Straight from the John Hopkins Website -

“The Internet is flooded with messages warning against freezing water in plastic bottles or cooking with plastics in the microwave oven. These messages, frequently titled “Johns Hopkins Cancer News” or “Johns Hopkins Cancer Update,” are falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins and we do not endorse their content.”

http://www.jhsph.edu/dioxins

The above comments conclude that Johns Hopkins is saying nothing that might alarm the plastics industry. Apparently the information is being passed by JH employees to each other or is being presented by public health professionals. No one anywhere is willing to state that plastic is safe for cooking.

I use waxed paper for the microwave.

Quoting from above link:
January 15, 2008
Email Hoax Regarding Freezing Water Bottles and Microwave Cooking
The Internet is flooded with messages warning against freezing water in plastic bottles or cooking with plastics in the microwave oven. These messages, frequently titled “Johns Hopkins Cancer News” or “Johns Hopkins Cancer Update,” are falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins and we do not endorse their content.
Freezing water does not cause the release of chemicals from plastic bottles.
In general, it is best to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations when using any plastic products. When cooking with plastics, only use those plastic containers, wraps, bags and utensils for their intended purposes.

No, I don’t buy stuff from China anymore, they simply have no concept of quality control.

Yes, I use wooden cooking utensils. They were purchased or received as gifts unfinished. I sand them down to 400 grit paper, clean them with bleach and season them with cooking oil. Same with wooden cutting boards.

There is a different standard for what you do in the home and what you do in a public setting. At home your germs are your own and you are used to them. For public there are specific standards for cleaning. I have heard anecdotes about not putting your bread on your meat cutting space. You also have to be able to clean the surface effectively. I can’t tell you about the specifics for the industry, but in Jordan, I have seen the wooden chopping block surfaces cleaned with bleach–in fact the whole shop, floor and everything.

I would also differentiate between germs and toxic substances. Germs are part of the environment and most people have immune systems that deal with the average germ pretty effectively. Maybe you get diarrhea, or need antibiotic, but you get over it. On the other hand, chemicals might be hard for the body to get rid of. Detoxification happens in the liver and kidneys. You don’t want damage to either one of those.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2002/2002-02-12-07.asp

Given it’s outdoor wood they’re talking about but without knowing its history, would you trust all wood provided from any country? Say, cheap, imported wooden implements?

As for E.Coli (or salmonella) on wooden kitchen implements, if you use a wooden spoon to cook meat or cut raw meat on a wooden chopping board, you’re at risk if bacteria get into grooves in the wood, a real risk if it’s a crap piece of wood and sharp knife and scrubbing it won’t work. Don’t poo-poo it, people really do use raw meat on their wooden boards.

The point about cars, toys, etc. is that if there were dioxins actually present in those plastics in significant quantities and all it took was heat or a UV light source to liberate them as is being asserted here, you wouldn’t need to ingest them, you would be breathing them in. Dioxins are a gas, after all. That’s if, mind you, there were actually more than trace amounts in plastics.

Anyone who works with wood for any length of time knows you have to use special treatments for anything that will come in contact with food, like salad bowls.

The coffee stirrers look like just plain wood without any treatment at all. Sort of like a skinny tongue depressor. Of course you throw them away as soon as you stir your coffee.

As for E.Coli, that’s really silly. E.coli is a common bacteria that grows in the colon and is present in poop. How would it get into a tree? And you don’t eat off of your car or your toys or your computer, at least most people don’t, so how would chemicals from your car leach into your food?

~For those concerned about lead in ceramics, there are several lead detection kits out there so you can now test bowls, toys, etc. yourself. Some kits are better than others, so google the ratings before you buy.

- First off, using wood won’t save you. If chemical compounds from the treatment on the wood (like bloody arsenic, for crying out loud) don’t leach out when you stir hot stuff, the E.Coli colonies in the wood grooves will. Even then, the likelihood of either of those is incredibly small.

- Dioxins are not used in manufacture of plastics. They’re a very small by-byproduct of PVC production. And let’s say there was some dioxins trapped in the plastic; to release them, you’d have to BURN them. If it was true that mere heat released them, well you’d better replace just about all the internal components of your cars after any sun exposure (UV rays would be much more likely to let loose any toxins in the plastic), you better throw out all your kids toys or toys of your own for that matter and you absolutely should chuck out your computers, what with all the heat and all.

Personally, you can never be too safe so I’m stopping eating, breathing and drinking in general. I’m also locking myself in a totally dark room so the sun doesn’t get me.

Nothing is safe.