LETTUCE SPRAY

Some commentators are gleefully recounting the story of lettuce contaminated with Perchlorate (courtesy of Lockheed Martin) and possibly causing trouble for people who eat it. Oddly, there hasn't been so much talk about the 42 children at Laraway Elementary School in Joliet who were rushed to a hospital after eating chicken with 133 times the accepted level of ammonia because the schools weren't informed of the ammonia contamination. Either way, it's worth remarking here that any food can be contaminated by an external source. Animal foods, though, bring their own potentially-fatal-disease-causing bacteria right there in their own package.

UPDATE 5/6: More on the Perchlorate/Lockheed Martin issue - the Bush Administration imposes a gag order. "BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS IGNORING POSSIBILITY OF SERIOUS HEALTH EFFECTS," sez The San Jose Mercury News. So, refreshingly, it's not just dangerous meat companies these folks will step in to protect, it's also dangerous defense contractors.