Food-safety expert warns Silicon Valley $60 ‘raw water’ trend could turn deadly
When I hear &#x27;food safety expert&#x27; in the US, it kind of makes me curious. I decided to search for an image of our expert, playing the favorable odds I suppose, and was not surprised: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;tobecofoodsafety.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2012&#x2F;04&#x2F;bill-marler-025_filtered.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;tobecofoodsafety.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2012&#x2F;04&#x2F;bill-...</a> There&#x27;s a giant elephant in the room when it comes to healthfulness in the US. Our life expectancy has actually be going down, even when it was already relatively mediocre - lower than even some places like Chile and Costa Rica. Mortality rates from 8 of the top 10 killers, heart disease in particular, have been increasing alongside our waistlines.<p>Many of the things we try to use to explain this, such as less physical lifestyles (or, equivalently, the rise of the internet) don&#x27;t really mesh well. These changes are happening everywhere around the world, in many instances to a greater magnitude than the US, but what is happening to the US is fairly unique among developed nations. It seems to imply that something we&#x27;re doing, or consuming, that we think is healthful - most likely is yielding unforeseen consequences that we haven&#x27;t quite pin pointed yet. This is further emphasized by the fact that this trend is something that is often confined by borders. For instance the Czech Republic is rapidly headed towards its own issue here, yet it borders Poland, Germany, Austria, and Slovakia - none of whom are facing similar issues in spite of running the gamut among things like socioeconomic status.<p>Is it the water? Well, probably not. But I think having people who are happy to be guinea pigs here is a good thing for everybody. They get what they want, some entrepreneurs make a few bucks, and in the end we all learn a bit more. An anecdote I particularly like is of the discovery of penicillin. It took years for it to be accepted, even after the discoverer shared and published his findings. And I think a big part of that is that people instinctively felt that using a product from blue-green mold that emerges on rot to try to treat sensitive vulnerable infections was pretty much obviously idiotic - except it wasn&#x27;t.<p>With things like vaccines people &#x27;going their own way&#x27; can hurt others. In this case, that&#x27;s not true. Well excepting medical costs if they end up hospitalized, but given the costs of these bottles - I suspect these individuals will disproportionately already have health insurance plans that will not leave society picking up their tab. So in the end, nobody really loses. If you don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s a good idea to drink it, don&#x27;t. I won&#x27;t - but I&#x27;m quite curious to see what happens to those that do!