Warning! Fast Food Wrappers may kill you!

From the latest issue of Men's Health:

FAST FOODS BAD WRAP
Some fast-food wrappers are lined with potentially dangerous chemicals that can leach into foods - and into the eaters bloodstream, a University of Toronto study on rats reveals.  These (chemical name), once in the the body, can be broken down into (another chemical), which at high levels, may be a risk factor for liver damage in animals.  More research may show similar effects in humans.

OMG!  Scary!  My fast food wrappers are deadly!!

But wait, what does this really mean?

This is junk science designed to create more FUD around chemicals and cancers.

Let's break this down:

Some fast-food wrappers...  not ALL fast food wrappers, just some.  How many? Most? One?  Since they did not say MOST, we can assume very few have this lining.

can leach into foods -- how long does this leaching take?  Most fast food is exposed to the wrapper for minutes, not hours or days. Not DOES leach, merely 'can' leach.  Which means it probably does not leach under normal conditions.  The leaching probably takes longer than the actual food remains edible.

"these chemicals...can be broken down"  Again, not ARE broken down, just 'can be".  How often?  90% of the time?  1% of the time?

which at high levels -- this is the phrase that pays.  "high levels" usually means they stuff the rats full of the stuff and see what happens.  When you do the math, it shows you would have to eat 10,000 burgers per day to get exposed to that level of the chemical. 

may be a risk factor for liver damage  -- May be a risk factor.... not IS a risk factor. And it is just a 'risk factor', which really means they cannot find a very strong causation link at all. 

in animals -- this is not even shown to be true in humans!  Just rats.

And the story ignores the most pertinent point: Why are these chemicals in the lining in the first place? The most likely explanation is that they kill germs, thus improving the safety of the food.


So, let's rewrite the story as it should have been written:


Some Very few fast-food wrappers are lined with potentially  dangerous beneficial chemicals that can under extreme circumstances over a long period of time, leach into foods - and into the eaters bloodstream, a University of Toronto study on rats reveals.  These (chemical name), once in the the body, can be rarely are broken down into (another chemical), which at high levels, levels that would require you to eat 10,000 tacos per day, may be somehow loosely linked a risk factor for liver damage in animals.  More research money given to the University may show similar effects in humans.


This is totally bogus scare tactics masquerading as science.