Electric Fan Death? Psha, Buttered Popcorn Death!!

[Murgos]

http://health.yahoo.com/news/179052

"We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease," cautioned Dr. Cecile Rose. "However, we have no other plausible explanation."

Beware popcorn lung...

[Sky]

I had popcorn balls once.

[Signe]

This is a serious discussion about Korean people having the air sucked out of them by cats and fans.  There is no place here for your corny balls!! 

[Ookii]

When he broke open the bags, after the steam came out, he would often inhale the fragrance because he liked it so much," Dr. Rose said. "That's heated diacetyl, which we know from the workers' studies is the highest risk.

BEST QUOTE EVER.

[Murgos]

This is a serious discussion about Korean people having the air sucked out of them by cats and fans.  There is no place here for your corny balls!! 

Neg, this is a different, and far more serious, discussion.

Western doctors are far more reputable in their clinical analysis than their Korean brethren.  If they say some apparently harmless vector is responsible for pain, suffering and possibly death, then we had best better believe it and take all appropriate precautions.

Me?  As soon as I get home from work I'm going to pick up a Tyvek haz-mat suit and some SCBA gear and dispose of that box of Newman's Own Movie Theater Butter Popcorn with EXTREME prejudice.

I've been exposed to those air-borne contaminants for years my lungs are probably ready to give out ANY MINUTE NOW!  I would air my apt out with an electric fan but, well, that would just be asking for it.

[Merusk]

Bah, more fear mongering.

It was approved by the FDA. I'm sure it's as safe as Fen Phen, red dye #5, thalidomide and X-ray machines for shoe-sizing.

[Murgos]

Yeah, sure.  The FDA screws up and people get hurt.  I get it, but carrots can be linked to cancer too.

1 guy with unattributable lung cancer is hardly worth scaring hundreds of millions of people over.  Yes, people working in factories with tons of the stuff floating in the air in particulate form should be protected but lets not go crazy.

[Sky]

Birth is a leading cause of death. Studies have shown that every single test patient that had been born, died in less than 130 years.

[Nebu]

This is going to be the first slide in my next Clinical Toxicology lecture.  I've been talking a lot on the topic of industrial exposures to things (arsenic, lead, mercury, CO, etc.) and this will get me a good laugh if I set it up right. 

Thanks for the new material!

[Merusk]

Yeah, sure.  The FDA screws up and people get hurt.  I get it, but carrots can be linked to cancer too.

1 guy with unattributable lung cancer is hardly worth scaring hundreds of millions of people over.  Yes, people working in factories with tons of the stuff floating in the air in particulate form should be protected but lets not go crazy.

The people who go "OMGWTFPOPCORNWILLKILLME" deserve that sort of panic.  The guy was inhaling 3-4 bags worth of vaporized additive per day.  I'd imagine you'd find that's as much as the factory workers were exposed to. 

At the least it'll get some of the additives looked at a bit more.  We test all this shit in such an isolated way I'm more surprised we don't have more health problems than we do.  'Aspartame + Yellow #5 + Popcorn Scent?  Why would we test all that at once, that's silly.'

[Murgos]

Which part of, "We don't know and we have no reasonable explanation so we are going to blame popcorn." was it that got you to believe that it's the popcorns fault?

Just curious as to what makes me read that and go, "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID FEAR MONGERING CUNTS!" and what makes you go, "Four bags of popcorn a day, bad.  Mmm'kay?"

[Merusk]

You linked a different article than I read.  That'd explain at least part of the difference. 

Here's a CBS article that explains exactly how much he ate.  2 bags a day, every day for 10 years.  There was an article on MSN where he said he'd deliveratly stick his face down in the bag as it came out of the microwave and inhale deeply.  Why? Because he loved the smell.

So, from that I gathered "inhaling atomized chemicals 2 times a day for 10 years might be bad for you?"  Shocking and fear mongering. Yep.

Or perhaps I just don't buy that everyone is an asshole out to sell papers using fear.

[Murgos]

There are 300 million people in this country.  A lot of them eat popcorn.  One guy has cancer that the diagnosing physicians says, "Eh, maybe popcorn fumes?" and then... what?  A guy, who happened to eat popcorn is just not significant.  Sucks, but there ya go.  This news piece was picked up by the local evening news where I live and played repeatedly at 5, 6 and 11.  You can guarantee that in the 30 seconds they alloted to the story they didn't spend much time covering the uncertainty as to the causing factor.

It is, in every way, an example of FUD.  There just is no there, there.  Nothing.  Correlation does not equal causation ringing a bell? The inverse pirate theory of global warming?  Beuller?

[SurfD]

Once again, selectivity in journalism for the win.

Did something in the popcorn give him cancer?  Quite possibly yes.
Did the journalists clarify that he exposed himself to OBSCENELY greater amounts of whatever it was that was in the popcorn then the average person would ever do?  Quite possibly not.

Did the journalists make it seem like "omg, all your popcorn is going to kill you tomorrow!!"  Quite probably.

Would the average person with a bit of common sense and the full story understand that anything, even stuff that is GOOD for you (let alone potentially cancer causing chemicals in popcorn), in OBSCENELY large amounts can be bad for your health?  Probably yes.

Does the average person actually have a bit of common sense?  Jury still out on that one.

[Big Gulp]

thalidomide

It was only a few flipper babies!