Cancer causing food additive hoax/revelation?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Geocentricity

Senior member
Sep 13, 2006
768
0
0
I'm not sure what kind of crack Asian people have been smoking, but there's a huge buzz in Southeast Asian news about the discovery of a GLOBALLY used food additive causing cancer in humans.

The news sources claim that this "chemical" is used GLOBALLY to prevent separation of liquids. Soft drinks, BUBBLE TEA?, you name it, its in it. Not just in China, I mean GLOBALLY.

I scoured the internet for evidence of such BS and found nothing. My parents and Chinese members of my church are going bonkers, telling everyone to not drink bubble tea and other Asian stuff. But this stupidity goes even further.

UPDATE: I found ONE source in the last hour http://www.cnkeyword.info/food-additives-found-to-cause-cancer-in-taiwan-against-male-fertility/
Anyone know wtf are these ppl freaking out over?
 
Last edited:

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,389
30,459
146
I think they should be more concerned over lead in their products that are made in China.
 

GlacierFreeze

Golden Member
May 23, 2005
1,125
1
0
I'm not sure what kind of crack Asian people have been smoking, but there's a huge buzz in Southeast Asian news about the discovery of a GLOBALLY used food additive causing cancer in humans.

The news sources claim that this "chemical" is used GLOBALLY to prevent separation of liquids. Soft drinks, BUBBLE TEA?, you name it, its in it. Not just in China, I mean GLOBALLY.

I scoured the internet for evidence of such BS and found nothing. My parents and Chinese members of my church are going bonkers, telling everyone to not drink bubble tea and other Asian stuff. But this stupidity goes even further.

UPDATE: I found ONE source in the last hour http://www.cnkeyword.info/food-additives-found-to-cause-cancer-in-taiwan-against-male-fertility/
Anyone know wtf are these ppl freaking out over?

ZOMG let's freak out over nothing, and I mean GLOBALLY! :rolleyes:
 

nanette1985

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2005
4,209
2
0
DEHP. I've heard a few people talking about it. I'm not in Taiwan so I haven't paid much attention.
 
Last edited:

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
16
81
The article seems to be about DHEP. This is not a food additive.

It is a substance that is used to make plastics soft - e.g. it is added to PVC in order to make soft packaging, or clothing (without it, PVC would be hard and solid, like PVC drain pipe).

It's possible that there was a contamination incident. However, it is not a recognised food additive due to its toxicity. Conceivably, however, some dishonest chinese food producers have been adding it to food, for some reason - in much the same way as they added melamine to milk powder in order to make the nutritional tests better than they were (melamine shows up as protein if analysed using standard food analysis tests).
 
Last edited:

Gibsons

Lifer
Aug 14, 2001
12,530
35
91
Looks like DEHP has plenty of bad effects, but cancer isn't one of them. At least according to wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bis(2-ethylhexyl)_phthalate

Effects on living organisms
[edit] Smaller penis size and other feminizing links

DEHP metabolites measured from the blood of pregnant women have been significantly associated with the decreased penis width, shorter anogenital distance, and the incomplete descent of testes of their newborn sons, replicating effects identified in animals.[6] Approximately 25% of US women have phthalate levels similar to those in the study.[6]
[edit] Obesity

A study on CDC data published in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), revealed that American men with abdominal obesity or insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes) were more likely to have high levels of DEHP and DBP metabolites in their urine than men without those problems.[7]
[edit] Toxicity

The acute toxicity of DEHP is 30g/kg in rats (oral) and 24g/kg in rabbits (dermal).[1] Concerns instead focus on its potential as an endocrine disruptor. Some countries have banned DEHP from toys; see phthalate for legal status.
[edit] Cardiotoxicity

A clinically relevant dose and duration of exposure to DEHP has been shown to have a significant impact on the behavior of cardiac cells in culture. This includes an uncoupling effect that leads to irregular rhythms in vitro. This is observed in conjunction with a significant decrease in the amount of gap junctional connexin proteins in cardiomyocytes treated with DEHP.[8][9]
I'm sure atot'ers would like to comment on the penis size issue and whether that means anything to any particular ethnic group. :whiste:
 

Gibsons

Lifer
Aug 14, 2001
12,530
35
91
The article seems to be about DHEP. This is not a food additive.

It is a substance that is used to make plastics soft - e.g. it is added to PVC in order to make soft packaging, or clothing (without it, PVC would be hard and solid, like PVC drain pipe).

It's possible that there was a contamination incident. However, it is not a recognised food additive due to its toxicity. Conceivably, however, some dishonest chinese food producers have been adding it to food, for some reason - in much the same way as they added melamine to baby milk in order to fake the results of protein tests.

I'd guess the concern is that it leaches out of plastics? It's not soluble in water though.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,410
5,823
146
The article seems to be about DHEP. This is not a food additive.

It is a substance that is used to make plastics soft - e.g. it is added to PVC in order to make soft packaging, or clothing (without it, PVC would be hard and solid, like PVC drain pipe).

It's possible that there was a contamination incident. However, it is not a recognised food additive due to its toxicity. Conceivably, however, some dishonest chinese food producers have been adding it to food, for some reason - in much the same way as they added melamine to milk powder in order to make the nutritional tests better than they were (melamine shows up as protein if analysed using standard food analysis tests).

Sounds like something that shouldn't be added to food, so yeah, it sounds like this might be a legitimate concern if they're catching companies doing that.
 

Savij

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,233
0
71
only story found on a Chinese news agency reporting bad news about Taiwan...yeah that's reliable.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.