There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Important excerpts:
" Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled—independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source—leached chemicals having reliably detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than did BPA-containing products. "
"This leaching of monomers and additives from a plastic item into its contents is often accelerated if the product is exposed to common-use stresses such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight, microwave radiation, and/or moist heat via boiling or dishwashing. "
" We used the following stresses:
" Most (71%) unstressed plastic items released chemicals with reliably detectable EA in one or more extraction protocols, independent of resin type, product type, or retailer (Table 1)." [emphasis mine]
Also, Canada has already banned microbeads, which are frequently polypropylene, due to environmental toxicity (and physical waste). I don't think there's a ban on it in other products yet.
Thoughts on the safety of the current Aeropress? I mean (I hope) we're not microwaving it, or putting it in the dishwasher, but those stress tests are markedly similar to brewing coffee.
The latest version of the aeropress was release in 2014. They go into a little bit of depth about their choices in material and testing process.
But just like you said, please don't microwave your aeropress, put it in the dishwasher, etc.
I guess all these negative effects of plastic has me looking at ceramic/glass pourover devices or looking into french press.