# What things that we currently consider benign will eventually be labeled dangerous **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172 "2015-03-28T01:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/21 "2015-03-28T11:38:49Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > I’d prefer alcohol to be judged as beneficial for your health _in moderation_ - as it’s been used for millenia - and all highly processed, junk foods go the way of tobacco. > > Cell phones could possibly be viewed as bad for mental health, in that people will use them for interaction more than face to face dialogue, but great for information and entertainment. Saying that, an avid user might just be seen as a modern day bookworm. > > I think no-pulp fruit juices are rapidly being viewed as just sugary water with some flavor added. > > And some ways to exercise, for example excessive high intensity training, will be viewed as giving you very little in health benefits, or those benefits being outweighed by the drawbacks. What drawbacks do you claim regular exercise has? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/22 "2015-03-28T13:27:05Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Normal sex. Abnormal sex is \*much \*more fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/23 "2015-03-28T13:32:08Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > no, they can’t. radio is not ionizing radiation. radio frequencies live in the range of 400 kHz to 30 GHz range. electromagnetic radiation doesn’t become ionizing until you get up into the hundreds of THz. > **[Brain Tumors And Cell Phone Use Found To Be Linked (Again)](https://www.medicaldaily.com/brain-tumors-and-cell-phone-use-found-be-linked-again-310460)** > > A new study found people who talked on cell phones in over 25 years were three times more likely to develop glioma, an often deadly brain tumor. > [@jz78817](#): > > yes, and sitting at your desk with your monitor at an incorrect height is too. nothing new. Yup, and computers are fairly new also. However most people aren’t pointing their heads downward when using their PC. > **[How Texting Hurts Your Neck](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/what-texting-does-to-the-spine/382890/)** > > A new study suggests that looking down at a cell phone is the equivalent of placing a 60-pound weight on one's neck. > [@jz78817](#): > > _Everything_ is covered in “germs.” A sterile environment is _bad._ I am aware of that, however because you are constantly using your fingers on it and potentially sharing it with other people it could be a source of contamination. > [@jz78817](#): > > says who? > **[Smartphone overuse may 'damage' eyes, say opticians](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-26780069)** > > Opticians say people are so addicted to things like smart phones there's increasing risk of damaging their eyes. > **[Got blur? Could be computer vision syndrome](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42116442)** > > If you find yourself looking in the mirror at the end of a long day only to see the bloodshot eyes of a crackhead staring back at you, it may be because you are addicted to something—your digital devices. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/24 "2015-03-28T13:34:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t agree about cell phones, because we still have cars. Society accepts a pretty horrible death and injury rate if it makes things convenient enough. Plus cars contribute heavily to pollution and climate change. Cell phones are incredibly convenient devices, considered so essential nowadays that even the poorest people make sure to acquire them. > > But it’s still a cool thread. I was just hearing someone tell me how they cut their baby’s umbilical cord at the hospital and I was actually surprised that hospitals let fathers still do that. Given how many benign things corporations fear to let people do because of fear of lawsuits, I’d think they’d want to take control over any process that involved sharp objects. And I imagine it’ll just take one drunk father and one lawsuit before that tradition goes away. > > Circumcision is also under attack in some quarters as unnecessary male genital mutilation. which is true, but some things are so much a part of religious or even cultural tradition, and the harm done is relatively small, that I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. Women seem to prefer men to be circumcised anyway. With cars we had to institute a variety of safety features in them. Cell phones will still be around but right now most people don’t associate them with health risks. As time passes cell phones and their use will change to reflect the growing awareness of potential health risks. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/25 "2015-03-28T13:57:53Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > No. Your implicitly proposed policy of some government agency telling people what they may believe and teach re: religion will be recognized as despotic. And I write that as an atheist. Sure, it would be despotic by 2015 standards. And I’m not “implicitly proposing” anything; merely projecting a shifting of priorities, for better or worse. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/26 "2015-03-28T14:12:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What drawbacks do you claim regular exercise has? He never mentioned regular exercise, he mentioned high intensity which can be a problem on a day in day out basis for all but a very few athletes. It’s even worse as I often see it recommended for someone just starting an exercise routine. Most of those programs are also misleading as to the time required. (“Get Fit On Only 4 Minutes A Day!”) ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/27 "2015-03-28T14:54:32Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What drawbacks do you claim regular exercise has? None for most people; although jogging really hurts my knees I can swim and cycle for hours (bad knees due to extended cruciates, according to the A&E/ER guy), so YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/28 "2015-03-28T15:00:56Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He never mentioned regular exercise, he mentioned high intensity which can be a problem on a day in day out basis for all but a very few athletes. It’s even worse as I often see it recommended for someone just starting an exercise routine. > > Most of those programs are also misleading as to the time required. (“Get Fit On Only 4 Minutes A Day!”) It is my understanding that high intensity a couple times a week is better for your health than several days a week devoted to steady state aerobics. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/29 "2015-03-28T15:12:44Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Killing animals for food. How will that be considered “dangerous”? Are the animals going to start fighting back? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/30 "2015-03-28T15:15:36Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It is my understanding that high intensity a couple times a week is better for your health than several days a week devoted to steady state aerobics. Some high intensity, _if you’re already fit_, is a good addition to a general fitness routine. A routine that’s all HIIT is not sustainable for all but the most elite (or driven) athletes and is certainly not suitable for the unfit. What’s not mentioned(or downplayed) is the considerable amount of aerobic effort done in a proper warmup/cooldown and the rest intervals. ---
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/31 "2015-03-28T15:28:38Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [Brain Tumors And Cell Phone Use Found To Be Linked (Again)](http://www.medicaldaily.com/brain-tumors-and-cell-phone-use-found-be-linked-again-310460) Funnily, when studies are done with larger sample sizes and better methodology (prospective studies where you track everyone and see who develops tumors, instead of case-control studies where you look at who gets tumors and then see what there habits are) show no link. [http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cellphones-do-not-give-you-brain-cancer/](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cellphones-do-not-give-you-brain-cancer/) If there is a link, and there’s no good evidence that there is, it must be minuscule (given the current rates of gliomas and cell phone use). Using them while driving is many orders of magnitude more dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/32 "2015-03-28T16:04:02Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Sure, it would be despotic by 2015 standards. And I’m not “implicitly proposing” anything; merely projecting a shifting of priorities, for better or worse. It would be despotic by any rational standards, just like chattel slavery. Who are you to tell people what they mayn’t believe? What makes you so wise? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/33 "2015-03-28T16:08:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He never mentioned regular exercise, he mentioned high intensity which can be a problem on a day in day out basis for all but a very few athletes. It’s even worse as I often see it recommended for someone just starting an exercise routine. > > Most of those programs are also misleading as to the time required. (“Get Fit On Only 4 Minutes A Day!”) By wrote "exercise, for example high intensity training, " which to me implies that he was painting all exercise with the same brush–HIT with just the deepest colors. But I’m tired and still sick and haven’t the energy to argue. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/34 "2015-03-28T16:16:46Z")
I first thought about how it used to be just fine to let your kids bop around in the car, and not have to sit in the back, confined to car seats until they are eight. I think there are going to be more restrictions on cars and passengers, especially as it becomes clear how dangerous driving fatigued is. It may be illegal at some point to sleep in the front passenger seat, as it may be considered a responsibility of an adult passenger to monitor the drivers alertness. An adult who can’t do this has to sit in the back-- it might even be a little safer to sleep in the back considering being in a reclined seat, or upright but slouched, behind a front seat air may be like being a very short person in the front seat behind the airbag. Just watch a sweet family film from the 60s or 70s, with a bunch of kids bopping around a station wagon, a couple of toddlers in the front seat, and you will be momentarily shocked, even if you were a kid back then. Car phones while driving will be totally banned in the next ten years, and some states may ban them in the front seat altogether. Something I really worry about, since apparently this has actually happened in some districts in the UK is a ban on home-packed lunches in school. Everyone eats the school lunch. In the US, there will probably have to be exceptions for religions-- if my kid keeps kosher, I can pack his lunch, but it may be inspected for nutrition, and my kid may have to sit in a segregated area, since the school lunches will be free of the top five allergens du jour. Shoes on children. I already know a lot of non-woo people who object to shoes on children who aren’t walking yet, and minimal protection (exceptions for inclement weather) for very small children who are walking. Since we have managed to come up with antibiotic fabrics, and it’s possible to put non-skid surfaces on socks, I can see daycares and schools having the smallest children change into some kind of indoor non-slip footwear that maybe has a canvas or leather strip for toe protection, but otherwise has no support, and is the equivalent of kids running around barefoot. Kids with pronated feet or ankle problems are going to need a doctor’s note to wear their orthopedic shoes. Smoking in cars. I know some municipalities that have tried to ban smoking in cars with children, but they’ve failed as unenforcable (even as an anti-smoker, I feel this was the correct decision, because I hate lame, unenforcable laws). But I think some places, the places that were banning smoking in restaurants back in the 1980s, may just ban smoking in cars altogether. It may be to protect passengers who are often children who have no say in the matter, but it will also piggy-back on a lot of “distracted driving” laws that will allow police to ticket people for applying make-up, eating, and doing a lot of other things in cars. Ear buds. Aside from the fact that people can blast a lot of nerve-damaging volume into their ears, these trap moisture in ears. Deaf people who wear hearing aids get a lot of middle ear infections because of the moisture that gets trapped in their ears, and ear buds probably have the same effect. On top of that, anyone who wears them in a car might as well be texting, and they are stealthy, unlike headphones. Thermometers you put in orifices, other than ears. The ear ones are pretty easy to protect, and transferring an ear infection from one person to another is possible, but much more difficult than it is with an unclean oral or anal thermometer. But at any rate, it’s possible to get a pretty accurate temp with an under-the-arm thermometer now, so that’s probably going to become the only way to take a baby’s temp, and anal temperature taking will become a barbarism of the past, when nothing kinder was available. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/35 "2015-03-28T18:38:35Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Shoes on children. I already know a lot of non-woo people who object to shoes on children who aren’t walking yet, and minimal protection (exceptions for inclement weather) for very small children who are walking. The [sticker burr](http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?953161-How-to-get-rid-of-sticker-burrs) is the state weed of coastal South Carolina. The soil is full of burrs, years after the plants die. As kids, we learned pretty quickly that to go outdoors without wearing shoes was to court agony. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/36 "2015-03-28T19:48:02Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Killing animals for food. > [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Abnormal sex is \*much \*more fun. 😃 I was going to make a post combining these two thoughts but even by my standards it was pretty revolting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/37 "2015-03-28T19:50:54Z")
I’ve been seeing lately more and more [articles](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html) that really go negative on yoga. Apparently it is just too harmful to be considered a recommended exercise for most people. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/38 "2015-03-28T20:20:42Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’m hoping for Zumba and FitBit to make the list. > [@adaher](#): > > Isn’t that the fate of most diet and exercise fads? It’s really weird how we’ve understood how to lose weight for centuries yet there’s always something new that promises to do it better. Have any of these ideas ever passed scientific muster and actually helped us lose weight faster than just calorie restriction and exercise? I apparently didn’t make myself clear. I’m rooting for these things to be found to be BAD for you. All fitness-type exercises, in fact. I treasure my sedentary sluggi-ness, and it would be nice to find, as I celebrate my 108th birthday, that I was right all along to do so. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/39 "2015-03-28T21:35:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Isn’t that the fate of most diet and exercise fads? It’s really weird how we’ve understood how to lose weight for centuries yet there’s always something new that promises to do it better. Have any of these ideas ever passed scientific muster and actually helped us lose weight faster than just calorie restriction and exercise? Well, changing absolutely nothing other than adding victoza, I have dropped 30 pounds since last June when my doc put me on it. Not a miracle drug [that would instantly cure my diabetes, restore the 2 inches I lost in height and replace all the cartilage in my knees and vanish all the annoying bone spurs and calcium deposits tormenting me 😃 And maybe curing my grey hair and freckles while they are at it :smack: I wasn’t actually looking for weight loss, just changing around my drugs so my body doesn’t get into a groove. But I will not argue that the weight loss [which actually did come as a total surprise] was not welcome. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172/40 "2015-03-28T23:09:03Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It would be despotic by any rational standards, just like chattel slavery. Who are you to tell people what they mayn’t believe? What makes you so wise? When are you going to learn how to read? I’m not proposing anything; I’m not saying I approve of this. I’m merely saying this is a possible direction society may take in the future. Jeez. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-that-we-currently-consider-benign-will-eventually-be-labeled-dangerous/716172.md?page=3)