# Forum More Stuff At the end of the day  Newspaper to wipe the hot plates clean on the barbie? Random..

## DBR

Ok, heres the thing right, 
I had a barbecue at mine lastnight and as I was wiping the hot plate clean with newspaper I was chatting to a visitor about how I once attended a barbie whereby the host was using treated timber as the fuel source.. Big no no!!  
but then it crossed my mind, what about the age old practice of using newspaper to wipe the oil off the barbecue surface whilst hot before cooking.. Is it just me who does this or half of Australia? Ive done it my whole life....   Ive seen it done before at various barbies so surely its not that bad.. In fact I find it actually better than paper towelling because it doesn't lint.. I would bet that a small amount of ink ends up on the barbie surface which apparently has nasties in it.. Surely if it was dangerous practice there would be a small warning on the paper because so many people do this down at the beach on those coin operated ones as well... etc... 
Hmm... got me thinking, or perhaps overthinking!

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## PlatypusGardens

Pretty sure the minimal amount of ink that may end up on the bbq plate is nothing to worry about

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## DBR

> Pretty sure the minimal amount of ink that may end up on the bbq plate is nothing to worry about

  That's what I thought, and as far as I know its pretty common practice.. I mean chips used to be wrapped in it...

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## PlatypusGardens

Just don't try to use the iPad with an online newspaper page open on your browser. 
that probably won't work

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## Marc

If you take a sip of newspaper ink I am sure you will get sick from the solvents. Once dry the solvents, mostly aromatic solvents are gone, so you may get some Cobalt used as drying agent if you eat a couple of pages of a broad sheet. (yum)
As far as cleaning the barbie with it, if you have a spectrograph, (or you can borrow one from CSI Miami) you may be able to know exactly how many molecules of Cobalt or other nasties are lurking on your cast iron plate. 
My guess is that the overwhelming majority of nasties on a barbie that has been cleaned regularly with newspaper will be benzopyrene from burned meat and burned fat and burned oil, a class 1 carcinogenic. May be some anti caking agent from the table salt, burned monosodium glutamate and many other colour and flavour "enhancers" 
Perhaps after you managed to minimise that chemical cocktail, you can decide to stop the use of newspaper out of principle. 
Until then it would be like the guy who was decorating his living room after the wind blew off the roof.   :Smilie:

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## DBR

> If you take a sip of newspaper ink I am sure you will get sick from the solvents. Once dry the solvents, mostly aromatic solvents are gone, so you may get some Cobalt used as drying agent if you eat a couple of pages of a broad sheet. (yum)
> As far as cleaning the barbie with it, if you have a spectrograph, (or you can borrow one from CSI Miami) you may be able to know exactly how many molecules of Cobalt or other nasties are lurking on your cast iron plate. 
> My guess is that the overwhelming majority of nasties on a barbie that has been cleaned regularly with newspaper will be benzopyrene from burned meat and burned fat and burned oil, a class 1 carcinogenic. May be some anti caking agent from the table salt, burned monosodium glutamate and many other colour and flavour "enhancers" 
> Perhaps after you managed to minimise that chemical cocktail, you can decide to stop the use of newspaper out of principle. 
> Until then it would be like the guy who was decorating his living room after the wind blew off the roof.

  
Ha, interesting response Marc,, geez.. wow ha       i happened to look it up on the net and it says that cadmium, chromium, mercury, copper etc are used as colour pigments, but i guess in context of things, how much would actually exist on the barbie after using the newspaper.. Copper as far as i know is harmless, although does produce dioxin when burnt.. Chromium is not too bad in tiny amounts, nor is mercury or cadmium.. I guess its the dose that makes the poison    Like i said, i dont think its that bad, most people i know would grab the odd piece of newspaper to wipe the hot plates clean,, like i said its better than paper towelling..

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## GeoffW1

> Chromium is not too bad in tiny amounts, nor is mercury or cadmium..

  
Hahaha, 
Union Carbide certainly thought so LOL. 
It used to be said that if you fell on hard times and used newspapers for toilet paper, you would die of arsenic poisoning. Hmmm. 
I don't know about the BBQ. I use a wire brush and kitchen paper. 
Cheers

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## Moondog55

> Copper as far as i know is harmless, although does produce dioxin when burnt.. Chromium is not too bad in tiny amounts, nor is mercury or cadmium..  .

  No known safe dose of Cadmium or Mercury that I know of and Hexavalent Chromium [ Chrome Green] is incredibly deadly and could you please explain the mechanism by which heating copper produces dioxin
I was under the impression that newspapers were printed with Soya inks these days

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## PlatypusGardens

Arsenic....a papercut in your....?   :Rofl:

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## DBR

I don't think cleaning a barbeque with newspaper is all that dangerous. Many people use it. Further, we all read the paper and get ink on our hands- if current newspaper ink contained high amounts of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, copper, chromium etc it would be well known.. Kids use it for arts and crafts, chips were wrapped in it etc.. Etc.. Anyone disagree?

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## DBR

I don't think using newspaper to clean a BBQ could be that bad. After all, we read it each morning and have the ink on our hands while eating biscuits Nd coffee.. We used to wrap chips in it. There's recipes to steam cook fish inside the paper.. Kids use it for kraft. And half the Aussie population uses it for cleaning the barbie.. Surely if it produced cadmium, mercury, arsenic and chromium it would be known- especially with safety standards today... Perhaps I'm taking it out if context... When I say dose makes the poison I'm referring to the fact that only a minute amount of ink would make it's way onto the barbie this exposure would be negligible ie we are exposed to l the heavy metals listed on a daily basis - surely no less than the amount of heavy metal in a glass of water or from standing in traffic for an hour would be on the BBQ.

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## DBR

I guess what I'm trying to work out is if it is common practice and dangerous.. Surely not..

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## PlatypusGardens

DBR.....you worry WAY TOO MUCH about EVERYTHING! 
There.  
I said it.
The others are (most likely) all thinking it too.   :Wink:

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## Random Username

There's a bit of cobalt or manganese in offset printing ink to help the (soy based) carrier dry, but a paper cut would be by far the greatest concern.  Inhaling the smoke from burning (non-treated) wood is a greater hazard... come to think of it, cutting the wood up with a power tool and creating and breathing in fine wood dust would be more dangerous, because a) power tool and b) fine wood dust. 
On an absolute scale, driving to a location with a BBQ would be by far the most dangerous part of the process.

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## Moondog55

Yes but it's a thread with a wonderful opportunity to diverge into all sorts of mischief and off-topic subjects
Radioactive toilet paper any-one?

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## Micky013

When I had cast iron grills I use to use lemon halves to wipe the grills after wire brushing. Could work on a plate??

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## David.Elliott

Not here in Perth. Lemons are $7.95 a kilo....so that makes it about 50c a half...
Wife put out 10 bags Saturday with a FREE sign, lasted until dusk, just.

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## DBR

> Not here in Perth. Lemons are $7.95 a kilo....so that makes it about 50c a half...
> Wife put out 10 bags Saturday with a FREE sign, lasted until dusk, just.

  Good idea.. Here I was thinking it was pretty much common practice in Australia to wipe the barbie clean with scrunched up newspaper... Perhaps it's not common and not safe at all..  I never thought much of it..

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## Marc

I clean my barbecue (Stainless plate) with white vinegar. Warm plate and pour vinegar, scrub with a scourer and mop up with whatever is available, usually paper towel. Newspaper does not absorb as much but I have used it plenty of times. 
Public health is a very political matter that puts politicians and corporations interests ahead of the population interest.  So it is understandable that people tend to mistrust the information available. 
if you want to direct your mistrust to a better target, look into sunscreen. Statistics say that those more likely to get skin cancer are those who use more sunscreen. Strange right? Well before you look into conspiracy theories and nano particles, it seems that trusting sunscreen to go in the sun is what does it. The UV go through even the 50+ enough to cause cancer. It's like going in the rain with an umbrella full of holes and hope to stay dry ... But that is another story.

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## woodbe

We have a stainless plate as well. I use a 75mm (sharpened) stainless scraper to remove the residue, heat the plate and then wipe with a paper towel. Always comes clean. 
I've watched the chef at a Teppenyaki bbq; he scraped, then scoured with a scotchbrite under a towel, then wiped perfectly clean with a paper towel. 
I think the trick is to use a very flat plate like the SS ones, and clean after every cook up.

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## Marc

True. Try vinegar it will make it even easier. Commercial plates work on lower temperatures than the crude burners on a domestic allow for.

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