As the tomato-borne salmonella now appears to have spread to twenty-three states (including New York), we expect greenmarkets across the city to see increased demand for their wares. Of course, localism has already become popular, both as a means to reduce one’s carbon footprint and as a measure of returning to the rhythms of the natural season after years of imported fruits and vegetables have made seasonality nearly meaningless. And transporting food across the country means that contamination—as with these tomatoes—can infect many communities at once. A similar, if more unusual, situation occurred in 1981, when a mysterious outbreak of salmonella appeared in Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia. As Berton Roueché reported in the magazine in 1984, investigators began searching for the most common form of infection: food. But nothing edible tied the cases together. The breakthrough came when a victim admitted to smoking pot with her friends, all of whom had also contracted the illness. One of the lead investigators, Dr. David N. Taylor, who then worked for the Centers for Disease Control, told Roueché:
The salmonella was in the marijuana. When a marijuana smoker rolled a cigarette, his hands became contaminated, and when he put the cigarette in his mouth his lips became contaminated. Then a touch or a kiss or any sort of contact could spread the infection.…And not only that. Pot decreases the gastric acid, and gastric acid is an important defense against infections of all kinds. Regular pot smokers are especially susceptible to infection.
The investigators concluded that, because of the extremely heavy contamination and the presence of other bacteria like E. coli and K. pneumoniae, the marijuana had likely been deliberately laced with dried manure—a quick way to boost weight, and profits.—Andrea Thompson
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