I think risk assessment is important for all areas of our lives.

I’m required to drive to maintain my job and be able to shop. Bit different from a nice to have like a straw but since the comparison was made let’s consider some things with that.

When driving my steel box at 70mph I’m wearing a seat belt, I know that my tires are in good shape, my vehicle has routine maintenance, and I drive defensively with caution. Minimizing risk as able.

A titanium or steel straw that can impale me if I trip while around the house or sipping a drink in a car for example or just get bumped and chip a tooth when there’s better alternatives like the silicone straws doesn’t make sense to me to use steel or titanium straws when assessing risk between the two.

There’s also a bit of a safety factor with those. You can get bumped and a plastic straw won’t break a tooth or stab through you as easily as a steel straw will if you were to fall. There was a case of a woman who had died form a steel straw going into her when she fell. Sure it wouldn’t be a common thing, but those freak accidents stick in my mind.

I have some silicone straws instead, flexible, easy to wash, and also easy to carry in my silverware bag on the go if I need one while at work or such.

Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-dies-after-accidentally-being-impaled-by-metal-straw_n_5d2778dde4b02a5a5d57c428

Could possibly weigh the foam thats soaked in ink then wash the foam to remove the ink and dry it out then weight it again and compare. Might not be very accurate but it would be an attempt at closer numbers at least.