BPA is BACK, as are the Christmas catalogs

BPA is back in the news. ABC ran another story on it tonight (click on title to this post to go to ABC's story). Independent experts have criticized the FDA panel that reviewed BPA products and pronounced them "safe." The criticism is that the FDA ignored numerous studies -- studies not conducted by the chemical companies -- that link BPA to cancer and a myriad of other health misadventures.
So BPA was naturally on my mind as I flipped through the numerous Christmas catalogs that hit my stoop a good week or two before Halloween every year. Today the "Bed, Bath and Beyond" catalog arrived. I love that store. (Do I hoard their 20% off coupons like M & Ms or nuggets of gold and forget, every time I shop there, to use them? Sure. But then, we're getting a little off topic.)

The catalog today featured the "Pasta N'More Microwave Pasta Cooker." This pasta cooker is plastic through and through. And we're supposed to blithely boil spaghetti noodles in plastic in the microwave? No f-cking way. This confounded me; it could not be true. So I did a little poking around to find out more about this plastic pasta death trap.
What I found was a demonstration video on the noodle cooker's website. It features a woman on the edge, unable to contain her frustration and rage when she attempts to boil noodles in her barren, black-and-white kitchen.
Now I am no cook, I'll grant you that. But folks, I can bring spaghetti to a boil without going to the brink. I can cook noodles and keep my composure. It's just not that difficult. Really. But since I'm still the blogging novice, I could not figure out how to download the actual demonstration video. Here is one video, though, from YouTube, albeit a little spoofed up by an Andy Warhol lover. You will still, however, be able to get my point: WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BOIL SPAGHETTI IN PLASTIC IN THE MICROWAVE?

Just as I was beginning to feel a bit peculiar, wondering how many other weird products are out there that scores of people supposedly use on a daily basis, things I refuse to use or have never before heard of (like these "bling" BPA pacifiers) . . . I spotted another Bath & Beyond advertisement.
This one was for the "Nasal Cleansing 'Neti' Pot."
I just don't know what to think. Don't know what to say. I'm speechless. And the woman looks so happy. There are no words. So I will sign off now. It's time, anyway, for me to rub my Aladdin's lamp, wash my Ronco egg scrambler, and blow my nose.

Labels: BPA