Camping Tents Toxic? Duke Study Reveals Troubling Chemical Exposure

[brianb]

https://gearjunkie.com/toxic-tents-d...posure-camping

Link to article talking about toxicity in fabrics commonly used in tents. I've never read that "fire retardent" coatings are used by any of our cottage vendors or any of the DIY fabric suppliers many of us use.

Another reason to be in a hammock.

[johnspenn]

Heard about that. Glad I have elevated my perspective =)

[BikerDad]

Actually, the article doesn't touch on the subject of toxicity at all. Toxicity is best summed up in the First Law of Toxicology - The dose makes the poison.

Too much of ANYTHING is toxic, so the question becomes, "how much is too much?" The article ignores that question, perhaps the study did as well. We can fairly safely assume that relatively small amounts of the carcinogens (technically, being carcinogenic is different from being toxic, but we can dive down that rabbit hole some other day) present some risk, but what amounts, and how much risk? Simply detecting something means barely more than squat.

Why does this matter? Because fear mongering can destroy businesses and even industries. Oh, and lead to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people.

Every year, for the last 10+ years, the average American has consumed enough arsenic to kill a horse. There's still more than 300 million of us. I'll leave it to you to consider the implications of that when "eek, toxins!!!!" is the battle cry.

[Phantom Grappler]

Good eye, brianb, I don't doubt it-- And have you been making more gear? I hope your knee is healing fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Brewguy]

Actually, the article doesn't touch on the subject of toxicity at all. Toxicity is best summed up in the First Law of Toxicology - The dose makes the poison.

Too much of ANYTHING is toxic, so the question becomes, "how much is too much?" The article ignores that question, perhaps the study did as well. We can fairly safely assume that relatively small amounts of the carcinogens (technically, being carcinogenic is different from being toxic, but we can dive down that rabbit hole some other day) present some risk, but what amounts, and how much risk? Simply detecting something means barely more than squat.

Why does this matter? Because fear mongering can destroy businesses and even industries. Oh, and lead to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people.

Every year, for the last 10+ years, the average American has consumed enough arsenic to kill a horse. There's still more than 300 million of us. I'll leave it to you to consider the implications of that when "eek, toxins!!!!" is the battle cry.

You raise a good question about levels. This might help explain why as soon as my wife gets in a tent she starts to have asthma problems. She is more sensitive to toxins and it very well may be the fire retardants.

[La Picker]

Actually, the article doesn't touch on the subject of toxicity at all. Toxicity is best summed up in the First Law of Toxicology - The dose makes the poison.

Too much of ANYTHING is toxic, so the question becomes, "how much is too much?" The article ignores that question, perhaps the study did as well. We can fairly safely assume that relatively small amounts of the carcinogens (technically, being carcinogenic is different from being toxic, but we can dive down that rabbit hole some other day) present some risk, but what amounts, and how much risk? Simply detecting something means barely more than squat.

Why does this matter? Because fear mongering can destroy businesses and even industries. Oh, and lead to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people.

Every year, for the last 10+ years, the average American has consumed enough arsenic to kill a horse. There's still more than 300 million of us. I'll leave it to you to consider the implications of that when "eek, toxins!!!!" is the battle cry.

The light of knowledge and reason gets directed at issues like this way too seldom.

[OneClick]

Actually, the article doesn't touch on the subject of toxicity at all. Toxicity is best summed up in the First Law of Toxicology - The dose makes the poison.

Too much of ANYTHING is toxic, so the question becomes, "how much is too much?"

Good point. I've heard of people dying from drinking too much water (too fast). Crazy!