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Tupperware, the iconic kitchen brand that’s been a household name for decades, recently received a lifeline from its creditors, but the business still faces extreme challenges. Given the brand’s prospects, you might be wondering how long your stash of its food storage containers is safe to use — especially if it’s vintage.

Figuring out the answer to that question for any type of reusable plastic food storage products — not just Tupperware — often comes down to understanding what they’re made of. Bisphenol A, more commonly known as BPA, is a chemical that, according to the United States Institute of Environmental Health Scienceshas been used for years in the production of certain plastics to make them more durable and shatter-resistant. Unfortunately, BPA can also make them potential health hazards.

In human studies, BPA exposure has been associated with a higher risk of a wide range of health conditions or issues, such as infertility, altered fetal growth of the fetus, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and aggression among children, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, and heart disease, said Laura Vandenberg, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In addition to food containers, BPA has been used in various other products, such as shatterproof windows, water bottles and eyewear, and in resins coating metal food cans, bottle tops and water supply pipes. The composition of your plastic product can depend on the year you bought it, Vandenberg said.

Since March 2010, items Tupperware sells in the US and Canada are BPA-free, according to its website.

CNN has contacted Tupperware for comment but has not received a response.

“We worry about those hard, shatter-resistant plastics that were made a decade ago, that were made with BPA,” Vandenberg said. “Every single time that they’re used, they’re leaching small amounts of BPA out of them. … Even the low levels of BPA that leach from consumer plastics, canned food linings or other consumer goods … have been shown to be associated with harm, and people certainly should care about it.

“If it’s not safe the day you buy it, it’s not safe 10 years later,” Vandenberg said. In fact, the longer you own them, the riskier they are for your health, she added.

Risks of container wear and tear

Putting stress on plastic food containers by washing them in the dishwasher or with rough scrub brushes “increase the ability of that plastic to leach whatever it was made out of,” Vandenberg said. Scratches can create deep grooves for bacteria to reside in as well, said James Rogers, director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports, a nonprofit research, testing and consumer advocacy organization.

Putting highly acidic foods — such as tomatoes or citrus fruits — in these products does the same thing, Vandenberg said.

The “microwave safe” label on some plastic containers doesn’t mean the product is totally safe from a health standpoint, she added.

“Some of the plasticizers and chemicals can transfer from the plastic containers into the food during heating,” Rogers said. “So we totally advocate that you transfer your food from a plastic container into a glass bowl and microwave it that way.”

Discoloration of a container can signal that a chemical change has occurred in the plastic, Vandenberg said. “Usually that is happening because there’s lots of little micro-holes or micro-tears,” she explained. “And now there’s an interaction with the food and the plastic (because the plastic is degrading). So if the plastic is discolored, it’s telling you that that plastic is breaking down.”

Any damaged plastic food storage containers should be discarded, said Sam Cole, global director of product certification, food equipment and chemicals at the National Safety Foundation, an organization facilitating development of public health standards and certification programs for the protection of food, water, consumer products and the environment.

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5 ways to cut your plastic waste

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BPA in the body

The majority of daily exposure to BPA happens through diet, according to the US Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. “The reason why we worry about BPA is that, going all the way back to the 1930s when it was tested for use as a pharmaceutical, it was clear that it acts like an estrogen,” Vandenberg said. “Estrogen is a pretty powerful hormone that is important for reproduction and fertility, but also really important for the development of sex organs, development of the brain and controlling metabolism.

“It has a role in muscle development and fat development,” she added. “So even small amounts of tinkering with the estrogen or estrogen pathways in our body can have really serious outcomes for our health.”

The shape of the molecules in BPA make it more likely to bind to estrogen receptors, Vandenberg added. “I avoid using those reusable plastics as much as possible, because I have yet to see good evidence that there are consumer plastics that are free from estrogenic properties.”

Generally, plastics with the label “PC” (for polycarbonate) or recycling codes three or seven likely contain BPA, according to Vandenberg and the US Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Some manufacturers have been phasing BPA and other bisphenols, sometimes called analogues, out of their products due to public attention — rather than regulatory action — but not all, Vandenberg said.

“Think about replacing them with something that’s chemically inert, like glass,” Vandenberg said. “If you can’t afford to replace everything all at once, replace them one at a time.”

“I know it’s heavy, it can break and all the rest of that, but we think that the advantages to using glass containers for storing food and reheating food outweigh the risks,” Rogers said.

You can also opt for porcelain, ceramic or stainless-steel containers, especially for hot foods and liquids, according to Vandenberg and the US Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Snuggling with your partner could be a win-win for your health.

Cuddling at night promotes more secure attachment between partners and lowers stress levels, according to a new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Researchers from Auburn University examined data from 143 heterosexual “bed-sharing” couples, analyzing associations between physical closeness at sleep onset, perceived stress, attachment insecurity and sleep disturbance.

MOST SLEEP-DEPRIVED CITIES IN US REVEALED IN REPORT: WHERE DOES YOURS RANK?

Factors including daytime sleepiness, income, age, relationship length, sleep diagnoses and whether children or pets sleep in the bed were also considered.

The results revealed that couples who assumed a physically closer position upon going to sleep were indirectly linked with “lower couple insecure attachment” (when they have trouble connecting emotionally) and lower stress.

The researchers found no “significant” associations between physical closeness at sleep onset and the chances of sleep disturbance.

While stress was found to be lower among cuddlers, the research found that cuddling did not increase sleep quality.

The researchers concluded that physical closeness at sleep onset “may be a promising and amenable avenue for improving relational and physiological well-being.”

HERE’S WHY 90% OF AMERICANS DON’T SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT, ACCORDING TO EXPERT

Sleep expert Wendy Troxel, PhD — a RAND Corporation senior behavioral specialist and licensed clinical psychologist in Utah — shared with Fox News Digital how these findings highlight the “vital role” that shared time and physical touch play in emotional well-being.

Troxel, author of the book “Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep,” commented on the “interesting” finding that cuddling did not influence sleep quality.

A sleep expert says, “The simple act of cuddling before sleep likely triggers powerful psychological and physiological responses.” (Istock)

“This suggests that it’s the moments spent together before falling asleep — not necessarily sharing the entire night — that have the greatest positive effect on a relationship,” said the expert, who was not involved in the study.

“The simple act of cuddling before sleep likely triggers powerful psychological and physiological responses, such as increased emotional security and the release of oxytocin — the ‘bonding hormone’ associated with intimacy.”

HEAT EXPOSURE LINKED TO BETTER SLEEP, EXPERTS SAY — HERE’S WHY

These effects help reduce stress and deepen connection, which makes pre-sleep cuddling a “meaningful ritual for emotional health,” Troxel said.

“Whether you and your partner sleep together or apart, don’t skip the cuddle before bed,” she advised. “Even brief moments of closeness can enhance your relationship and overall well-being.”

While the study found that most couples sleep in the same position as their partner, 36.3% reported not touching or cuddling at night.

While the study found that most couples sleep in the same position as their partner, 36.3% reported not touching or cuddling at night. (Istock)

Those who did touch reported sleeping back to back (19.6%), having some contact, like touching an arm or leg (23.1%), spooning (13.3%), intertwining (4.2%) and sleeping face to face (3.5%).

Study co-author Josh R. Novak, PhD, associate professor at the Auburn University Department of Human Development and Family Science, confirmed in a statement to Fox News Digital that the more physically close position couples are in, the more feelings of “relational safety” were present due to lower stress.

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“Sleep is one of the most important ways we can manage our physical, relational and mental health,” the researcher said.

“Research has substantiated that sleep and relationship functioning are bidirectional and cyclical — meaning that bad sleep can negatively impact your relationship, and difficult relationship dynamics can lead to worse sleep.”

“Sleep is one of the most important ways we can manage our physical, relational and mental health.”

Novak added that non-sexual physical affection has generally been deemed “critical” for relationships, but there seems to be more “emotional and relational benefit” when there’s full-body contact.

“My study suggests that cuddling with a partner can be both a barometer of how a relationship is doing and a way to maintain or repair a relationship, as well as lower stress levels,” he said.

Cuddling with a partner can test the strength of a relationship and help mend it, the study’s lead researcher suggested. (Istock)

The researchers did not study how much time was spent in a cuddling position, leaving Novak to be “skeptical” of whether it leads to sleep disturbances.

“What happens most often is that cuddling only happens for a bit until both partners fall asleep, but there could be a select few that cuddle throughout the whole night,” he said.

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“My hunch is that most use cuddling to induce sleepiness and the feeling of safety and to reduce stress and anxiety, and that afterward either their body temperature increases too much, or there is discomfort and the need to shift around becomes necessary.”

Novak encouraged couples to cuddle if stress levels are high, as it’s a nonverbal way to feel “secure and safe.”

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“Although research needs to substantiate this further, it might also imply that, in the face of conflict during the day that is not solved or repaired … cuddling might be a way to start that process and move toward repair,” he added.

BowFlex is recalling millions of units of its adjustable dumbbells because their weight plates can dislodge and cause injury to users.

The recall comes after over 100 reports of injuries including concussions, abrasions, broken toes or contusions, according to the CPSC.

The dumbbells are popular because of their versatility: They allow users to lift dumbbells of different weights, without owning a full set of individually weighted dumbbells, which would take up a lot of space.

A total of 3,844,200 units of the product are being recalled, according to a notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Thursday. That includes 3.7 million units that were sold by Nautilus Inc. Nautilus changed its corporate name to BowFlex in 2023.

BowFlex filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2024 and Johnson Health Tech Retail acquired some of its assets, including the recalled dumbbell models. The company will refund customers for the dumbbells’ purchase price in the form of a voucher or for replacement units, so long as they were purchased from Johnson Health Tech Trading.

“A proactive and broad initiation of this voluntary recall is consistent with our fundamental mission to serve consumers with high-quality and durable fitness equipment,” Johnson Health Tech Trading said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.

For customers who purchased the dumbbells from BowFlex, formerly Nautilus, consumers may request a refund in the form of a prorated voucher. They are also eligible to receive a one year digital fitness membership through Johnson Health Tech Trading. Johnson Health Tech Trading is reaching out to its customers directly, according to the recall notice.

Consumer Reports, the nonprofit consumer product testing organization, said the company’s remedy is insufficient. “Consumers should be able to receive their money back in full, no strings attached,” she said in a statement to ConsumerReports.com.

The recalled dumbbell sets, called the “BowFlex 552, 52.5-lb Adjustable Dumbbells,” and the “BowFlex 1090, 90-lb Adjustable Dumbbells,” were sold in pairs and as single units. The black weights came with handles, weight plates and a plastic storage tray. The 1090 dumbbells could be adjusted to weigh between 10 and 90 pounds.

The CPSC is urging owners of the recalled dumbbells to stop using them immediately, and to seek out a refund. Consumers can fill out a claim form here.

Tooth decay, though preventable, is one of the most common childhood diseases. And children of color, children who come from low-income households, children on public insurance plans that limit which providers they can see, and children who live in rural areas and have to travel long distances to access care—all of them are at greater risk of developing cavities, according to Latimer. Children with autism also tend to have a heightened risk of developing cavities because they may struggle with brushing their teeth regularly, she says.

While there are alternative sources of fluoride that people can purchase, the cost may be out of reach for many families, Latimer says. That’s why, she says, fluoridated water is so critical: It’s an easily accessible tool that can help protect the oral health of children who are most vulnerable to cavities. And for generations, it’s flowed straight from the tap.

Under-resourced hospitals face a big artificial intelligence adoption learning curve, but it’s surmountable if they can keep up with rapidly advancing analytics and AI tools in an industry increasingly turning to automation to lower costs and improve outcomes.

AI can improve health equity and access to care, an organization’s overall financial performance and even recruitment efforts.

But providers serving small, rural and medically underserved communities face distinct challenges in making AI modernization work. The Health AI Partnershipan initiative of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation and Duke University School of Medicine, aims to help.

The partnership, which launched in 2021, has been working with five under-resourced healthcare organizations to increase their expertise in trusting AI models and safely managing long-term usage through a 12-month program it calls the Practice Network.

The organizations in the Health AI Partnership’s first cohort are implementing ambient scribes, a “no-show” algorithm, sepsis warning code and retinal diabetic retinopathy scanning. Through the partnership, they have gained access to best practice guidance, industry mentors and implementation support and meet regularly to focus on troubleshooting their specific AI implementation challenges.

In session at next month’s HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum, scheduled for July 10-11 in Brooklyn, New York, members of the partnership’s inaugural practice network of community health centers will share how they’re deploying AI into day-to-day routine care.

Leaders from the partnership spoke with Healthcare IT News to discuss common problems associated with evolving AI implementation challenges and AI’s value to low-resourced healthcare organizations.

Bridging knowledge gaps

About 10 months into their engagement, HAIP’s leaders say the mentoring and peer learning program has driven the rapidly growing number of use cases each of these organizations is considering.

There is a wide spectrum of technology involved – large language models, clinical decision support and more being undertaken by the Community-University Health Care Center in Minnesota and four federally qualified health centers.

Those are North Country Healthcare in Arizona; San Ysidro Health in San Diego County, California; Health Center of Southeast Texas; and the WakeMed health system serving North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

Key to the program is an eight-key decision point framework with 31 best practice guides for implementing health AI.

“As we started talking to sites, we soon realized that this needs to be a dynamic community that constantly thinks about best practices as tools get integrated,” said Alifia Hasan, innovation portfolio manager at DIHI.

“They have lots of pressure on them from various spaces on just surviving,” she added, and that is driving organizations like these to approach AI in clinical care and operations.

One example is in recruiting physicians, Hasan noted.

“If they’re not providing these kinds of services – like ambient scribe – they face [recruitment] challenges.”

But participating organizations face difficulty evaluating AI products, even with vendor assistance, due to the organizations’ expertise gaps. They may also lack seasoning in their negotiations with vendors, leading to unfavorable contracting terms.

“Oftentimes, they are seeking advice for how to respond to and navigate contracting and requirements with vendors,” said Mark Sendak, population health and data science lead at DIHI and HAIP co-lead.

“There is a big resource gap for sure, which everyone understands,” added Suresh Balu, DIHI director, associate dean of innovation and partnership for Duke’s School of Medicine and HAIP co-lead. “How do you put things into practice? When we convene these organizations to talk to the experts, they can actually address the knowledge gap.”

Implementation help

At the upcoming forum, Hasan, who manages day-to-day coordination and organizes technical assistance for Practice Network participants, will give an overview of HAIP’s long-term vision.

The partnership envisions scaling the Practice Network program nationally through a hub-and-spoke model that would enable other institutions to provide similar technical assistance to reach more under-resourced healthcare organizations across the U.S.

The digital divide these organizations face is “intimidating,” Sendak said.

“It’s not just the number of organizations. There’s 1,600 community health centers, and we’re working with four of them.”

He noted that what has been especially beneficial is the program’s “office hours,” where program participants meet with HAIP’s AI experts to advise on specific AI implementation challenges they are having.

Representatives from the five participants will join HAIP’s leaders for a panel discussion to share their AI adoption challenges and real-world approaches and how they are measuring value on investment.

The plan for the session is to address “the typical set of challenges, which are nuanced when it comes to adoption of AI, and all the challenges throughout the life cycle of development, deployment and monitoring of AI solutions,” Balu said.

Hasan, Balu and Sendak added that a lot of the credit for having under-resourced and community hospitals be part of the conversation around AI implementation goes to HIMSS, the parent company of Healthcare IT Newsfor leading efforts to address the digital divide.

The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum is scheduled to take place July 10-11 in Brooklyn. Learn more and register.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.

Throughout the course of their lives, humans can establish meaningful social connections with others, empathizing with them and sharing their experiences. People’s ability to manage, perceive and understand the emotions experienced by both themselves and others is broadly referred to as emotional intelligence (EI).

Over the past decades, psychologists have developed various tests designed to measure EI, which typically assess people’s ability to solve emotion-related problems that they may encounter in their everyday lives. These tests can be incorporated into various psychological assessments employed in research, clinical, professional and educational settings.

Researchers at the University of Bern and the University of Geneva recently carried out a study assessing the ability of large language models (LLMs), the machine learning techniques underpinning the functionality of conversational agents like ChatGPT, to solve and create EI tests. Their findings, published in Communications Psychologysuggest that LLMs can solve these tests almost as well as humans and could be promising tools for developing future psycho-metric EI tests.

“I’ve been researching EI for many years and developed several performance-based tests to measure people’s ability to accurately recognize, understand, and regulate emotions in themselves and others,” Katja Schlegel, first author of the paper, told Medical Xpress.

“When ChatGPT and other large language models became widely available and many of my colleagues and I began testing them in our work, it felt natural to ask: how would these models perform on the very EI tests we had created for humans? At the same time, a lively scientific debate is unfolding around whether AI can truly possess empathy—the capacity to understand, share, and respond to others’ emotions.”

EI and empathy are two closely linked concepts, as they are both associated with the ability to understand the emotional experiences of others. Schlegel and her colleagues Nils R. Sommer and Marcello Mortillaro set out to explore the extent to which LLMs could solve and create emotion-related problems in EI tests, as this could also offer some indication of the level of empathy they possess.

To achieve this, they first asked six widely used LLMs to complete five EI tests that were originally designed for humans as part of psychological evaluations. The models they tested included ChatGPT-4, CHatGPT-o1, Gemini 1.5 flash, Copilot 365, Claude 3.5, Haiku and DeepSeek V3.

“The EI tests we used present short emotional scenarios and ask for the most emotionally intelligent response, such as identifying what someone is likely feeling or how best to manage an emotional situation,” explained Schlegel. “We then compared the models’ scores to human averages from previous studies.”

In the second part of their experiment, the researchers asked ChatGPT-4, one of the most recent versions of ChatGPT released to the public, to create entirely new versions of the EI tests used in their experiments. These tests should include different emotional scenarios, questions and answer options while also specifying what the correct responses to the questions are.

“We then gave both the original and AI-generated tests to over 460 human participants to see how both versions compared in terms of difficulty, clarity, realism, and how well they correlated with other EI tests and a measure of traditional cognitive intelligence,” said Schlegel.

“This allowed us to test not just whether LLMs can solve EI tests, but whether they can reason about emotions deeply enough to build valid tests themselves, which we believe is an important step toward applying such reasoning in more open-ended, real-world settings.”

Notably, Schlegel and her colleagues found that the LLMs they tested performed very well on all EI tests, achieving an average accuracy of 81%, which is higher than the average accuracy achieved by human respondents (56%). Their results suggest that existing LLMs are already much better at understanding what people might feel in different contexts, at least when it comes to structured situations like those outlined in EI tests.

“Even more impressively, ChatGPT-4 was able to generate entirely new EI test items that were rated by human participants as similarly clear and realistic as the original items and showed comparable psychometric quality,” said Schlegel. “In our view, the ability to both solve and construct such tests reflects a high level of conceptual understanding of emotions.”

The results of this recent study could encourage psychologists to use LLMs to develop EI tests and training materials, which are currently done manually and can be fairly time consuming. In addition, they could inspire the use of LLMs for generating tailored role-play scenarios and other content for training social workers.

“Our findings are also relevant for the development of social agents such as mental health chatbots, educational tutors, and customer service avatars, which often operate in emotionally sensitive contexts where understanding human emotions is essential,” added Schlegel.

“Our results suggest that LLMs, at the very least, can emulate the emotional reasoning skills that serve as a prerequisite for such interactions. In our next studies, we plan to test how well LLMs perform in less structured, real-life emotional conversations beyond the controlled format of test items. We also want to explore how culturally sensitive their emotional reasoning is since current models are primarily trained on Western-centric data.”

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Goldeneye 1995 LLC, an affiliate of fintech investor and Ripple’s former chief risk officer, Greg Kidd, is buying a controlling interest in health monitoring company Know Labs using 1,000 Bitcoin and some extra cash.

U.S.-based medical device company Know Labs develops non-invasive health monitoring tools using radio-microwave spectroscopy to help identify and measure molecules inside and outside of the body.

The company is developing KnowU, a non-invasive wearable and continuous blood glucose monitor with sensor technology designed to help people with diabetes manage their condition.

It can be worn as an adhesive, where the wearer can clip the sensor on and off, or be worn on one’s wrist or forearm with a strap.

Goldeneye will purchase the company’s common stock by adding the value of 1,000 Bitcoin (currently selling at around $105,160.57 a coin) and some extra cash. To determine how many shares the LLC will receive, that total value of the Bitcoin will then be divided by the company’s share price of $0.335.

The company plans to keep the 1,000 Bitcoin as part of its financial reserves or assets, meaning investors may indirectly benefit if the price of Bitcoin increases in value.

Upon closing of the deal, Kidd will become Know Labs’ CEO and chairman of the company’s board of directors.

“I’m thrilled to deploy a Bitcoin treasury strategy with the support of a forward-looking organization like Know Labs at a time when market and regulatory conditions are particularly favorable,” Kidd said in a statement.

“We believe this approach will generate sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value.”

THE LARGER TREND

Know Labs’ stock is currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KNW at around $0.81 per share. The company went public in 2006, opening at $6,600 per share.

Cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, is notoriously volatile. The decentrailized cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of $111,681.70 at the end of May. A year ago, the coin was selling for around $71,103.14.

Another company employing a Bitcoin reserve is medical technology and software company Semler Scientific, which manufactures and markets products that support the early detection and treatment of chronic diseases.

The company, which has long held Bitcoin reserves, announced in February that it purchased 871 additional Bitcoins for $88.5 million, bringing its total Bitcoin count to 3,192.

More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from fish, other meat, and dairy.

By cultivating muscle meat directly, without associated organs like intestines, the incidence of foodborne diseases “could be significantly reduced,” as could exposure to antibiotics, “pesticides, arsenic, dioxins, and hormones associated with conventional meat.” Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved seven hormone drugs to bulk up the production of milk and meat. “In the European Union, there exists a total ban on such use,” however. Even without injected hormones, though, animal products naturally have hormones because they come from animals. “Eggs, example given, contribute more to the dietary intake of estradiol [estrogens] than beef, whether the animal is legally treated with hormones or not.” After all, eggs come straight from a hen’s ovaries, so, of course, they’re swimming with hormones. But if you’re directly growing just muscle meat or egg white protein, you don’t need to include reproductive organs, adrenal glands, or any of the associated hormones.

“Chemical safety is another concern for meat produced under current production systems.” There are chemical toxicants and industrial pollutants that build up in the food chain, such as pesticides, PCBs, heavy metals, and flame retardants, but there is no food chain with cultivated meat. We could produce all the tuna we wanted, with zero mercury.

When the World Health Organization determined that processed meat was a known human carcinogen and unprocessed meat a probable human carcinogen, it wasn’t even talking about the carcinogenic environmental pollutants. When researchers tested retail meat for the presence of “33 chemicals with calculated carcinogenic potential,” like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides like DDT, and dioxin-like PCBs, they concluded that, in order to reduce the risk of cancer, we should limit beef, pork, or chicken consumption to a maximum of five servings a month.

Why cultivate meat at all when you can just buy organic? Surprisingly, “consumption of organic meat does not diminish the carcinogenic potential associated with the intake of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).” A number of studies have recently compared the presence of environmental contaminants in organic meat versus conventional meat, and the researchers found, surprisingly, that organic meat was sometimes more contaminated. Not only organic beef either. Higher levels were also found in pork and poultry.

If you look at the micropollutants and chemical residues in both organic and conventional meat, several environmental contaminants, including dioxins, PCBs, lead, and arsenic, were measured at significantly higher levels in the organic samples. As you can see below and at 2:56 in my video, The Human Health Effects of Cultivated Meat: Chemical Safetythe green is organic meat, and the blue is conventional.

Cooking helps to draw off some of the fat where the PCBs are concentrated, as shown here and at 3:01.

Seafood seems to be an exception. Steaming, for example, generally increases contaminant levels, increasing contaminant exposure and concentrating mercury levels as much as 47 percent, as you can see here and at 3:15 in my video. Better not to have toxic buildup in the first place.

More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from foods like meat, including fatty fish, and dairy, but the pollutants don’t appear magically. The only way the chicken, fish, and other meat lead to human exposure is because the animals themselves built up a lifetime of exposure in our polluted world, from incinerators, power plants, sewer sludge, and on and on, as you can see here and at 3:40 in my video.

Unlike conventional meat production, a slaughter-free harvest would not only mean no more infected animals, but no more contaminated animals either. In terms of pollutants, it would be like taking a time machine back before the Industrial Revolution.

Doctor’s Note:

Cultivated meat means less contamination with fecal residues, toxic pollutants, antibiotics, and hormones; up to 99 percent less environmental impact; and zero pandemic risk. Cultivated meat allows people to have their meat and eat it, too, without affecting the rest of us.

This is the final video in this cultivated meat series. If you missed the first two, check out the videos on Food Safety and Antibiotic Resistance.

I previously did a video series on plant-based meats; see the related posts below.

All videos in the plant-based meat series are also available in a digital download from a webinar I did. SeeThe Human Health Implications of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat for Pandemic Prevention and Climate Mitigation.

The North Face Base Camp Voyager Duffel, Sumac ($125)

If you need a gym bag that’ll last and can be your go-to for various scenarios, this one has you covered. Made with recycled polyester for durability, it also has an adjustable divider that lets you position your gear.

Why we love it: This bag is perfect for everyday use, including outdoor activities, the gym, and as a carry-on. We love that this bag is durable, made from recycled materials, and functional all at the same time.
What reviewers say: “I use this pack for work. It fits my laptop, lunch bag, gym clothes, gym shoes, and has pockets for small storage. Before this bag I had multiple bags to pack, put in the car, bring back in the house. It was super annoying. Now everything is in ONE bag. It’s awesome!”
What’s worth noting: The zippers can be difficult to operate, particularly when the bag is fully packed.
Dimensions: 23″ x 14″ x 9″
Colorways: 7