How Safe Are Black Plastic Spatulas? The Risks in Health Warnings

Fudging mistakes undermines trust in science and paves the way for unintended consequences.

- F.D. Flam

In December, a bungled health warning over black plastic spatulas didn't help faltering trust in science. First, researchers warned us to throw away the ubiquitous utensils because the recycling process might have incorporated toxic contaminants beyond the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safety limits. Then someone pointed out the researchers had made a big maths error. The black plastic warning turned out to have been based on incorrect information. Contaminant levels were actually more than 10 times lower than EPA limits.

It wouldn't surprise me if Americans remained wary of black plastic utensils. Alarming health news, especially when it comes from prestigious universities or other trusted sources, has a way of lodging in people's minds.

Corrective information, such as reports pointing out the maths fumble in the black spatula study, has less shock value and tends to get lost in the torrent of news around the initial scare. And scientists themselves are often unwilling to pull back completely from health alarms that they had a hand in initiating, leaving worries about certain substances or practices to linger in the public consciousness long after doubts over their original findings emerged.

The great proliferation of black plastic spatulas itself was spawned by a spate of health scares of varying credibility. Experts had warned that it was dangerous to use a metal spatula because it could scratch non-stick cookware, allowing plastic and "forever chemicals" into food.

Before that, we bought the chemically coated pans because of a scare over fat, which for centuries had kept food from sticking to cookware.