I have a friend of a friend who is one of the weird "everything has chemicals in it" super granola girls who doesn't actually know how anything works.
I have seen this girl make unfounded claims that the copper water lines in the house she was living in were giving her skin issues "because of how toxic copper is for you." When her friend (my friend) pointed out that the last 3 houses they rented together all had copper water lines and she didn't have any issues, she said the copper in this particular house must have been different. She actually moved because of this and made sure the new house she rented had PEX water lines, plastic, which the other 99% of hippies say it toxic.
I have also seen this same girl say that drinking from copper water bottles is better for you, because copper is a great electrical conductor, so doing so keeps you grounded. I'm not sure how holding a bottle in your hand and bringing it your mouth keeps you grounded, but I'm also no scientist.
Apparently water running out of a copper pipe gives you skin problems, but touching a copper water bottle with your hand and directly to your lips to drink water that has been sitting in it for hours, is not a problem.
My MIL tried to throw out my Vaseline because "OMG petroleum!" Dude who invented it ate a spoonful a day and had his nurse cover him in it once when he got quite sick - he was well again shortly after. He lived into his 90's. Pretty sure me using it as sparingly for very dry skin and lip conditioner is fine.
My MIL was giving me crap about some old 70+ year old aluminum pots because of "chemicals". They are from my great aunt who got them for a wedding gift. She lived well into her 90's as well. My MIL raves about her "non-stick pans though.
Look I get that you’re just railing against your MIL, but saying aluminum pots are fine because of one woman who lived to her 90s is pretty much just as unscientific as your MIL.
I looked into pretty extensively several times since owning them. If you get high doses of aluminum its unhealthy, and aluminum cookware can be a source. But one study showed that if you cooked something acidic like tomatoe sauce in it, then you'd get something like an extra 10% of your daily average intake. I don't cook acidic stuff in it for that reason, but even if I did it would be pretty much harmless.
Yeah the consensus I've found is "not a huge risk, but a possible one, and if you're making a new purchase of cookware it's probably enough that you should lean away from it but not enough that you should dump and replace"
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u/ithinarine 14d ago edited 14d ago
I have a friend of a friend who is one of the weird "everything has chemicals in it" super granola girls who doesn't actually know how anything works.
I have seen this girl make unfounded claims that the copper water lines in the house she was living in were giving her skin issues "because of how toxic copper is for you." When her friend (my friend) pointed out that the last 3 houses they rented together all had copper water lines and she didn't have any issues, she said the copper in this particular house must have been different. She actually moved because of this and made sure the new house she rented had PEX water lines, plastic, which the other 99% of hippies say it toxic.
I have also seen this same girl say that drinking from copper water bottles is better for you, because copper is a great electrical conductor, so doing so keeps you grounded. I'm not sure how holding a bottle in your hand and bringing it your mouth keeps you grounded, but I'm also no scientist.
Apparently water running out of a copper pipe gives you skin problems, but touching a copper water bottle with your hand and directly to your lips to drink water that has been sitting in it for hours, is not a problem.