I received the following information by email:

quote:

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Dioxin - causes cancer

A lab tech sent the following e-mail re Dioxins - please read!!!

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in their newsletters...worth noting... This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dioxin Carcinogens causes cancer. Especially breast cancer. Don't freeze your plastic water bottles with water as this also releases dioxin in the plastic.

Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle hospital was on a TV program explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital.) He was talking about dioxin and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Dioxin are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies.

Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results .without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. Just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. To add to this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels.

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Does anybody know anything about this?

Daryl, I believe this is true information. I had heard it from another source.

And I just bought a bunch of ziplock plastic containers for leftovers! I'm very glad to be reminded about this information as I feel it is important, especially for those who might be high risk for cancer, and breast cancer especially.

Well, off to the store for some glass containers now!!

The danger here might be overblown, but maybe not:

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/plastic.htm

http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/fs-mwave.html

I guess I don't put a lot of confidence in the FDA necessarily but what you have listed, John, is interesting to read. Snopes is usually reliable too. And it sounds like on this one they aren't sure.

What I do know is that cancer is on the rise alarmingly and since I am high risk (my younger sister died of breast cancer at 31) then I probably should stay away from the plastic dishes. I'm not too keen on glass, however I plan to look for some today and just check them out.

I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

On the subject of dioxins, Robert Cohen put out an interesting installment of his NotMilk newsletter the other day:

"Dioxins in Dairy"
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1689

Those are some scary stats John.. Definitely a vegan diet is the healthiest way to go.
God Bless,
Will

I wonder if Tupperware falls under the "do not microwave in" category? They say they are microwave safe for many of their containers, and in fact have a new line of "microwave cooking" containers.... Hmmm.....