# Plastic food containers in microwave = cancer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 13, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774 "2002-05-13T08:20:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jeremy\_s\_Evil\_Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeremy_s_Evil_Twin)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/1 "2002-05-13T08:20:52Z")
Got this in the mail today:
> [@](#):
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> Heating Food In The Microwave
>
> Passing on healthy info. On Channel 2 this morning they had a DR. Edward Fujimoto from Castle hospital on the program. He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital. He was talking about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxins into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Dioxins are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies.
>
> Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results without the dioxins. So such
> things as TV dinners, instant simian and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. Just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.
>
> He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
>
> Pass this on to your friends…
>
> To add to this: aran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels instead.
Ok, this sounds like pure urban legend, and usually I just reply with the appropriate link to Snopes, but I checked and they list it as Undetermined…which is pretty scary, considering how skeptical they are!! So, what’s the straight dope on this?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/2 "2002-05-13T09:29:05Z")
> [@](#):
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> instant simian
Your very own monkey - in seconds! just add boiling water.
Hmmm, fats are capable of being heated to a higher temperature than water, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be _possible_ for some plastics to start breaking down at these temperatures; I’d like to think that the manufacturers would anticipate and design around this though.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/3 "2002-05-13T10:23:08Z")
Consumer Reports did a test on this and their results were that the amounts were miniscule and generally considered as safe but if you were paranoid you could avoid using saran wrap and plastic containers.
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### Author:  [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/4 "2002-05-13T12:40:48Z")
One thing to keep in mind is that the evidence that dioxin is carcinogenic in humans is questionable. Read scientific artticles about the follow up of thousand of Italians exposed to large amounts of the stuff in Seveso in 1976.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/5 "2002-05-13T12:51:24Z")
> [@](#):
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> He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
This happened back in the (I think) early 90’s, sparked by concerns about how polysterene was poisoning the environment. If memory serves, Burger King was receiving favorable press because of their paper containers, and The Big M didn’t want to be seen as the Evil Planet Polluter. So the change was consumer-driven (as change often is). I never worked in a FF kitchen but I am pretty sure that microwave ovens were (and still are) fairly rare in such places.
Perhaps Dr. Fujimoto can explain why the fast food companies still sell coffee (their hottest & most likely to be microwaved of all items) in a “poisonous” styrofoam cup?
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### Author:  [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/6 "2002-05-13T15:38:04Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*From the article posted in the OP \*
> **[S]aran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food**
This statement is deceptive.
As you saw in the [Snopes article](http://www.snopes2.com/toxins/plastic.htm):
> [@](#):
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> Is there really something to the central claim of this e-mail, that heating plastic in microwaves releases a cancer-causing agent into the food? It’s within the realm of possibility, but it must be stressed the FDA does impose stringent regulations on plastics meant for microwaving. Also, _if there are dioxins lurking in the plastic containers we heat food in and the process of warming those receptacles looses those nasties into our ingestibles, we’ve yet to locate the studies that prove this._
>
> \
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> So, if you’re one of the concerned, be sure that when you cover a dish you intend to microwave with ordinary plastic wrap you do not let the covering touch the food, because some of the plasticizer in the wrap – _which **may** contain toxic chemicals, as opposed to does contain toxic chemicals_ – could migrate to what you’re cooking, especially foods high in fat.
Emphasis added.
Plastic wrap does **not** “actually drip poisonous toxins into the food”.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/7 "2002-05-13T18:16:29Z")
There are a number of folks out there trying to convince the world that microwaves are EVIL. They tend to promote things like that it causes cancer (despite the fact that it’s not ionizing radiation), causes plastics to degrade as mentioned, and causes complex molecules to break down into things whose effects on the body haven’t been adequately studied (which is true, to some degree). Heck, you can’t even boil water in a microwave because the cup will explode :eek:
However, microwaves are darn near everywhere these days and there has been no noticable increase in the death rate. If these things are so darn deadly, why aren’t people dropping like flies?
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/8 "2002-05-13T18:49:38Z")
Found a good link here:
[http://foodsafety.ifas.ufl.edu/il/il112.htm](http://foodsafety.ifas.ufl.edu/il/il112.htm)
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/9 "2002-05-13T19:34:25Z")
> [@](#):
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> However, microwaves are darn near everywhere these days and there has been no noticable increase in the death rate.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/10 "2002-05-13T19:53:35Z")
-well, let’s put the rest in another post :o
That’s a fallacious argument. Autoimmune diseases and obesity have gone up markedly in the last 30 years. No one has proven that none of the substances in microwaved plastic are not responsible for this change. The fact that proving it one way or the other would be a daunting task does not mean there is, or is not, an effect.
While food that has had plastic melted all over it may be safe as far as the FDA is concerned, they are also the agency that allowed thalidomide, and Phen-fen to be marketed. Why go out on a limb because they might be right this time ? A little caution here might save a whole lot of problems down the road.
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### Author:  [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/11 "2002-05-13T20:15:06Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Squink \*
> **That’s a fallacious argument.**
Only if you have _proof_ that microwaves cause an increase in the death rate. Oh, you don’t have any? I’m not surprised.
> [@](#):
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> **No one has proven that none of the substances in microwaved plastic are not responsible for this change.**
Hold on there, buckaroo. You’ve been around here long enough to know that you can’t prove a negative. It’s up to those claiming that the substances cause harm to prove that that is so. These substances have been studied extensively (although perhaps not exhaustively) and so far, no harm has been found.
> [@](#):
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> \*\*A little caution here might save a whole lot of problems down the road. \*\*
Caution is a good thing. Scaremongering is a bad thing.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/12 "2002-05-13T20:25:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Squink \*
> **While food that has had plastic melted all over it may be safe as far as the FDA is concerned, they are also the agency that allowed thalidomide, and Phen-fen to be marketed.**
I have to defend the FDA on this one; FDA never allowed thalidomide to be marketed in this country, due to inadequate animal testing. Had such testing been required in Britain, there wouldn’t have been so many kids deformed there (as well as American kids born to mothers who smuggled in their pills).
Phen-fen was a perfectly reasonable-looking drug at the time, and FDA yanked it a lot sooner than some people wanted; there are still a bunch of whiners screaming that it has no side effects, and that it’s all a conspiracy against fat people.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-food-containers-in-microwave-cancer/108774/13 "2002-05-14T02:16:43Z")
> [@](#):
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> Hold on there, buckaroo. You’ve been around here long enough to know that you can’t prove a negative.
Nor can you prove something safe by performing a limited number of tests. If you want to prove something safe, you have to test it under all possible conditions. The fact that exhaustive testing is not feasible does not eliminate the logical requirement for such testing. It merely forces us, sooner or later, to be pragmatic and say that we’ve tested six ways from sunday and found can’t find any hidden dangers. That does not constitute proof that such dangers are not there under conditions which were not tested.
engineer\_comp\_geek’s claim that an unmeasurable quantity, the “absence of people dying”, somehow proves the safety of microwaveable plastics is absurd. People die. No one knows what kills most of them. Usually it’s called old age, but that’s really a catchall term for a bunch of different things that we’re not really sure about. There’s no way to tell for sure exactly what did not contribute to someone’s death.
The claim that microwaved plastics “actually drips poisonous toxins into the food” is extreme because there’s very little evidence to back it up. Similarly, the claim that “plastics are safe to use in the microwave” also suffers from a lack of empirical evidence. Of course there is _some_ evidence for the safety claim, but it is actually _impossible_ that there will ever be enough to constitute a formal empirical proof of safety.
For an example of a similar situation, take the humble potato. People have been eating it for hundreds of years. It’s generally regarded as safe. However, if you get a little too smug about your potatoes, and carelessly toss that fancy one with the overly green skin in with the others for a fancy salad, you may suddenly find yourself sick as as a dog with [solanine poisoning.](http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/courses/as625/1999term/andrew/toxic.htm)
Given our relative inexperience and lack of knowledge about the combination of food, plastics, and microwaves, a little caution is warranted.
> [@](#):
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> I have to defend the FDA on this one
Sorry, I was thinking diethylstilbestrol (DES) and wrote thalidomide. (both teratogens from the 50’s,60’s). I’m not particularly attacking the FDA here, only pointing out that they do make mistakes, or miss things that later turn out to be important. Everyone does when faced with the unknown. While avoiding plastics in the microwave altogether is probably over-extreme, so is the thoughtless use of just any bit of plastic you have lying around as a container to heat up your supper.