183dc6f2   
   XPost: alt.politics   
   From: k8mn@frontiernet.net   
      
   David Friedman wrote:   
   > In article ,   
   >  Dave Heil  wrote:   
   >   
   >> I've pointed out that there are places with no equivalent of the FDA.   
   >> We Americans have it very good.  There is government regulation and   
   >> inspection.  Our food is magnitudes safer than in many other places.   
   >>   
   >   
   > You are assuming that the reason is the FDA and similar institutions.   
      
   I pointed out that one reason is the existence of the FDA.   
      
   > I   
   > suggest that it's more likely to be our high income. The problems you   
   > describe in Guinea-Bissau sound like problems associated more with   
   > poverty than with lack of regulation.   
      
   I doubt you'd find any distinction among the local populace.  If you die   
   of food poisoning, typhoid, cholera or hepatitis in such a place, no one   
   sits around debating whether it is because they're poor or because they   
   have no regulatory bodies or no water treatment.   
      
   > If you are poor enough, it's worth   
   > taking risks in order to save money.   
      
   The local populace had no option on the taking of risks.  My wife and I   
   took every precaution imaginable, from boiling, filtering and adding a   
   few drops of chlorine bleach to our drinking water to soaking veggies in   
   iodine water.  We still fell ill at various intervals.   
      
   > Producers want to produce things consumers will want to buy. People   
   > prefer not to eat things that have a significant chance of killing them.   
      
   Before that can take place, folks have to know that what they eat or   
   drink might harm them.   
      
   When there aren't options, people just prefer to eat.   
      
   Dave Heil   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)