You know what, Chelsea, we did just in how we're recording it, the last Fringie Minis climate related. So I'm actually going to go with something environmental, but not climate related. Adjacently related. Yes. And this is something that I think we've talked about a bit. This is from W. Bay, which I'm not quite sure what this source is, but I really like this article. So wbay.com, Wisconsin based news station. Oh, Wisconsin. Article from February 9th, 2024 by W. Bay News staff. Article title.
General Mills urged to take plastics out of Cheerios, soup, pasta, and canned corn. I would say they're right in saying that. Yes. Just my first impression right off the bat. I agree. There's a chance of plastic chemicals in the food you eat. A consumer group is urging popular brand General Mills to reduce the amount of plastic chemicals in pre-packaged foods. What's your problem? We just love plastics so much. It's what the consumers crave. I know what this is missing. Plastic.
Is that distinct like plastic-y flavor that we just want? It's true. We apparently do. Yeah. Consumer Reports is an independent nonprofit group. It sent a letter to General Mills claiming it found concerning levels of forever chemical phthalates in several General Mills products. We talked about phthalates. Before, even recently, it's used to make plastics more durable. Some studies have linked the chemical to health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
The letter breaks down which products Consumer Reports tested. Products mentioned include Original Cheerios, the French vanilla flavor of Yo-Ple Original Le Fette Yogurt, Green Giant Cream-styled Sweet Corn, and Progresso Vegetable Classic Veggie Soup. Do you want to guess what their highest level of phthalates was for? What kind of food it was in? Yeah. General Mills? Yeah. Which is like, you know, 90% of the grocery store. So you know what? Don't even worry about it.
It's Annie's organic cheesy ravioli. I wouldn't have got that. I wouldn't have got that either. Annie's is organic though. I know. Oh, jeez. It's the bunny-shaped stuff. Yeah. The letter to General Mills talks about how even a small amount of exposure to phthalates over time can increase health risks and says growing research shows it can interfere with how your body regulates hormones.
We've been waiting to see if General Mills will put out a statement in response to the letter and claims made by Consumer Reports. We'll update you from the first alert safety desk if we hear from the company. The Director of Consumer Reports says he hopes General Mills will take the necessary steps for reducing the level of plasticizers in its products. And that's the end of the article. Rupertism. Hooray!
Yeah. And especially, you know where I think they actually put the effort in instead of responding to the letter? Making sure it didn't get on the front page of every news station. I thought it was going to be putting more plastic in. You know now that you say it, I'm just going to double down. We're going so hard on these plastics. That's insane. And you know what? There's so much regulation around putting what ingredients are in food, at least in North America or Canada.
You would think, honestly, there's been a fight over the last 30 to 40 years over regulation. And you can see that regulation's not been able to keep up with industry over the last decades, for sure. Specifically, when everything is getting monopolized. So there's one big creator of everything and they just aren't being regulated properly. You have to say, I mean, this is a corporation entity that is, let's be honest, making these decisions and the billionaires behind it.
Yeah. And they're not going to do research into things that are inconvenient for their corporate structure. They're just not. Yeah. And bottom line. And I mean, I could see them being like, you know what, let's just do it. And any repercussions are going to be like a minor fine in the big scope of things to them. And then people getting sick is just benefiting other sectors in the freaking corporate machine. Yeah. Of people getting sick.
So. Hey, and I'm pretty sure that General Mills has a health arm to it as well. I'm sure it does. I'm very sure it does in which it's just benefiting and more. That's insane. Yeah. They're just putting plastic in it? Yeah. Well, not, I don't think it's just plastic. It would be a chemical compound used in the process that happens to have plastic in it. I don't think they're just like coating materials as they go through the machine and plastic so that they don't get it soggy and vellar.
Yeah. What a world we have carved out for ourselves. And I'm going to read the headline for this because it has to do with it. I don't feel like I want to cover it in its own episode, but there was just a study that was done. This is off SciTech Daily posted February 27, 2024 by Michael Haterly, University of New Mexico. A talking study finds microplastics in every human placenta. Yeah. It's literally in everything, everything. Yeah. Now, like you cannot avoid it at all.
No matter what you eat, organic, organic, Annie's Reveoli is the worst for you apparently. So if you're eating that thinking, I'm free of plastic. You have more plastic in you than anyone else. There's no aspect of your life you're not getting plastic or PFOS in. No. I'm not going to go into more than this podcast. First and foremost, actually. So that's fun. Yeah. That's what I would call it. Don't worry.
I'll return with other weather-related fringy topics in the near future because I found quite a few that fit our fringy stories that we talk about. But you're going to have to sit in anticipation for 48 hours and then another week to probably get one of those. So, bye. Seven days plus 48. Bye.