t be used in production, no matter in what amount/at what levels. Cocaine will degrade at some point and also not stay in your system forever so I would argue that there can be a safe level of cocaine in drinking water. (I mean it still shouldn’t be there, but it doesn’t cause trouble on the grander scheme of things.)
(using secretive slightly agitated conspiracy voice) That’s how they getcha man… Cocaine in the water man… it’s in there on purpose… they get you hooked on the coke and to get it you keep drinking the water to get mooooore! EVERYONE THAT EVER DRANK WATER HAS DIED AT SOME POINT??? (walks away mumbling about tin foil hats and mind control)
I knew I should have avoided the comments… The fact that defence of this bullshit ban still endures (and in the literal face of its failures) frustrates me beyond words.
The plastic straws also contain PFAS anyway so paper still may be marginally better, but it’s definitely money and time that could have been better spent on a different environmental initiative. I’m happy to see plastic bags go, though. Can’t win em all
I don’t fuck with ANY straw that ain’t metal
Okay, but what kind of straws do you drink with?
… metal ones?
(It’s a joke about being literal with peoples words)
They may not be safe
The researchers sampled 39 brands of straws made of paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. Of those, 27 were found to contain PFAS, though the concentrations were low.
Read the entire thing:
Of the straws tested in the study, those made of paper were the most likely to contain PFAS: The chemicals were detected in 18 out of 20 brands. Four out of five bamboo straws sampled contained PFAS, compared to three out of four plastic straws and two out of five glass straws. All five stainless steel straws analyzed were PFAS-free.
Thank you. Sorry I missed that.
I’d suggest not fucking with anything that lacks a flared base.
I use glass ones personally - tried plastic ones but kept biting them 🤦♂️.
Have you had any issues with rust on your straws? I’ve noticed some stainless steel stuff goes rusty if it’s been left on some other wet steel item for a while, although I have no idea why that happens
Once in a restaurant I got some longe macaroni pasta as a straw and I still think this was genius.
Unless you have a gluten allergy, or need to drink something hot.
Gluten free pasta exists.
Also love the idea of having to quickly drink your hot drink before your straw becomes a limp noodle (literally) 😂
skill issue
To the gluten allergy or shotgunning scalding hot liquids?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Scientists in Belgium recently tested dozens of straws from supermarkets, retail stores and fast-food restaurants in the country, and found that the majority contained PFAS — a family of synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of consumer products because they can resist stains, grease and water.
Thimo Groffen, an author of the new study and environmental scientist at the University of Antwerp, said it’s not clear whether the manufacturers of the straws he analyzed are intentionally adding PFAS as a waterproof coating.
Graham Peaslee, who studies PFAS at the University of Notre Dame and was not involved in the new research, said it’s possible manufacturers aren’t testing for the chemicals in their own products.
Keith Vorst, director of the Polymer and Food Protection Consortium at Iowa State University, said some of the straws in the study exceeded the proposed EPA concentrations for water.
Various states, including California, Colorado, New York and Oregon, have banned plastic straws from food establishments in the last five years, and chains like Starbucks have phased them out.
The main reason is that the straws generally can’t be recycled, so they wind up in landfills, get burned in incinerators or become litter that contaminates oceans, rivers, lakes and streams.
The original article contains 958 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
sigh We can’t do anything right, can we?
This bot is terrible and I wish it would be banned. It’s basically just randomly selects snippets and it leaves out very important details.
The actual article says that the concentrations are very low and they don’t even know if the manufacturer is intentionally putting them there or if they’re finding their way in from other sources during manufacture. Also says the bamboo straws may have been grown in soil containing PFAS.
They even found PFAS on most of the glass straws.
It’s concerning sure but the levels are so low that straws are the least of our concern when it comes to PFAS exposure.
Thanks for the extra info!
It no longer uses ChatGPT for some reason, the algorithm it’s using now seems to be picking what it thinks is most important (turns out in an article of 1k words, it’s chosen the opening, introductions of important-sounding people, and a summary)
It could benefit from a delete-on-many-downvotes like system, where that also notifies a human reviewer to look at the article, ultimately with the aim of improving the summarisation algorithm.
I am biased in the sense that I like the bot, especially its ability to retrieve paywalled articles and negate the need to see cookie popups by visiting the site etc. With this article though it’s blatantly missed the mark.
It’s important to keep in mind that 75% of plastic straws also contain PFAS.
The truth is, the PFAS stuff is independent of the main material of the straw* (yeah there’s an asterisk, sec on that). It just so happens that PFAS are really good when we need to have a material not stick to food stuff too well and become unhygienic during its intended use time.
*: Straws from glass and metal are an exception because those materials naturally do not bind well to grease, liquids and stains. They don’t need an extra PFAS coating. But plastic, paper, bamboo, they virtually all do.
That is to say, I would split the problem: We got the main material part done now, we’re no longer using plastic for it. Now to get the coating done and use something that degrades very quickly.
Gotcha gotcha. Thanks for the extra info!
What about just plain beeswax?
Absolutely not someone in that or any adjacent industry, so I would not know whether that’s a usable solution. Could work, I mean it is used for gummi bears. But there might also be a thing about how it only lasts in closed packs I would imagine, and unlike gummi bears - which are gone ~11,5 seconds after opening a pack - straws are often kept around for months after a few have been used. No clue. There’s probably a better solution than PFAS coating though, granted.
PFAS is everywhere at this point. Unfortunately they’re reeeeeally good at what they’re designed for and they’re cheap. We’ll need viable alternatives so they can be phased out. I think they should be banned from products that don’t really need them like dental floss and hopefully we come up with an enzyme or something that can cheaply break it down in the environment.
Side note, there has been at least one study that shows that donating blood regularly can reduce the amount of PFAS in your blood. This doesn’t solve the problem of the stuff being everywhere but it’s good to know you can remove it from your body over time.
Donating plasma is particularly good at reducing your blood PFAS, and they pay you for donating plasma in lots of places in the US
Yep, I think you can donate plasma more often as well. Oneblood will give you giftcards and swag for whole blood, not nearly as good a payout as plasma but it’s also like 15 minutes where my experience with plasma was a couple hours, they did set me up with netflix during the process so I think it’s worth the extra bit of time.
Just use straw
Or iron
Or no straws.
Who tf uses straws anyway
straws are better for your teeth when drinking soda
Who cares about health when drinking soda?
Me when it’s time to see the dentist. Straws do protect your teeth from a lot of the damage the soda would do. Even the citric acid in diet sodas and other drinks can wear down your enamel. I think you can want to enjoy soda while still trying to keep your teeth attached to your head.
tbh if you’re drinking soda often enough where straws are the reason your teeth don’t fall out, I don’t think the health of your teeth is the biggest concern.
Yeah, that would be a problem, but It was also hyperbole. It doesn’t take much soda to damage your teeth though.
If you’re drinking enough soda that the way in which you consume it concerns you and your dental health, you have a problem.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive. There are also many reasons people can’t use different alternatives.
You personally not using something, doesn’t mean others don’t, and to deny access to a literal lifeline for the sake of 0.003% of the plastics in the ocean (literally a drop in an ocean) because it makes you feel better and requires zero effort or sacrifice (from you), instead of actually acting to resolve the problem (like being anti-capitalist rather than just trying to apply band aids to its symptoms) is not only gross and ableist, but also a colossal counterproductive waste of time.
Shit man you got me, I want disabled people to die from thirst, I fucking love killing disabled people in the weekend it’s my favorite hobby.
Calling me ableist because I make fun of straws is legitimately deranged, are you in the pockets of big straw or something?
(also the solution to plastic straws is easy, just use the ones that you can clean and reuse)
Eh, bendy straws are kinda neat.
kinda neat
Climate debate over folks. “Kinda neat” trumps destroying the environment every day of the week. If they were just “sorta neat” or “not really neat” we could ban them, but putting a few hundre metric tons of plastics into the waste stream is a reasonable tradeoff when you’re at the level of “kinda neat”.
I kid, of course…kinda.
Straws are a rounding error and a scapegoat when it comes to climate debate.
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Most people, most people use straws.
Strongly recommend hay straws (like, made of “straw”).
They’re better than paper in that they don’t sog up. They’re inconsistent in size but that has never bothered me. A little flimsy, but I stir iced drinks with them all the time.
Also sugar cane straws
Do we really need more sugar? We already have too much sugar in our diets. Why make straws into sugar too?
They make the straw from parts of the sugar cane plant that don’t contain sugar. (After using the other parts to make sugar.)
Correct :)
It’s basically made of wood pulp.
I do love people’s knee jerk reaction at the word “sugar”. I don’t think they’ve ever seen a sugar cane, they’re probably imagining this:
Now they’re making canes out of sugar?! /s
Sugar cane, silly, not candy cane :)
It’s wood pulp, there is almost zero sugar in a sugar cane once they’re done extracting the cane sugar out of it, which is when it can be re-used to do other things.
It’s made of bagasse (sugarcane fibers, basically wood pulp) and binders like PLA and is entirely compostable.
I’ma eat it anyway
I figured it was made from the sugar from sugar cane, but it seems that it is just the cane from the sugar cane. I have seen sugar straws, so my bad.
I agree
Holy shit why didn’t anyone think of this before lol
Well straw can easily split. Don’t know how I feel like spending $5 on grass. 🙄
I’ve had similar, but they smelled like… hay.
Do these have any smell?
They don’t have any taste even if you chew on them a bit. The box does have a slight shrub odor, but it doesn’t seem to be present when using them.
Or just drink from the cup?
Or steel straws. I’ve been using those for about 5 years now
I can’t do metal, I HATE the feeling of metal on my teeth. There are ones with silicon nubs on the end, but then that’s more plastic…
I believe silicone is its own natural material, not plastic
Petty sure its made from oil same as plastic, resin, etc.
It’s made out of the element, silicon, hence the name.
Teeth? You are using straws wrong. They are supposed to only touch your lips
You’ve NEVER hit your teeth by mistake with a straw or fork or something?
Of course not never, but not often enough to even recall once really.
It sounded like you are chewing on straws or so. Sorry for the misunderstanding!
I use a metal straw with a silicon bendy bit on the end, and it’s not like I throw away the bendy part.
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I had metal straws but I switched to glass because I can see if they’re clean easily and they feel better imo.
Can’t use those with toddlers
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Doesn’t work well for thicker beverages like milkshakes or iced coffee’s. But for most drinks i agree no straw is best.
The best milkshakes I’ve had didn’t use straws – too thick.
That’s called ice cream
What do you mean you can’t drink ice coffee without a straw?
Yeah!!! Straws suck!
When you’re driving?
I do that too. There are plenty of subthreads going arguing straw-use is an accessibility issue, but in my case, I just want them for specific drinks – mostly cocktails.
The head on a Ramos Gin Fizz practically requires a straw to enjoy. Especially as someone with a mustache.
We have a couple metal straws and washable plastic ones. The metal ones probably have lead and the plastic ones are made of baby kittens.
The plastic ones will be leaching pthalates, microplastics and PFAS into whatever you’re drinking.
But then that’s true of any plastic you’re eating or drinking from so… cool cool cool.
We’ve got a bunch of glass ones. Probably has puppies in it or something.
Yeah but those are crack pipes so naturally you’re less picky.
Oooh, is that why there were little roses in them?
But man, you can really taste the kitten
If I’m not mistaken, manufacturing facilities spray PFAS agents on various conveyor parts to prevent pulp from sticking to them and therefore require stoppage and cleaning. In other words, PFAS reduce the time and money spent on cleaning manufacturing equipment. Congratulations shareholders!
It’s all about doing the least while charging the most.
I’m glad someone is thinking of the shareholders. It’s about time we focus on them and not such pesky abstractions like “the environment” or “the future”
/s
Haha fucking idiot whoever came up whit this bullshit.
God i love my glass straws
“All the straw manufacturers should take warning and say, ‘Hey, do we use this stuff?’ Because at the moment, they’re not even asking that question,”
That is kind of concerning!
