# Plastic safety: how to approach costs and benefits

**URL:** <https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/plastic-safety-how-to-approach-costs-and-benefits/5710>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Tags:** plastic, public-health\
**Created:** [17 December 2024 09:15 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/plastic-safety-how-to-approach-costs-and-benefits/5710 "2024-12-17T09:15:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eggspurt](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/eggspurt/32/3686_2.png) [@eggspurt](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/eggspurt)\
**Post date:** [17 December 2024 09:15 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/plastic-safety-how-to-approach-costs-and-benefits/5710/1 "2024-12-17T09:15:55Z")

</div>

Here’s how one should evaluate policies:

[![](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/uploads/default/original/3X/8/6/8608dba39b35e68f0c1dbcf62aa86f436823b7ff.jpeg)](https://www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10.1073/pnas.2412714121)

There was a detailed analysis of the presence of phtalates in food - at much higher levels than one might expect:

> **[The Plastic Chemicals Hiding in Your Food - Consumer Reports](https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the-plastic-chemicals-hiding-in-your-food-a7358224781/)**
>
> CR tested popular fast foods and supermarket staples for some of the chemicals used to make plastic, which can be harmful to your health. Here's what we found—and how to stay safer.

The paper does analysis in a sensible way, estimating the impact of flame retardants that were ushered into regulation decades ago. I remember the highly emotional introduction of flame retardants without real consideration of costs, through often dramatic testimonials: [https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/retired-uw-burn-doctor-telling-tales-to-promote-fire-retardants/](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/retired-uw-burn-doctor-telling-tales-to-promote-fire-retardants/)