Salvage Horror Stories

Dupont and the Chemistry of Deception
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/

Anybody interested in the toxic horrors of the salvage industry? Unfortunately I have regular access to stories about the toxic externalities of manufacturing, mining, and salvage.

"Several blockbuster discoveries, including nylon, Lycra, and Tyvek, helped transform the E. I. du Pont de Nemours company from a 19th-century gunpowder mill into “one of the most successful and sustained industrial enterprises in the world,” as its corporate website puts it. Indeed, in 2014, the company reaped more than $95 million in sales each day. Perhaps no product is as responsible for its dominance as Teflon, which was introduced in 1946, and for more than 60 years C8 was an essential ingredient of Teflon.

"Called a “surfactant” because it reduces the surface tension of water, the slippery, stable compound was eventually used in hundreds of products, including Gore-Tex and other waterproof clothing; coatings for eye glasses and tennis rackets; stain-proof coatings for carpets and furniture; fire-fighting foam; fast food wrappers; microwave popcorn bags; bicycle lubricants; satellite components; ski wax; communications cables; and pizza boxes.

"Concerns about the safety of Teflon, C8, and other long-chain perfluorinated chemicals first came to wide public attention more than a decade ago, but the story of DuPont’s long involvement with C8 has never been fully told. Over the past 15 years, as lawyers have been waging an epic legal battle — culminating as the first of approximately 3,500 personal injury claims comes to trial in September — a long trail of documents has emerged that casts new light on C8, DuPont, and the fitful attempts of the Environmental Protection Agency to deal with a threat to public health."

Perhaps not quite the ubiquity of problems caused by Dupont, but if you want an idea of what a salvage economy might look like and dealing with the toxic products you could try

http://goo.gl/UaY2Ie

or for a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGDZiWwF_V0

I am fairly sure that I would prefer not to be involved.

Andrew

Can you post a link to the whole article? It sounds like pretty necessary information, however unpleasant. Also, the blurb doesn't include the connection to 'salvage', unless you made that connection re: my other posts.

As this pertains to my previous posts on home or small scale salvaging of existing plastics: I'm just not sure what to do with all of the plastics we are awash in now? Just ignore them? Bury them and hope for the best?

Caryn,

Click on the title Dupont and toxic etc. It's linked to the whole article. And no, this is not a salvage story per se, but I think it's indicative of the hazards that salvage societies will face in the future: massive pollution on industrial sites and probable dangers from reclaiming materials that have been treated with Teflon-type chemicals.

The future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed: many, many people in Brazil, India, and Thailand are already living in the salvage age, earning a living breaking down our garbage. We already know the dangers of breaking down electronic junk and reclaiming the minerals. Those are the stories I have access to. I can post links to those if people are interested.

"...Essentially, DuPont decided to double-down on C8, betting that somewhere down the line the company would somehow be able to “eliminate all C8 emissions in a way yet to be developed that would not economically penalize the business [sic],”"

I can't believe they actually said that! Might as well have included unicorns and fairy dust in their proposed solution.

This really is a scary article. I hate buying new things, but I'm getting a non-teflon frying pan tomorrow, no matter how much it costs. Even then yeah, it sounds like we are really 'all in the soup' as this lawyer said.

My God, How do these people sleep at night?

We've used almost nothing but cast iron at home for years (we do have a drop-forged stainless saute pan that we use a lot too) and it's fantastic. Not nearly as hard to cook on and take care of than it's made out to be.

I'd like to expand on Garden Housewife's request: A lot of cooking methods as they're presently taught and learned require problematic materials or techniques like non-stick pans. That's not the way our ancestors cooked, but how can we learn older cooking methods? In my case, my parents grew up during the height of "labor saving" devices and even my surviving grandparents can't do much better than, "I used to see my parents cooking in a different way, but I'm not sure exactly what they did."

So, does anyone know of guides on retro-cooking techniques? Would anyone who knows these techniques be willing to share?

Clkelly, I threw out my Teflon cookware years ago, but replaced with stainless steel pots and ceramic coated skillets. I'm not doing too well with my one cast iron skillet. Would you be willing to start a thread on how to take care of and use cast iron? That would be really, really helpful.

I did throw out the teflon pans. Couldn't afford to replace them with cast iron, but there were some sturdy stainless steel ones, so I got the basics in that. I do also have one smaller Le Crueset cast iron grilling pan, that I bought back in our salad days. It's smaller but I'm using it again now and have kept it seasoned and it cooks like a gourmond's dream!

I looked online for 'how to season your cast iron pans' and happy surprise...it also works with stainless steel!

Put a bit of cooking oil in the pan, on the stove top, turn it on until you see the smoke rising from the burning oil. Then turn it off and let it cool slowly. When it's cooled completely wipe away any extra. It's seasoned!

After using, wipe away any excess oil and food bits - it's done!

I've designated 2 kitchen rags/towels to this task, so I don't get all of them oily. I've actually done this with my Le Crueset for years. I usually also keep another cloth spread out in the pan when I store it, as I stack other pots on top of it.

So far, the seasoning has worked really well.