1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (9 page)

“Playing Chicken: Avoiding Arsenic in Your Meat,” report, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, April 5, 2006,
www.iatp.org
.

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FACT :
Though banned by all European nations and Canada, the synthetic hormone rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) is still used by American dairy farmers to boost growth rates and increase body mass of cows, despite being linked to higher risks of
breast cancer and hormonal disorders
in humans who consume milk from those cows.

Got cancer?

Samuel S. Epstein, Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War (Baywood Publishing Company, 2005), 223.

39

FACT :
Overconsumption of purine-rich foods like lobster, foie gras, and liver can lead to gout, a type of arthritis.
Attacks can last for weeks
, and can damage joints, tendons, and other tissues.
Gout has been called the “rich man’s disease” because of its association with fine foods like lobster and foie gras. But, gout can also be caused by excessive alcohol use; this type is known as “poor man’s gout.” Those of us in the middle class are in the clear.

“Gout—Topic Overview,” WebMd,
www.webmd.com
.

“Gout,” The Free Dictionary Medical-Dictionary,
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
.

“Gout,”
The-Family-Doctor.com
,
www.the-family-doctor.com
.

40

FACT :
Commercial livestock and poultry farmers routinely feed antibiotics to animals that are not sick to help them grow larger, or as a pre-emptive measure to make up for stressful, crowded, and unsanitary living conditions. But antibiotic overuse builds resistance to the drugs, and can lead to consumer goods contaminated with
drug-resistant, disease-causing bacteria
.
What about the stressful, crowded, and unsanitary office conditions facing the average American worker? Companies need to start giving drugs to their employees, but not antibiotics. I mean good stuff—Xanax, Valium, Percocet, Thorazine. It would certainly make the day go by quicker.

“Antibiotic Overuse in Food Animals,” Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy,
www.iatp.org
.

41

FACT :
Campylobacter
is a bacteria that can cause
fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps
. Most raw poultry meat carries
campylobacter
, making consumption of undercooked chicken the main source for this infection.
Campylobacter
does not commonly cause death.
But consuming it will make you beg for death.

“Campylobacter General Information,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services,
www.cdc.gov
.

42

FACT :
E. coli
O157:H7 is a bacterial pathogen found in cow feces. Consuming water or food contaminated with even
a tiny amount of bovine waste
can lead to bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, temporary anemia, and kidney failure.
Bloody diarrhea: because neither bloody stool nor diarrhea is enough fun on its own.

“Foodborne Illness,” Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases: Division of Bacterial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, October 25, 2005,
www.cdc.gov
.

43

FACT :
A century ago, the most common food-borne diseases were typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and cholera. Today, we have
a new list of food infections
to worry about, including recent discoveries like
cyclospora
, a diarrhea-causing parasite found in Guatemalan raspberries.
“Guatemalan raspberries” is also the nickname of this explosive type of diarrhea. “Start the game without me. I got the Guatemalan raspberries.”

“Foodborne Illness,” Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases: Division of Bacterial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, October 25, 2005,
www.cdc.gov
.

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