Growing up in a society filled with warnings and health risks for almost everything imaginable, I tend to be a little skeptical.

On Monday, a Northern Star article titled “Food containers could carry risks” discussed the various problems and potential health risks caused by a chemical called styrene.

Styrene is found in the carry-out containers from Stevenson and is believed to cause headaches, fatigue, malaise, a feeling of intoxication and a few other minor problems.

Fatigue? Drowsiness? Feelings of intoxication? I have a feeling most college students are already feeling tired and uncomfortable, and I know a feeling of intoxication is not something new to most students.

Most products today seem to come with health risks, and these seemed pretty minor, but there could be a serious problem here, so I decided to look into this chemical called styrene myself.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “When animals breathed styrene vapors in short-term studies, they damaged the lining of their noses.

Long-term exposure damaged their livers, but there is no evidence that this will occur in people because there is no information on human health effects of breathing low levels for a long time. There is also little information on human health effects from eating or touching styrene.”

It seems as if there is no conclusive evidence regarding whether styrene affects humans negatively or not. This is not to say it certainly does not have negative health effects, but if it does, they appear to be very minor and only occur with large levels of exposure.

Students probably would not be the ones at risk in this situation; rather, I would be more concerned about the workers who are around the chemical day in and day out.

Still, it does not look as though even that much exposure is enough to cause serious health risks, at least none that data has been able to prove so far.

Does this mean I agree with the use of styrene in carry-out containers in Stevenson? No, but not because of the supposed health risks. Using these containers seems to produce a large amount of waste, as each student gets a different container with the various items they get from around the food court.

It is not ridiculous to watch someone walk out of Stevenson with three or four of these styrene containers, and while they are nice to carry food around in, they are not necessary.

“I think paper should be the default option in Stevenson, not the containers,” said AJ Ray, a sophomore chemical engineering major.

The amount of waste produced by styrene containers coupled with the potential health risks, however small, seems to call for a change in Stevenson’s food containers.

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