[HN Gopher] Turmeric's unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bang...
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Turmeric's unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
Author : coopernewby
Score : 196 points
Date : 2023-06-26 16:12 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (stanmed.stanford.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (stanmed.stanford.edu)
| MathMonkeyMan wrote:
| > To mask flawed turmeric, some processors began dusting the
| roots with lead chromate -- an orange-yellow industrial pigment
| used to color plastics and furniture.
| londons_explore wrote:
| I don't really want lead in my plastic or my furniture
| either...
|
| In fact, I think there would be a good case for simply banning
| all mining of lead. Nearly all remaining uses of it (bullets,
| roof flashing, counterweights, car batteries) seem to still
| have a pretty high risk of contamination of either the
| environment or the workers who make or recycle products.
| natdempk wrote:
| See also "Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the
| United States":
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/
|
| The problem with lead in tumeric seems to extend beyond
| Bangladesh.
| camgunz wrote:
| Yeah! I read this maybe a couple years ago and now lead test
| anything w/ turmeric in it (tea, actual turmeric, etc.) Haven't
| come up positive yet though, thank goodness.
|
| Can recommend just lead testing things. Test kits are cheap,
| it's very easy to do, you really want to know if you're
| eating/drinking lead (especially if you have kids). Also can
| recommend getting a water filter. It doesn't really fix
| dishwashing but for drinking or making things w/ water it's
| very easy -- you can get pretty big tanks where you could
| conceivably even make a pot of spaghetti and such.
| elzbardico wrote:
| Where can I find those test kits?
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Amazon. There are even strips. Now can we trust the
| manufacturer of the tests themselves given amazons
| sometimes shitty vendor quality? Who knows.
| CoastalCoder wrote:
| Yikes.
|
| Are their any trustworthy, mainstream sources of spices in the
| U.S.?
|
| E.g., if I buy turmeric from Walmart or Whole Foods, can I
| safely assume that they're monitoring the product streams for
| lead?
|
| EDIT: I just saw a sibling comment about a company named
| "American Turmeric". I'm curious about more mainstream sellers,
| who might possibly monitor other spices as well. I'd prefer to
| not play whack-a-mole on a spice-by-spice basis.
| dunham wrote:
| I buy from thespicehouse.com - they seem to be careful, but I
| haven't inquired about turmeric. I should send them an email.
| (I prefer them over Penzey's, which is the same family,
| because they have dried fenugreek leaves.)
| RhodesianHunter wrote:
| If you don't have or provide any insight into their testing
| processes, I don't think a recommendation is relevant here.
| EricE wrote:
| seconded - high quality and friendly service. Hard to ask
| for more.
| x0x0 wrote:
| I buy from there too.
|
| Here's their answer and it's disappointing. tl;dr: they
| import the whole spice and have it ground in the US.
|
| https://www.thespicehouse.com/pages/ingredients-and-
| allergy-...
|
| forget trusted suppliers; they should be running lab tests
| on random samples
| LetThereBeLight wrote:
| Burlap and Barrel I believe has a good reputation with their
| spice sourcing.
|
| https://www.burlapandbarrel.com/products/turmeric
| salad-tycoon wrote:
| Some supplement companies/nootropic companies purport to do
| 3rd party certificate of analysis with microbe, and heavy
| metal testing. You can find them on Reddit. Can you believe
| the companies? I kinda do.
| bigbillheck wrote:
| It's hard to go wrong with Penzey's :
| https://www.penzeys.com/pages/consumer-reports
| EricE wrote:
| Only for half of the company, according to their CEO
| natdempk wrote:
| Yeah I've also been wondering this. Would love it if anyone
| has similar knowledge, especially about other spices beyond
| Tumeric.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| I posted this above. ConsumerLab does this testing on all
| sorts of products and foods. They are a non-profit. The
| annual fee you pay supports the research and testing
| directly.
|
| They tested many brands of both spice and supplement for
| lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, and published the
| amounts they found in each brand:
|
| https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-
| supple...
|
| Of great importance lately was their discovery of benzene
| in many common sunscreens which forced many product
| recalls. I used their findings to change brands for my
| entire family.
| _adamb wrote:
| If you're consuming it as a supplement it's a lot cheaper
| (and safer) to just make it yourself. The process is
| basically: cut it up into thin slices, dry it out in the
| oven, grind it up.
|
| If you're not taking it in supplement quantities, then I'm
| not sure I'd be tremendously worried about any other
| contamination...
| lisasays wrote:
| Doesn't help at all if the roots themselves are dusted, as
| per the article. Right?
| _adamb wrote:
| Good question. Most turmeric roots I've bought aren't
| nearly as bright orange as the powered stuff. I _assume_
| that means they're not applying the same chromate
| brightening agent but it's not impossible.
|
| I guess I'll have to start growing it myself...
| perihelions wrote:
| - _" E.g., if I buy turmeric from Walmart or Whole Foods, can
| I safely assume that they're monitoring the product streams
| for lead?"_
|
| You can safely assume absolutely nothing.
|
| https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/your-
| herb...
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29375003 ( _" Herbs and
| Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead
| (consumerreports.org)"_) (2021)
|
| - _" The lack of regulation leaves much of the monitoring of
| heavy metal levels to companies. [Consumer Reports] contacted
| all the ones with products in our tests to see how they
| limited heavy metals._"
|
| - _" Of the companies that replied to our questions--Al Wadi
| Al Akhdar, Costco, Bolner's Fiesta, Gebhardt, Litehouse,
| McCormick, Roland Foods, Spice Islands, Target, and Whole
| Foods--a few said they require their suppliers to have a
| program for controlling or testing for heavy metals. But only
| three--Al Wadi Al Akhdar, Bolner's Fiesta, and McCormick--
| specifically said they test products in their manufacturing
| plants for heavy metals."_
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| ConsumerLab tested many brands of both spice and supplement
| for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, and published the
| amounts they found in each brand:
|
| https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-
| supple...
|
| Paywall
| MengerSponge wrote:
| Spicewalla (out of Asheville) should be reputable
| UberFly wrote:
| After reading that article I personally won't trust any I buy
| from anywhere unless it's from a reputable source and
| actually states that it's tested/lead-free. Yikes.
| klipt wrote:
| "Lead free" may be impossible, there is natural levels of
| lead in the soil that is taken up by plants.
|
| However there's orders of magnitude difference between
| those natural levels, and adulterated spices with lead
| deliberately added for coloring.
|
| Try googling the lead content of an average carrot, for
| example.
| testfoobar wrote:
| A few more:
|
| "Lead in Spices, Herbal Remedies, and Ceremonial Powders
| Sampled from Home Investigations for Children with Elevated
| Blood Lead Levels -- North Carolina, 2011-2018":
| https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6746a2.htm
|
| "Analysis of Lead in Spices Obtained from Bulk Food Stores"
| (PDF): http://libjournals.unca.edu/ncur/wp-
| content/uploads/2021/02/...
|
| "Heavy Metals in Cultural Products":
| https://www.epa.gov/children/heavy-metals-cultural-products
| no_butterscotch wrote:
| I wonder if this turmeric spread and was sold in the West. My
| mother recently started taking "golden turmeric" and insists that
| it's a cure for a lot of ills. Maybe that's true I don't know,
| she sent me some articles a couple years ago. It was clear that
| she was influenced by Facebook groups.
|
| Hopefully the turmeric she takes is safe :(
| natdempk wrote:
| If you want to be extra safe, you can buy some for her from a
| safer supplier like: https://www.americanturmeric.com/lead-
| free-turmeric
| perihelions wrote:
| They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory?
|
| https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric (
| _" Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence"_)
|
| https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-
| image24729... ( _" Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with
| many operated science instrument_ [sic] _and computer_ ")
| itsoktocry wrote:
| > _They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a
| laboratory?_
|
| I don't think any picture of a lab would have any meaning
| to me, whatsoever. Is the product legit tested? That's all
| that matters. I don't care what the lab looks like.
| natdempk wrote:
| It's a stock photo used on a website, did you expect them
| to go to the actual laboratory they worked with and take
| one?
|
| I have no affiliation here, but they even listed the
| company they used for testing so presumably you could
| call/email them if you want further confirmation. None of
| this seems unreasonable to me, and I don't think a stock
| photo is a gotcha for product quality.
| londons_explore wrote:
| Many online sellers post a photo of their factories and
| workers as a way to demonstrate quality - ie. "look, we
| make out products with big expensive modern machines, not
| children doing it by hand". Some aliexpress sellers even
| post 20-30 pictures of different parts of the production
| process.
|
| Posting a stock photo is trying to defraud buyers who
| expect to see the factory it is made in.
| perihelions wrote:
| There's a lack of forthrightness in publishing a stock
| photo without a disclaimer. "Lack of forthrightness" is
| an anti-signal. Stock photography on a commercial website
| is an anti-signal.
| maximinus_thrax wrote:
| > Stock photography on a commercial website is an anti-
| signal
|
| Where do you expect stock photography to be used? Only in
| mock-ups and design pitches?
| pengaru wrote:
| > Where do you expect stock photography to be used? Only
| in mock-ups and design pitches?
|
| As if something's existence alone justifies its
| (mis)use...
|
| I'm reminded of the Invader Zim Hamstergeddon episode
| when the tanks arrive and one of the soldiers shouts
| "We've gotta _use_ this stuff on _something_! "
| morsch wrote:
| Fwiw a study done in Germany in 2022 found no traces of lead in
| 19 turmeric products of all price ranges.
|
| https://www.oekotest.de/essen-trinken/Kurkuma-Labor-findet-M...
| more_corn wrote:
| Just convince her that it's more magical (er, healthy) if she
| buys it fresh and grinds it herself.
|
| It actually tastes better that way, richer and more earthy.
|
| It does leave your fingers stained, but that is actually a
| benefit since it is a conversation starter.
| valarauko wrote:
| I suggest asking your Indian friends where they buy their
| spices from, and check out your local Indian grocery store -
| the spices are from major Indian brands and undergo a lot of
| testing, with additional certification for export to the US.
| itsoktocry wrote:
| > _check out your local Indian grocery store - the spices are
| from major Indian brands and undergo a lot of testing, with
| additional certification for export to the US._
|
| Well, uh, I'm no expert, having just read about this here,
| today. But what you are saying flies in the face of half of
| the comments here, doesn't it? What makes you sure that the
| "local Indian grocery store" is getting high-quality, tested
| spices?
| Tozen wrote:
| People and companies knowingly contaminating food products with
| poisons like lead, should be put in jail. Companies knowingly
| selling such products, should be at least heavily fined, possibly
| prosecuted as well. Bottom line, this is clearly poisoning (and
| killing people) to make a few extra bucks. There should be no
| leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.
| itsoktocry wrote:
| > _There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil._
|
| Normally I'd call this sort of language hyperbolic, but in this
| case I'm not sure it is.
|
| You _know_ people are consuming this product. Literally
| poisoning people to save a few dollars? It 's inexplicable.
| mkoubaa wrote:
| Jail is too lenient, this is the sort of offence where I want
| to see heads on spikes
| CoastalCoder wrote:
| Interesting article. One thing I'm left wondering though is: for
| the offending vendors, _how aware_ were they of the potential
| harm they were causing?
|
| IMHO the punishment should, in some sense, scale with that
| detail.
|
| As a parent, if I found out that someone was knowingly poisoning
| my children for profit, I'd have some very uncharitable urges.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Maybe to some extent it should scale with that detail. However,
| to some extent everyone in the food processing chain has a
| responsibility to be diligent and competent, right? If we let
| people off the hook for not knowing the quality of their
| suppliers, and finding out is expensive, then we're applying a
| filter in favor of incompetence.
| slumberlust wrote:
| This behavior is pervasive across all industry. If profit is
| the sole motivator, public opinion or insubstantial fines are
| not enough of a deterrent.
| no_butterscotch wrote:
| I do wonder if some of the dirt poor street-vendors were "in on
| it" or just the fall-guys.
| alephnerd wrote:
| It's bought wholesale at Mandis/Markets. Any kind of lead
| adulteration probably happened with the Spice Distributor
| (either the spice distributor or the wholesaler). If you are
| a street food vendor, your margins are low so you would
| probably go for the cheaper alternative.
|
| The price of turmeric across SAARC also skyrocketed due to
| higher than average rainfall in MH+TG along with skyrocketing
| "Western Hipster Superfood" demand, which has a carryover
| effect to the Bangladesh and Nepal markets.
|
| Farms -> Trader -> Wholesale Mandi/Market -> Spice
| Distributor -> Restaurant/Street Food Vendor
| perihelions wrote:
| The broad outline of these facts has been known for decades (that
| spice processors intentionally adulterate turmeric with the
| yellow pigment, lead chromate). These are sold in the First World
| as well, and are culpable e.g. for acute lead poisoning in
| children in the USA:
|
| https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/high-levels-of-lea...
| (2017)
|
| - _" The study, in Public Health Reports, the official journal of
| the US Public Health Service and the US Surgeon General, also
| describes several cases of child lead poisoning in the US that
| have been linked to consumption of spices, including turmeric."_
| valarauko wrote:
| I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source
| of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As
| someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had
| a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with
| lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall
| the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at
| home tests. After turmeric, the next suspect probably would be
| yellow lentils.
|
| EDIT: actually the next suspect should be red chillis,
| adulterated with lead oxide.
|
| On an aside, food adulteration used to be such a common social
| menace in India in the 70s & 80s, such that it was a common theme
| in the backdrop of Bollywood films, with the hero taking on local
| mafia bosses who also dabble in food adulteration. India did a
| mediocre job controlling the rampant food adulteration, with the
| last major case I recall being an outbreak of Epidemic Dropsy in
| 1998 due to contamination of mustard oil. There's been cases
| every once in a while, though I suspect in those cases it is
| inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in mustard
| fields.
| [deleted]
| Natsu wrote:
| What sort of test would you do for this? Did you have to buy a
| test kit?
| rikelmens wrote:
| 1. The Water Test: Take a glass of warm water and add a
| teaspoon of your turmeric powder to it. Let it sit for 10-15
| minutes. If the turmeric powder settles down, it is pure. If
| it doesn't settle to the bottom and leaves a dark yellow
| colour, it is adulterated.
|
| 2. The Palm Test: Take a pinch of your turmeric powder and
| rub it into the palm of your hand for a few seconds, then
| turn your palm over. Pure turmeric will stick to your palm
| and leave a yellow stain, whereas adulterated turmeric will
| mostly fall off.
| ed25519FUUU wrote:
| Wouldn't lead contamination cause the turmeric to sink?
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| Lead Chromate, not Lead.
|
| But apparently it's also not very soluble in water, so
| the question about sinking stands.
|
| Possibly, a chemical powder is much finer than a ground-
| up plant matter, and takes longer to settle.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_chromate#Safety_ha
| zar...
| literalAardvark wrote:
| I've actually had a successful test with the water
| method. The lead coloring shows immediately and remains
| dissolved or in suspension or whatever for days, possibly
| forever. Turmeric doesn't usually color water at all.
| Tozen wrote:
| There are youtube videos showing how to do the turmeric
| test with water. Definitely, everyone that uses it,
| should know this.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXWPf0HQd5U
|
| (Testing Turmeric Powder adulteration with Artificial
| Color)
| colordrops wrote:
| I just tried this test with some turmeric powder I had at
| home and it failed according to what is shown in the
| video. I happened to have a lead testing kit, and it
| doesn't have lead though. The powder does have some
| ginger and other herbs in it, so apparently harmless
| adulterants other than lead can cause it to fail this
| visual test.
| valarauko wrote:
| I recall we did simple tests like this in school - we had to
| bring in samples of foodstuffs from home to do the tests, and
| the school would provide a positive control. This must have
| been the seventh grade or so?
|
| https://www.vasantmasala.com/blog/how-to-check-
| adulteration-...
| akavi wrote:
| As an ABCD, likewise. My mom told me to specifically buy
| turmeric at western grocery stores (as opposed to other spices,
| which could be had for better prices at Indian grocery stores)
| because of concerns around lead.
| valarauko wrote:
| tbf lead testing is pretty standard in Indian spice brands
| for a long time now, though for some reason the brands don't
| really advertise it. Reputable brands like MDH and Everest
| would be pretty safe.
| [deleted]
| chucksta wrote:
| You would hope, its common to find heavy metals in those
| seasonings too; https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-
| safety/your-herb... IE Oregano is flagged across the board on
| the report.
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| What is an ABCD?
| victor106 wrote:
| Is it considered offensive to use that? Just trying to make
| sure I don't run into any issues during these "woke" times.
| sbierwagen wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Born_Confused_Desi
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| Oh wow, I've seen this without knowing it had a name.
| brianpan wrote:
| See also ABC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-
| born_Chinese
| princevegeta89 wrote:
| Lol, I never knew there was a Wikipedia article for this
| slang acronym that we use all the time.
| hammock wrote:
| How can I test for lead in my tumeric?
|
| Edit: found this page which is amazing
| https://eatrightindia.gov.in/dart/
| zajio1am wrote:
| > actually the next suspect should be red chillis, adulterated
| with lead oxide.
|
| Why would anyone adulterated red chillis with lead oxide
| instead of perfectly safe iron oxide, common food colorant?
| bastawhiz wrote:
| I don't know for sure, but I'd suspect it's the flavor: iron
| oxide tastes metallic, lead oxide tastes somewhat sweet.
| That's partially why you hear about kids eating lead paint
| chips and not bits of rust.
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| This reminds me of how scurvy was apparently well known in the
| age of sail but sort of forgotten with the industrial
| revolution. It showed back up again in Arctic expeditions from
| what I understand.
| hinkley wrote:
| I don't recall where the the Arctic expeditions slot into
| this saga, but for ages we understood the lemon link but we
| hadn't identified Vitamin C yet.
|
| So there was a moment in time where the British Royal Navy
| was carrying around concentrated lime juice to fight scurvy
| (hence, Limey). Only the vendor that made the lime juice
| processed it in copper vessels, destroying most of the
| vitamin C.
|
| It doesn't take much vitamin C to prevent scurvy. But it does
| take some.
| yndoendo wrote:
| "The Accidental Scientist: The Role of Chance and Luck in
| Scientific Discovery" talks all about the different
| substances tried to prevent and cure scurvy. British
| sailors turned to have a daily ration of rum mixed with the
| lime juice.
| durkie wrote:
| There was a competing theory that scurvy was prevented by
| eating fresh meat, and that's easier to get in the arctic:
| https://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm
| hinkley wrote:
| > Vitamin C can be destroyed by heat and light. High-heat
| cooking temperatures or prolonged cook times can break
| down the vitamin. Because it is water-soluble, the
| vitamin can also seep into cooking liquid and be lost if
| the liquids are not eaten.
|
| In "The Terror" (A supernatural horror story by Dan
| Simmons, set in the lost Franklin expedition) it is raw
| meat that saves the indigenous people from scurvy. Which
| is probably not too inaccurate.
| bsder wrote:
| I seem to remember that it was also a switch to a different
| citrus fruit which had way less vitamin C in it so the
| processing was much mroe important.
|
| However, since the switch corresponded to the rise of steam
| power (ship trips were much faster), nobody noticed that
| that they weren't protected from scurvy anymore.
|
| It wasn't until the artic expeditions that scurvy
| protection got tested again.
| HarryHirsch wrote:
| _inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in
| mustard fields_
|
| You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-free".
| To think that some people in the US voluntarily drink
| yellowroot tea because apparently it helps with diabetes is
| scary - the chemical similiarity between sanguinarine in
| argemone and berberine in yellowroot is just too great for it
| to be a good idea.
| interroboink wrote:
| I don't know anything about the tea you refer to, but "the
| chemical is similar" is not a great signal, IMO. You can even
| have the exact same chemical with different chirality having
| dramatically different effects on the body (eg: l- and d-
| methamphetamine, and plenty of others).
|
| Not saying it has 0 relevance, but I wouldn't take it to mean
| much on its own. It's like people being scared of mercury
| dental fillings because "it has mercury in it, which is
| poisonous." That doesn't follow.
| civilitty wrote:
| Knee-jerk reactions like that aren't helpful with
| biological compounds. In this case they're both
| benzophenanchridine/isoquinoline alkaloids with the same
| functional groups: a methylenedioxy bridge and at least one
| methoxy group.
|
| L- and D-methamphetamine are a rather unique case because
| their enantiomeric forms have different effects on the
| central and peripheral nervous systems. They're much more
| different from each other structurally than berberine is
| from sanguinarine.
| valarauko wrote:
| > You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-
| free"
|
| This was a response to the 1998 outbreak. I remember in the
| early days it was suggested the culprit was argemone
| poisoning, and honestly that's what I thought it was all this
| time. Wikipedia suggests it was adulteration with white
| petroleum.
| snapetom wrote:
| Forsyth's work was submitted here on HN four years ago, if you
| want to read the study.
|
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393511...
|
| They found no elevated lead in Indian samples in their study, but
| they note Indian tumeric have been subject to lead recalls in the
| past. And of course, proper and transparent sourcing from
| manufacturers, is an issue.
| TheRealPomax wrote:
| tl;dr: Color matters to turmeric purchasers, and
| turmeric that is more vibrantly yellow typically sells for higher
| prices. The Stanford University team learned that this color-
| linked perception of quality may have started in the 1980s, when
| a flood interrupted the drying process, turning rhizomes brown
| and moldy. To mask flawed turmeric, some processors
| began dusting the roots with lead chromate -- an orange-yellow
| industrial pigment used to color plastics and furniture. From the
| interviews, Forsyth learned that this coloration step continued
| for four decades after the flood and that most processors weren't
| aware that the pigments were toxic
|
| Even tl;dr-er: they color low quality tumeric with lead-based
| pigments to make it look like high quality tumeric. Like how
| China spray paints dead grass green. But with more lead.
| WirelessGigabit wrote:
| China? Grass paint is booming business in SoCal. All because
| they don't realize they live in a desert. People bash on
| Arizona for spending water when it's super dry but take a look
| at Southern AZ lawns vs SoCal lawns. The Southern AZ ones are
| much more adept to the desert.
| yumraj wrote:
| Powdered turmeric can be bright yellow, if the roots are boiled
| before drying and grinding, or dark/dirty yellow if not boiled
| since natural color of turmeric is dirty yellow.
|
| Costco/Kirkland powered turmeric[0] is one of the rare ones that
| is dirty yellow, so we generally get that in the hope that it is
| lead free.
|
| [0] https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-ground-
| turmeric,-1...
| glonq wrote:
| I have a friend who strongly gravitates towards non-traditional
| solutions for every health & medical problem.
|
| Upon hearing that I had developed cancer, she whipped up a batch
| of turmeric-infused notions and potions for me, which I
| appreciate. I haven't touched them yet. Maybe I'll get them
| tested first; the last thing I need right now is lead poisoning!
| bakul wrote:
| They could have just asked.... Most who grew up in the
| subcontinent know this.
| EricE wrote:
| Yeah, but then they couldn't have wrote a multi-page flowery
| article about how smart they were interspersed with social
| justice. What fun would that be?
| wolpoli wrote:
| So they leveraged the Stanford name and got the government to
| pay attention and take actions. That's great for the people in
| Bangladesh but still, it's not groundbreaking research that
| they made it out to be.
| more_corn wrote:
| tl:dr they use a lead based pigment to keep it a vibrant color
| apparently not knowing that the pigment was lead based.
| hinkley wrote:
| Those who do not learn from history will be exploited by those
| who do?
| heywhatupboys wrote:
| This _article_ screams "white american saviour"
|
| WHO in 2023 writes like this??
|
| > Food Safety authority representatives, flanked by soldiers in
| camouflage uniforms, magenta berets and guns slung over their
| shoulders, strode down the center of a busy street market in
| Dhaka, the capital city. The crowds parted.
|
| > Men riding three-wheeled rickshaws pulled over. Street vendors
| stopped stirring their aromatic curries. The spice sellers
| wearing parti-colored lungi skirts fell silent. Some curious
| merchants, sitting atop stacks of potatoes, ginger, onions and
| garlic, jumped down to follow the entourage.
| EricE wrote:
| So I wasn't the only one that was unimpressed with the flowery
| anecdotes either?
| ramesh31 wrote:
| >WHO in 2023 writes like this??
|
| All websites do, as their staff is entirely comprised of 23
| year old English majors who equate this style with "good
| writing". The entire internet reads like a C+ sophomore term
| paper now.
| ziml77 wrote:
| Did you even read the context around that? Everyone involved in
| the scene described was Bangladeshi. And the point of writing
| it like a dramatic scene in a movie is made clear in the giant
| quote and paragraph that follow: it was law enforcement
| theater. They didn't have the capacity to enforce food safety
| at the scale necessary, so they used this tactic to instill
| fear in people who were still using the outlawed lead-based
| pigment.
| newaccount74 wrote:
| I don't understand how lead pigments are still legal in some
| parts of the world at all. What kind of things need a bright
| yellow color that will slowly poison you if you touch it?
|
| Also, those handheld XRF spectrometers are amazing tech. I wish
| they were more affordable.
| adamwong246 wrote:
| > "Why? For the same reason our reactors do not have
| containment buildings around them, like those in the West. For
| the same reason we don't use properly enriched fuel in our
| cores. For the same reason we are the only nation that builds
| water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors with a positive void
| coefficient. It's cheaper." ~ Valery Legasov, Chernobyl
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