Saturday Morning Ramble...
So, it's a lovely Saturday morning outside, and I'm here working in the lab. Lots of stuff to do - the consequences of taking Labor weekend and a day more off for Fi's birthday - and the result of committing to a Sox game tomorrow. Someone, teach me baseball! (The Sox are baseball, right?) Well, at least I'm upfront about it - I'm not going for the game, I'm going for the company.
Talking of games, I seem to be on a roll. We spent most of Fi's birthday at the US Open, and for all my years of watching Paa cheer tennis players on TV, I *should* be ashamed to admit that I learnt the rules enough to follow the game just the day before. But I'm not. Added to which, I am a bit surprised that Fi chose to celebrate his birthday in the searing sun, walking around, lying down on semi-wet grass and watching the occasional set of tennis. Well, I guess he'd be equally surprised if I decided to drag him around to the Met for my birthday next year - which I should, you know. Now, that would be a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday! (The wonderful-est, of course, is the way Pink celebrated hers - by defending her dissertation and getting that almost elusive PhD!)
Last weekend, though, was still fun. We met up with Ananymous a couple of times. We had a nice picnic in The Park on Sunday (bhel-puri and sandwiches), and a birthday lunch (with the most delicious koftas - I surpass myself sometimes!) for both Fi and Ananymous on Monday. It was an eventful-in-a-quiet-way vacation. I only wonder how hard Di worked at getting used to my occasional bouts of, well, weirdness!
On another note, has anyone been reading about the Popcorn Lung guy lately? I hit this really good public health blog, The Pump Handle, when looking up this silly-sounding (but not so silly) ailment. They have some really good coverage on several issues that I'd consider more urgent than popcorn lung. And, here's my reaction to all the hype:
1. It's just ONE consumer so far - independent researchers should undertake detailed studies before making any sort of decision or judgement on food flavorings.
2. As far as workers go, I'm sure there is a way to 'insulate' them from the flavoring. At the very extreme, oxygen masks? But at the same time, it is weird that symptoms that were ignored all these years in popcorn-factory workers are now big news when seen in a single consumer.
3. Maybe the FDA can restrict the amount of diacetyl used in butter-flavored popcorn, instead of taking diacetyl off the GRAS list altogether. After all, the chemical is a radical found naturally in several other products, and not harmful when taken in regulation amounts.
4. Please, why are we basing all our hype on the guy who's been eating two bags of butter-flavored popcorn everyday, for the last ten years?? At that rate, I'd be worried about worse ailments than popcorn lung.
Please note: I don't really care for the microwaveable buttered popcorn - I don't like it very much and I haven't eaten it in months, maybe years. I'm also not much of a fan of preservatives and flavoring in food - I like most of my stuff organic. But at the same time, there is a difference between systematic research and judgements based on plain hysteria - and there always is a middle ground. One bag of buttered popcorn taken the way it is meant to be - i.e., maybe once a month, might not even be a bad thing - if the rest of your lifestyle is tolerably healthy. Or else, remove everything else that contains diacetyl off the shelves - according to one comment I read, this includes organic butter, cheese, sour cream, etc. How moderate are we anyway if we make Wayne Watson an ideal example???
Talking of games, I seem to be on a roll. We spent most of Fi's birthday at the US Open, and for all my years of watching Paa cheer tennis players on TV, I *should* be ashamed to admit that I learnt the rules enough to follow the game just the day before. But I'm not. Added to which, I am a bit surprised that Fi chose to celebrate his birthday in the searing sun, walking around, lying down on semi-wet grass and watching the occasional set of tennis. Well, I guess he'd be equally surprised if I decided to drag him around to the Met for my birthday next year - which I should, you know. Now, that would be a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday! (The wonderful-est, of course, is the way Pink celebrated hers - by defending her dissertation and getting that almost elusive PhD!)
Last weekend, though, was still fun. We met up with Ananymous a couple of times. We had a nice picnic in The Park on Sunday (bhel-puri and sandwiches), and a birthday lunch (with the most delicious koftas - I surpass myself sometimes!) for both Fi and Ananymous on Monday. It was an eventful-in-a-quiet-way vacation. I only wonder how hard Di worked at getting used to my occasional bouts of, well, weirdness!
On another note, has anyone been reading about the Popcorn Lung guy lately? I hit this really good public health blog, The Pump Handle, when looking up this silly-sounding (but not so silly) ailment. They have some really good coverage on several issues that I'd consider more urgent than popcorn lung. And, here's my reaction to all the hype:
1. It's just ONE consumer so far - independent researchers should undertake detailed studies before making any sort of decision or judgement on food flavorings.
2. As far as workers go, I'm sure there is a way to 'insulate' them from the flavoring. At the very extreme, oxygen masks? But at the same time, it is weird that symptoms that were ignored all these years in popcorn-factory workers are now big news when seen in a single consumer.
3. Maybe the FDA can restrict the amount of diacetyl used in butter-flavored popcorn, instead of taking diacetyl off the GRAS list altogether. After all, the chemical is a radical found naturally in several other products, and not harmful when taken in regulation amounts.
4. Please, why are we basing all our hype on the guy who's been eating two bags of butter-flavored popcorn everyday, for the last ten years?? At that rate, I'd be worried about worse ailments than popcorn lung.
Please note: I don't really care for the microwaveable buttered popcorn - I don't like it very much and I haven't eaten it in months, maybe years. I'm also not much of a fan of preservatives and flavoring in food - I like most of my stuff organic. But at the same time, there is a difference between systematic research and judgements based on plain hysteria - and there always is a middle ground. One bag of buttered popcorn taken the way it is meant to be - i.e., maybe once a month, might not even be a bad thing - if the rest of your lifestyle is tolerably healthy. Or else, remove everything else that contains diacetyl off the shelves - according to one comment I read, this includes organic butter, cheese, sour cream, etc. How moderate are we anyway if we make Wayne Watson an ideal example???
posted by Summer Showers at
10:34 AM
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