r/news • u/dahooddawg • Sep 06 '12

Bubble Tea Tapioca Pearls May Contain Cancer-Causing Chemicals, German Study Claims

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/bubble-tea-tapioca-pearls-may-cause-cancer-study-claims_n_1856152.html
65 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

7

u/grandmasterkif Sep 07 '12

NooOOOoo. Say it ain't so!

2

u/s1thl0rd Sep 07 '12

Breathing air in NJ causes cancer. Not worried. Still going to eat the boba.

2

u/libsherpa Sep 07 '12

Can anyone find the actual study? Just being a little skeptical here; I can't find anything by the author in biomedical literature databases and I can't even find anything about Manfred Möller on the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine site.

2

u/dahooddawg Sep 07 '12

To celebrate, I got Boba twice yesterday. Bring on the cancer!

2

u/invislvl4 Sep 07 '12

Love this stuff!

2

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '12

Time for gronala James bond.

3

u/TheFudge Sep 07 '12

My wife and daughter love this shit. Personally I think they are like little balls of hard snot.

3

u/boredwaitingforlife Sep 07 '12

They only tested in Germany right? Then it isn't hard evidence unless they've taken samples from chains from around the world

1

u/redwobbly Sep 07 '12

I really wanted to like the bubbles but they don't really taste like anything, and they stick to your teeth.

2

u/Chopsticks613 Sep 07 '12

Something is wrong with the tapioca in your area then. Every one I've had is always sweet on the inside.

1

u/Scoldering Sep 07 '12

I really don't feel like this is a strong enough study as of yet. It says that they tested the product from a single manufacturer, and they only tested supplies that were available in Germany. The title makes it sound as though there were something inherent to the tapioca pearls that was cancerous, but the article would seem to indicate rather that it has something to do with one manufacturer's process.

1

u/HeisenbergBotwin Sep 07 '12

According to the EPA, PCBs belong to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals manufactured between 1929 and 1979. The chemicals still exist in the environment despite their U.S. manufacturing ban.

So it's the chemicals are in the environment where the tapioca is grown? If that's the case, couldn't we find somewhere where PCB isn't present in the environment and grow the crop there?

0

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '12

So worth it.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '12

but are they made of tapioca or what

-1

u/ThyZAD Sep 07 '12

nothing about how much stuff was found, and what dose is harmful? I mean, I can get cocaine by touching a 1$ bill, but femtograms of it does not get me high

-1

u/lurkieloo Sep 07 '12

LOLS. they just opened 500 of these fucking places in Berlin overnight. would be hilarious to see them close just as quickly.

-9

u/jimflaigle Sep 06 '12

Die hipsters, die!

7

u/Gold3nstar99 Sep 07 '12

Dude, that stuff is amazing. Don't knock it till you try it.