The Great Spinach Massacre
As of this evening, 104 Americans have E. Coli poisoning from eating tainted spinach. The television news unrolls lurid clips of vigilant grocers nationwide removing bags of spinach from shelves. Our heroes in the FDA warn us to avoid eating spinach or spinach-based products until the menace passes. Oh, that menacing vegetable.
Here's some perspective: There are 300 million people in the United States. 104 Americans are ill. Current odds of getting E. Coli poisoning from eating spinach: Around 30,000,000 to 1. Similarly, you have 1 chance in 23,000,000 of death by drinking detergent. More than 4,000 people die of snakebites every year. In India alone, more than 104 people are killed by elephants annually.
I'm going to take spinach's side on this. September is Leafy Greens Month.
Here's some perspective: There are 300 million people in the United States. 104 Americans are ill. Current odds of getting E. Coli poisoning from eating spinach: Around 30,000,000 to 1. Similarly, you have 1 chance in 23,000,000 of death by drinking detergent. More than 4,000 people die of snakebites every year. In India alone, more than 104 people are killed by elephants annually.
I'm going to take spinach's side on this. September is Leafy Greens Month.
posted by The Long Shot at 11:48 PM
6 Comments:
It's not just the E-coli. It's also apparently the vegetable most bombarded by pesticides so probably it's already killing you slowly anyway. And that's not even mentioning the rubbery squeaking it makes in your teeth when it's raw or the hocked loogie feeling of a glob of coooked spinach passing the root of your tongue. I will take the con side in this debate, even before the e-coli.
So that's Spinach 5, Kizz & Jcon 2. (TLS gets five votes, guys. Sorry.)
I have to say Jcon's anecdote points toward a flaw in TLS's stats. There are probably a lot of unreported incidents of damage happening out there.
Wile I'm not unsympathetic to jconguy's world-class gastric condition, his "tract" is well known for being easily riled. Anyway, TLS is still winning the argument, 5 - 2.
I would have to agree about the sensitivity of jcon's gi tract. It could have been set off by some form of the norwalk virus.
Tally-ho: 6-2. That's a rout. And I'm still alive and positively glowing after a steady parade of spinach.
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