1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (5 page)

Audrey Ensminger, Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 1994).

17

FACT :
Corn is in almost everything we consume. It is the primary food for the chicken, pigs, and cows we eat; the source of corn oils found in many snack foods, margarines, and baked goods; used to make high-fructose corn syrup, the most prevalent, cheapest and, some believe,
most hazardous of all sweeteners
; and the source of numerous food additives.
As a result, corn is found in things that come out of our bodies, too. Like the one you’re working on right now.

Melissa Diane Smith, “Corn Fed and Fat: The American Problem That is Spreading to Other Countries,” News & Notes, Against the Grain Nutrition, July 31, 2008,
www.againstthegrainnutrition.com
.

Audrey Ensminger, Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 1994).

18

FACT :
Beef cattle evolved to survive on grass but are regularly fed corn, which has disastrous effects on their digestive systems, requiring a
constant regimen of antibiotics
to keep them healthy.
The antibiotics are clearly working; cows digest things just fine. About every two to three minutes, in fact.

Michael Pollan, “When a Crop Becomes King,” New York Times, July 19, 2002,
www.michaelpollan.com
.

Danielle Nierenberg and Lisa Mastny, Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry (Worldwatch Institute, 2005), 25.

19

FACT :
Many environmentalists believe salmon farms could have a catastrophic effect on the world’s wild salmon populations. Concentrations of solid-waste and nitrogens from farmed pens can
poison marine life
, and many researchers fear that salmon farm escapees could soon overrun and decimate wild stocks. As of 1999, a million salmon had escaped from farms in Puget Sound and British Columbia alone.
Although farmers use dogfish to track the escapees, most ultimately find their way to freedom. Fish that are caught are returned to the farms, where they face intense grilling over an open flame for 8–10 minutes.

David F. Arnold and William (FRW) Cronan, The Fishermen’s Frontier: People and Salmon in Southeast Alaska (University of Washington Press, 2008), 187.

20

FACT :
Peanut allergies afflict an estimated 4 million Americans, and can be life-threatening.

Almost
half of annual emergency room visits
and two-thirds of deaths due to anaphylaxis are the result of peanut allergies.
On the bright side, if you’re a peanut allergy sufferer, you won’t have to worry about all those bug fragments and rat hair in peanut butter.

“Of Mice And Peanuts: A New Mouse Model For Peanut Allergy,” Science News, Science Daily, Jan. 14, 2009,
www.sciencedaily.com
.

Kalidas Shetty and others, Food Biotechnology, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2006), 970.

21

FACT :
Peaches, apples, nectarines, and strawberries are among the
top six “dirtiest” foods
, according to investigations by the Environmental Working Group. More than 90 percent of samples of these fruits tested positive for detectable pesticides, even after being rinsed or peeled.
What, that two-second splash of cold water didn’t wash off all the chemicals?

“Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides,” The Environmental Working Group,
www.foodnews.org
.