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When can we get real talc powder again? Corn starch really doesn't work. It's like modern Saran wrap, not anywhere as good as the original.


A lot of talc mining in the the Americas has basically stopped because of these lawsuits, and it seems very unlikely we'll ever see talc-based consumer products return to the shelves.

As an aside, this has been a big deal for the ceramics industry, which uses talc in the production of clay bodies as well as glazes (think tile manufacturing -- DalTile uses so much talc that they recently bought their own mine to secure their supply).

Talc is an excellent material[1] that has been in use for decades, but its availability to the public has typically been driven by the demands of mining done on behalf of cosmetic industries. Since these lawsuits began and the talc supply dried up, ceramic industry has been scrambling for the past ~3 years to find alternatives with similar chemistry and working properties.

The network effects of industry and mining are pretty interesting (and frustrating to hobbyists, when your favorite materials disappear!).

- [1]: https://digitalfire.com/material/talc


Isn't talc still used in pills and tablets (e.g. magnesium supplements, Tums, etc.)?


> When can we get real talc powder again?

My guess is it'll never make a comeback. You can still get it, but maybe not in the formulation you used to get. I can't imagine too many companies willing to risk another class action just to make a few of us happier. Add it to the ever growing list of things we've had to give up on the altars of lawyers and social media.


I didn't know Saran Wrap had changed. Why did they get rid of the original?


According to this[1], it changed in 2004 (in the US)

More info about Saran wrap[2]. It's effectively 3000x more permeable to Oxygen that the old version.

[1] https://uspackagingandwrapping.com/plastic-wrap-101.html#:~:....

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saran_(plastic)


The Saran trade name was first owned by Dow Chemical for polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), along with other monomers. The formulation was changed to the less effective polyethylene in 2004 due to the chlorine content of PVDC.


wait, what? Chlorine isn't that bad a substance.




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