My beef is that if I buy these same products on the East Coast, no P65 labeling. The product isn’t different, I believe. So now I just have more anxiety bc of the Prop 65 warning lolsob. I’ve also been alive long enough to see margarine being touted as healthier than butter, shortening (trans fats) was better than lard/tallow, fat-free was worth the extra sugar or digestive upset (snackwells and olestra). Meanwhile, a known Class 1 carcinogen: alcohol, is still showing up on plenty of “wellness” influencers accounts.
I live in the EU and if you see how many really bad stuff is considered to be 'safe', like insecticides and additives*...
Then there's air pollution and soil pollution and water pollution.
Especially in the West, we ingest poison when we breathe, eat and drink.
So I'm really not going to worry if some of the Asian food products I actually love, might add a little bit of poison to that vast mix.
*which are considered safe in isolation but have you ever seen longterm studies of the consequences of consuming endless cocktail combos of these 'safe' additives are? I haven't.
By living, we expose ourselves to toxic elements and our bodies figure out a way to expel them. One way to look at it is how much mass produced food is consumed vs made from scratch.
There is plenty of environmental degradation going on in the East that goes unchecked, unfortunately. As humans, we need to figure out a balanced way to exist healthily and support a planet with a lot of people.
As you say, we have to think about this rationally for our individual situations.
I wasn't trying to suggest everything is better in the East. It obviously is not, but I'm living in the West and I find it hypocritical/racist that our leaders love to point out the East's faults, while our own house is anything but in order.
Is it possible to live on one small planet with so many people, with 'economic growth' as some kind of Unholy Grail? I doubt it.
All I can do is try to live relatively healthy and leave a light ecological footprint (light for someone in the West.)
What helps me is that I hate travelling (the going from A to B, I mean) and love cooking from scratch.
Thank you for a very well reasoned analysis of the Prop 65 warning labels. Having grown up in California, I’m very familiar with the numerous citizen driven initiatives and referendums that populate California ballots and those of several other states, but not New Jersey where I live now. In. New Jersey we are still governed by puritan blue laws that migrated over in the 1600s, so go figure. I only occasionally see a Prop 65 label usually on something I’ve bought from Amazon. We are surrounded by chemicals that are hazardous to our health. I’ve made many lifestyle changes to accommodate all of the carcinogenic chemicals I’ve already been exposed to in my lifetime—DDT from crop dusting and spraying, Agent Orange, nanoplastics, second hand smoke, etc. At this point and at my age (79), I don’t think I will deprive myself of something I enjoy cooking with because it has a Prop 65 label. If I were 50 years younger and thinking about having kids, I would probably approach warning labels a little differently, although it was revealing that the labels may be put on items with no carcinogens simply because it is expedient to do so.
Ann -- you are a wise person. You have seen and been in situations that many moderns nowadays would cringe at. Agent Orange! There's a bar in our area that just walking by you can smell the cigarette odor from the 1960s and 70s.
Great post, Andrea! I have often been curious about the Prop. 65 warning, but if it’s on an ingredient that’s integral to a dish I’m preparing, I generally ignore it. After all, we’re not talking about enormous quantities in most cases; generally 1-2 tablespoons at most,not gallons. I really appreciate your deep dive into this subject by including comments from the food importer, because it adds some perspective to the issue. One thing I do wonder about are food and safety standards practiced in some of the countries where these products originate; that’s actually more concerning to me than the Prop. 65 warning. I agree about Santa Cruz drivers! They do seem to be becoming more numerous and aggressive, don’t they?
Prop 65 addresses certain issues that are immediate to consumers but it seems overkill. After all these years, seems like we need to review it?
I have no idea about the food and safety standards in the countries of origin. Importers deal with that to a certain degree. Some items are labeled "for export" or "export quality" which always make me think: "What is left for the domestic market? Trash?"
I do know what is prompting the Prop 65 labels on Asian foods and it is a combination of racism and politics. The Democrats want us to have a neverending war with Russia. The Republicans want us to have a neverending war with China. The US has 800 military bases in 70 countries around the world, and most of them ring China
As far as Propaganda 65 labeling, I studied Nutrition as part of my Pre-med major because, at that time, Nutrition wasn't taught in medical school. I saw many fads come and go:
"Don't eat butter - it's an animal fat, eat margarine!" "Oopsie, margarine has trans fats in it! Don't eat margarine!"
"Eggs have cholesterol in them: don't eat eggs!" "Oopsie, eggs are a good source of protein. Please eat eggs!"
"Fats are bad! Here, we'll substitute sugar for the flavor." "Oopsie! Your body can convert sugar into fat! Maybe a small amount of fat is okay."
And so on. I have my own approach to food. I don't eat processed foods. I cook everything from scratch. I read labels. And I don't follow authority's fads on food because I know that in a couple of years, they will back up and change it.
Moreover, I know that fear breeds submission and advertising uses the same mental process as propaganda. They were both invented by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud. Most advertisements today bring up some kind of fear. The most successful propaganda assures the other person that the speaker has the cure.
So your kitchen counters are never clean enough. The cure: use our product.
Your clothes will be dingy after you wash them. (Fear: your family and friends will look down on you.) Cure: use our product.
Your teeth aren't white enough. Use our product.
Your breath might smell bad. Use our product.
Americans are bombarded with an incredible amount of actual propaganda every day, and it doesn't help that we have fear-mongering messages in advertisements as well. But we do.
Therefore, I avoid advertising. I don't own a TV. And I don't believe them when I am exposed to them, because I know what's behind them. I don't believe anything our politicians say and very little that government agencies like the CDC and FDA say, after the pandemic.
Thank you John for asking about this and Andrea for researching and writing about this. I found such a warning on the plastic rice paper water dipper I bought after watching you use one. I live in Washington state, not California, so your explanation re. labeling makes a lot of sense.
I assumed that because seaweed naturally has carcinogenic chemicals and is used in so many Asian products, that’s why they have that label. I never thought about it this way- label everything whether or not it has a carcinogen to avoid being sued. Thanks, this new info is helpful to consider.
One would think but I recently bought kombu from a Japanese market that had been imported with no warning. It's a strange puzzle to figure out but we can do it with calm.
My beef is that if I buy these same products on the East Coast, no P65 labeling. The product isn’t different, I believe. So now I just have more anxiety bc of the Prop 65 warning lolsob. I’ve also been alive long enough to see margarine being touted as healthier than butter, shortening (trans fats) was better than lard/tallow, fat-free was worth the extra sugar or digestive upset (snackwells and olestra). Meanwhile, a known Class 1 carcinogen: alcohol, is still showing up on plenty of “wellness” influencers accounts.
Exactly, Elizabeth! And now alcohol over consumption is a huge topic in health circles!
Crudely put, but with *: I do not give a d*mn.
I live in the EU and if you see how many really bad stuff is considered to be 'safe', like insecticides and additives*...
Then there's air pollution and soil pollution and water pollution.
Especially in the West, we ingest poison when we breathe, eat and drink.
So I'm really not going to worry if some of the Asian food products I actually love, might add a little bit of poison to that vast mix.
*which are considered safe in isolation but have you ever seen longterm studies of the consequences of consuming endless cocktail combos of these 'safe' additives are? I haven't.
By living, we expose ourselves to toxic elements and our bodies figure out a way to expel them. One way to look at it is how much mass produced food is consumed vs made from scratch.
There is plenty of environmental degradation going on in the East that goes unchecked, unfortunately. As humans, we need to figure out a balanced way to exist healthily and support a planet with a lot of people.
As you say, we have to think about this rationally for our individual situations.
I wasn't trying to suggest everything is better in the East. It obviously is not, but I'm living in the West and I find it hypocritical/racist that our leaders love to point out the East's faults, while our own house is anything but in order.
Is it possible to live on one small planet with so many people, with 'economic growth' as some kind of Unholy Grail? I doubt it.
All I can do is try to live relatively healthy and leave a light ecological footprint (light for someone in the West.)
What helps me is that I hate travelling (the going from A to B, I mean) and love cooking from scratch.
Absolute, Jan. Travel by cooking if you don't enjoy traveling. It can be really rough these days with all the coming and going.
So fair and comprehensive in your explanation! 🙏 thank you!
My pleasure but it took some time to get here!
Thank you SO MUCH for this article, it is very levelheaded and good common sense.
The Prop 65 warnings seem to be everywhere!
Thank you for a very well reasoned analysis of the Prop 65 warning labels. Having grown up in California, I’m very familiar with the numerous citizen driven initiatives and referendums that populate California ballots and those of several other states, but not New Jersey where I live now. In. New Jersey we are still governed by puritan blue laws that migrated over in the 1600s, so go figure. I only occasionally see a Prop 65 label usually on something I’ve bought from Amazon. We are surrounded by chemicals that are hazardous to our health. I’ve made many lifestyle changes to accommodate all of the carcinogenic chemicals I’ve already been exposed to in my lifetime—DDT from crop dusting and spraying, Agent Orange, nanoplastics, second hand smoke, etc. At this point and at my age (79), I don’t think I will deprive myself of something I enjoy cooking with because it has a Prop 65 label. If I were 50 years younger and thinking about having kids, I would probably approach warning labels a little differently, although it was revealing that the labels may be put on items with no carcinogens simply because it is expedient to do so.
Ann -- you are a wise person. You have seen and been in situations that many moderns nowadays would cringe at. Agent Orange! There's a bar in our area that just walking by you can smell the cigarette odor from the 1960s and 70s.
Thank you!
Great post, Andrea! I have often been curious about the Prop. 65 warning, but if it’s on an ingredient that’s integral to a dish I’m preparing, I generally ignore it. After all, we’re not talking about enormous quantities in most cases; generally 1-2 tablespoons at most,not gallons. I really appreciate your deep dive into this subject by including comments from the food importer, because it adds some perspective to the issue. One thing I do wonder about are food and safety standards practiced in some of the countries where these products originate; that’s actually more concerning to me than the Prop. 65 warning. I agree about Santa Cruz drivers! They do seem to be becoming more numerous and aggressive, don’t they?
Prop 65 addresses certain issues that are immediate to consumers but it seems overkill. After all these years, seems like we need to review it?
I have no idea about the food and safety standards in the countries of origin. Importers deal with that to a certain degree. Some items are labeled "for export" or "export quality" which always make me think: "What is left for the domestic market? Trash?"
I do know what is prompting the Prop 65 labels on Asian foods and it is a combination of racism and politics. The Democrats want us to have a neverending war with Russia. The Republicans want us to have a neverending war with China. The US has 800 military bases in 70 countries around the world, and most of them ring China
As far as Propaganda 65 labeling, I studied Nutrition as part of my Pre-med major because, at that time, Nutrition wasn't taught in medical school. I saw many fads come and go:
"Don't eat butter - it's an animal fat, eat margarine!" "Oopsie, margarine has trans fats in it! Don't eat margarine!"
"Eggs have cholesterol in them: don't eat eggs!" "Oopsie, eggs are a good source of protein. Please eat eggs!"
"Fats are bad! Here, we'll substitute sugar for the flavor." "Oopsie! Your body can convert sugar into fat! Maybe a small amount of fat is okay."
And so on. I have my own approach to food. I don't eat processed foods. I cook everything from scratch. I read labels. And I don't follow authority's fads on food because I know that in a couple of years, they will back up and change it.
Moreover, I know that fear breeds submission and advertising uses the same mental process as propaganda. They were both invented by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud. Most advertisements today bring up some kind of fear. The most successful propaganda assures the other person that the speaker has the cure.
So your kitchen counters are never clean enough. The cure: use our product.
Your clothes will be dingy after you wash them. (Fear: your family and friends will look down on you.) Cure: use our product.
Your teeth aren't white enough. Use our product.
Your breath might smell bad. Use our product.
Americans are bombarded with an incredible amount of actual propaganda every day, and it doesn't help that we have fear-mongering messages in advertisements as well. But we do.
Therefore, I avoid advertising. I don't own a TV. And I don't believe them when I am exposed to them, because I know what's behind them. I don't believe anything our politicians say and very little that government agencies like the CDC and FDA say, after the pandemic.
Thank you for weighing in, Susan.
Thank you John for asking about this and Andrea for researching and writing about this. I found such a warning on the plastic rice paper water dipper I bought after watching you use one. I live in Washington state, not California, so your explanation re. labeling makes a lot of sense.
On that rice paper dipper bowl? Oh my goodness. That wasn't necessary! I hope you enjoy it. It's such a space saver.
I assumed that because seaweed naturally has carcinogenic chemicals and is used in so many Asian products, that’s why they have that label. I never thought about it this way- label everything whether or not it has a carcinogen to avoid being sued. Thanks, this new info is helpful to consider.
One would think but I recently bought kombu from a Japanese market that had been imported with no warning. It's a strange puzzle to figure out but we can do it with calm.