Popcorn Lung

Got a really stupid one tonight!  It's another example of the courts backing the whole "It's not my fault" movement that is going on in this country.  I suppose at least this guy is claiming he will give the money to charity.  Perhaps he is saying that just because he knows he will lose the appeal that I'm sure will be (or already has been) filed.


So there is a guy who claims to have eaten at least 2 bags of microwave popcorn every day for the last 10+ years.  There is apparently a chemical - or should I say flavor enhancer - that gives it the butter flavor and can apparently cause lung issues when ingested in large quantities.  From what the story was saying this is common among people that work at corn processing plants.  And that is the first problem that I have, it happens at the corn processing plant not the plant that bags the stuff for microwaves.  If it happened where they added the butter flavoring I might not have such a problem with it.  But it doesn't unless the story was mistaken in the statement of what workers are effected.  Problem number two, prove that you have eaten multiple bags every day for the last 10+ years.  I just find it hard to believe that someone could eat that much popcorn.  Problem number three, apparently this guy worked for a carpet cleaning company so had heavy exposure to strong chemicals for an extended period of time.  But for some reason, the jury decided to ignore that fact!

As with many of the other lawsuits like this, he will probably lose the appeal and there will be no media coverage of that.  Think I'm wrong with that?  Remember back in the mid 1990's when the elderly lady sued McDonald's because she spilled hot coffee in her lap?  She won the lawsuit and it changed a lot in the fast food industry.  They began to force drink carriers on people even if they only had one, every cup was labeled that the contents may be hot, etc.  What never came out is that McDonald's never paid a dime to her.  I know about this because I was a manager at Burger King at the time and the district supervisor kept us informed.  What happened is that the Court of Appeals determined that since coffee is served hot (this was before the iced coffee rage) and that she knowingly put the cup of hot coffee between her legs while driving.  That is one instance when the courts upheld the fact that you are ultimately responsible for your actions.  In this case, I think what really annoys me is that he sued not only the manufacturer for not mentioning the possible side effects but he also sued the grocery store that sold it to him!  What?  Come on, that is really ridiculous!  I think the only thing that surprised me more was the award of $7.2 million.

This case may be a little different as there was never a mention that the chemical has been known to cause issues.  But even if the story was wrong and the issue occurs at the popcorn handling plants the statement was that it wasn't required to be released because it takes a significant amount of exposure to cause problems.  People at a plant are exposed to a very high amount of it, people eating the popcorn are not.  But the other issue is that the problems only occur when you inhale the chemical, not ingest it.  The chemical, I presume, sticks to the popped corn during the microwave process.  Is he shoving the product up his nose?

I'm not sure how it is in the rest of the world but something needs to change in the United States regarding these lawsuits.  What kind of message does this send to our children?  I'm not saying that these manufacturers should continue to add questionable chemicals to foods just to make them taste better, I'm saying that he made the choice to eat that much.  There isn't anything that is good for you in excess, hell even too much water can kill you.