Comments on: How Safe is Melamine? Is This Funny or Horrifying? http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 07:28:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Sol http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-344099 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:28:49 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-344099 breastmilk has no melamine. breastmilk has no melamine.

]]> by: Mark http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242590 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:38:41 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242590 It stands to reason that there is some level of melamine that is safe. For instance, one molecule per lifetime is probably safe. Two is probably safe. And how many babies have died? Six, the Chinese say. So let's say it's really 60. And let's say that 6,000 received some meaningful injury of some sort that will manifest itself in the future. No, let's make that 60,000. How many babies drank the milk? Probably 60 million. So the conclusion is that only 1 in 1,000 babies was harmed by the melamine in Chinese milk. So there is in fact a safe level, and it seems to be way more than 2 molecules per lifetime. I like the fact that the FDA is coming up with some number, however much of a guesstimate it is. The alternative is to give activists ammunition to make unreasonable demands to make the milk 100.0000 percent free of anything that might speculatively shorten your life by 1 second. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine because of mercury-in-fish activism by ocean conservationists. As a resident of Japan it is bumblebees-can-fly clear that eating an order of magnitude more fish than anyone ever eats in the U.S. is not harmful (and you should probably be reaching the same conclusion in China by now). Yet the FDA's previous screwup in pulling a low methyl mercury number out of a hat has caused fish eaters/sellers no end of problems and has scared the public away from eating a very beneficial food in favor of manufactured soyburgers. [Exercise left to the student: Try to follow up on Genevieve's source in the previous comment. You'll learn a lot about activist misinformation tactics.] It stands to reason that there is some level of melamine that is safe. For instance, one molecule per lifetime is probably safe. Two is probably safe. And how many babies have died? Six, the Chinese say. So let’s say it’s really 60. And let’s say that 6,000 received some meaningful injury of some sort that will manifest itself in the future. No, let’s make that 60,000. How many babies drank the milk? Probably 60 million. So the conclusion is that only 1 in 1,000 babies was harmed by the melamine in Chinese milk. So there is in fact a safe level, and it seems to be way more than 2 molecules per lifetime.

I like the fact that the FDA is coming up with some number, however much of a guesstimate it is. The alternative is to give activists ammunition to make unreasonable demands to make the milk 100.0000 percent free of anything that might speculatively shorten your life by 1 second.

This is kind of a pet peeve of mine because of mercury-in-fish activism by ocean conservationists. As a resident of Japan it is bumblebees-can-fly clear that eating an order of magnitude more fish than anyone ever eats in the U.S. is not harmful (and you should probably be reaching the same conclusion in China by now). Yet the FDA’s previous screwup in pulling a low methyl mercury number out of a hat has caused fish eaters/sellers no end of problems and has scared the public away from eating a very beneficial food in favor of manufactured soyburgers.

[Exercise left to the student: Try to follow up on Genevieve’s source in the previous comment. You’ll learn a lot about activist misinformation tactics.]

]]> by: Genevieve Long http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242417 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:32:49 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242417 China Admits Nearly 300,000 Infants Hurt by Melamine http://genevievelong.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/china-admits-nearly-300000-infants-hurt-by-melamine China Admits Nearly 300,000 Infants Hurt by Melamine

http://genevievelong.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/china-admits-nearly-300000-infants-hurt-by-melamine

]]> by: 1 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242416 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:28:12 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/12/01/how-safe-is-melamine-is-this-funny-or-horrifying/#comment-242416 I am surprised that with all the things you have to do, you still have time to read a lot. How do you have time to juggle all the stuff you have to do? I always wondered ever since I read "self experimentation" because you were able to have a life and record a lot of stuff about yourself for your research. I am surprised that with all the things you have to do, you still have time to read a lot. How do you have time to juggle all the stuff you have to do? I always wondered ever since I read “self experimentation” because you were able to have a life and record a lot of stuff about yourself for your research.

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