7th
May
2007
Postindustrial society jumps a shark
posted by hedgehog in Health!, Schmapitalism |Forget black lung. Popcorn worker’s lung.
… a group of California food-flavoring workers recently diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and life-threatening form of fixed obstructive lung disease. Also known as popcorn workers lung, because it has turned up in workers at microwave-popcorn factories, the disease destroys the lungs. A transplant is the only cure…. Flavoring manufacturers have paid out more than $100 million as a result of lawsuits by people sick with popcorn workers lung over the past five years.
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=v= Yeesh! It’s easy enough to just pop plain old popcorn in a microwave, no lungs involved.
It’s kind of bizarre how industries survive by relying on obscurity of information. Everyone has paper sacks lying around - you could easily purchase a tub full of popcorn kernels at a fraction of the cost of microwave popcorn and make as much as you want indefinitely. Plus it would be fresher, taste better, and not contain disgusting, oily garbage (unless you wanted to add it). Why doesn’t this happen? Just because no one thinks of it. We-e-e-ird. An industry that thrives on inefficiency of information transfer. Any other good examples?
Yay, the new Asbestos! This will keep my brethren employed and billing for years.