5 ms·

There are many people who are allergic to penicillin. That does not make it any less useful to the rest of the population. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penic

by steve19 13y ago

There are many people who are allergic to penicillin. That does not make it any less useful to the rest of the population. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin_drug_reaction http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin_drug_reaction

Alex3917 13y ago
> There are many people who are allergic to penicillin. That does not make it any less useful to the rest of the population. There are tons of delicious foods that you can't buy in any restaurant or store no matter how much you're willing to pay, because a small percentage of people are allergic or whatever. So the entire population gets essentially zero use out of them even though they could be useful to the vast majority of people. (In fact, restaurants/stores/farmers markets only carry only a small percentage of the total foods out there.) Similarly a ride at an amusement park that is safe for the vast majority of people is a ride that no one is going to be allowed to go on. Medicine is just a special case because doctors generally won't lose their license for killing the occasional patient, whereas, say, a restaurateur probably would.
- DenisM 13y ago
  Peanuts are fatal to some people, yet we eat them all the time. Here's a counter-example to your first claim. Another one is Fugu fish, which I personally ate at a restaurant, and which are known to be deadly if not prepared correctly. Rollercoaster is dangerous to anyone with weak skeleton, and can likely induce heart attack as can a horror movie. Here's a counter-example to your other claim. Do you have any examples that support your claims?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - cdman 13y ago
    AFAIK you can't actually eat "real" Fugu in any but the most select places. What you get as Fugu is a domesticated / non poisonous version usually.
    - DenisM 13y ago
      There's a small number of chefs in US who are certifie4d to prepare the real fugu, and I was visiting one of them. I did not find anything special in it, by the way. :)
      - epo 13y ago
        Misrepresented fish is said to be common in the US (http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/02/21/fake-fish-on-shelves-and-restaurant-tables-across-usa-new-study-says/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/02/21/fake-fis...). How do you know you were getting fugu?
  - Alex3917 13y ago
    > Peanuts are fatal to some people, yet we eat them all the time. Peanuts are banned from most schools. > Another one is Fugu fish, which I personally ate at a restaurant, and which are known to be deadly if not prepared correctly. That applies to most foods, e.g. tomatoes, rhubarb, etc. When is the last time you had chicken-of-the-woods in a restaurant though? Oh wait, never. Because 90% of people find them delicious, but the other 10% cyanose and then start projectile vomiting and shitting themselves. Of course on your own that's not a big deal because you just bioassay it on yourself first, but in a restaurant that doesn't work.
    - DenisM 13y ago
      >Peanuts are banned from most schools. Well, that's a far cry from you can't buy in any restaurant or store no matter how much you're willing to pay. So, we have established there are foods that are dangerous and can be had at a restaurant (raw fish, raw meat, peanuts, fugu), and there could be some foods that are dangerous and cannot be had at a restaurant (chicken-of-the-woods). That's much less dramatic now, is it not?
      - Alex3917 13y ago
        I wasn't claiming that there are no potentially dangerous foods that you can buy at restaurants, only that there are many potentially dangerous foods that you can't buy at restaurants.
        foobarbazqux 13y ago
        What are some more examples that are not mushrooms? Genuinely curious.
        Dove 13y ago
        Casu marzu[1] comes to mind, though wikipedia indicates that it's legal(ish) again. Not that I think it would be that great a loss to society if it were unavailable, but there you go. Kind of an extreme example, though. I don't think that it justifies the notion that society suffers under a tragedy of many useful foods being unavailable. I also would need to be persuaded of that. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu
bad_user 13y ago
The problem is strong antibiotics are often needed for severe infection outbursts and there isn't enough time to perform blood tests for alergic reactions.

by steve19 13y ago

Alex3917 13y ago

> There are many people who are allergic to penicillin. That does not make it any less useful to the rest of the population. There are tons of delicious foods that you can't buy in any restaurant or store no matter how much you're willing to pay, because a small percentage of people are allergic or whatever. So the entire population gets essentially zero use out of them even though they could be useful to the vast majority of people. (In fact, restaurants/stores/farmers markets only carry only a small percentage of the total foods out there.) Similarly a ride at an amusement park that is safe for the vast majority of people is a ride that no one is going to be allowed to go on. Medicine is just a special case because doctors generally won't lose their license for killing the occasional patient, whereas, say, a restaurateur probably would.

DenisM 13y ago
Peanuts are fatal to some people, yet we eat them all the time. Here's a counter-example to your first claim. Another one is Fugu fish, which I personally ate at a restaurant, and which are known to be deadly if not prepared correctly. Rollercoaster is dangerous to anyone with weak skeleton, and can likely induce heart attack as can a horror movie. Here's a counter-example to your other claim. Do you have any examples that support your claims?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- cdman 13y ago
  AFAIK you can't actually eat "real" Fugu in any but the most select places. What you get as Fugu is a domesticated / non poisonous version usually.
  - DenisM 13y ago
    There's a small number of chefs in US who are certifie4d to prepare the real fugu, and I was visiting one of them. I did not find anything special in it, by the way. :)
    - epo 13y ago
      Misrepresented fish is said to be common in the US (http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/02/21/fake-fish-on-shelves-and-restaurant-tables-across-usa-new-study-says/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/02/21/fake-fis...). How do you know you were getting fugu?
- Alex3917 13y ago
  > Peanuts are fatal to some people, yet we eat them all the time. Peanuts are banned from most schools. > Another one is Fugu fish, which I personally ate at a restaurant, and which are known to be deadly if not prepared correctly. That applies to most foods, e.g. tomatoes, rhubarb, etc. When is the last time you had chicken-of-the-woods in a restaurant though? Oh wait, never. Because 90% of people find them delicious, but the other 10% cyanose and then start projectile vomiting and shitting themselves. Of course on your own that's not a big deal because you just bioassay it on yourself first, but in a restaurant that doesn't work.
  - DenisM 13y ago
    >Peanuts are banned from most schools. Well, that's a far cry from you can't buy in any restaurant or store no matter how much you're willing to pay. So, we have established there are foods that are dangerous and can be had at a restaurant (raw fish, raw meat, peanuts, fugu), and there could be some foods that are dangerous and cannot be had at a restaurant (chicken-of-the-woods). That's much less dramatic now, is it not?
    - Alex3917 13y ago
      I wasn't claiming that there are no potentially dangerous foods that you can buy at restaurants, only that there are many potentially dangerous foods that you can't buy at restaurants.
      - foobarbazqux 13y ago
        What are some more examples that are not mushrooms? Genuinely curious.
        Dove 13y ago
        Casu marzu[1] comes to mind, though wikipedia indicates that it's legal(ish) again. Not that I think it would be that great a loss to society if it were unavailable, but there you go. Kind of an extreme example, though. I don't think that it justifies the notion that society suffers under a tragedy of many useful foods being unavailable. I also would need to be persuaded of that. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu

bad_user 13y ago

The problem is strong antibiotics are often needed for severe infection outbursts and there isn't enough time to perform blood tests for alergic reactions.