Looking for diversion from political skirmishes, the DSK mess, the Middle East, and other sources of malaise? I live to serve, and I hereby oblige with today's eel-related update.
Various tainted-food scandals are causing concern all over China. Happily, Global Times, a state-controlled publication that is more and more a competitor to China Daily as the world's finest newspaper, has reassuring news about the latest threat. This threat comes from imported eels that are carriers of brain-destroying parasitic worms. (Domestic Chinese-raised eels have their own problems, because of an ongoing scare about overuse of growth hormones. I'm not even getting into the reports about adulterated Peking Duck.) The headline in Global Times's print edition, tragically not available on line, puts things in perspective:
'Brain-eating Parasitic Worms No Cause for Alarm'
Online we make do with this headline, beneath which the story is the same:
The article builds to these heartening words:
To round out eel coverage, here is the report from another great publication, the Shanghai Daily:
Usefully, Shanghai Daily is specific on what "not many" reports of brain-worm infection means:
And, even more consolingly: I feel better already. Thanks to Kevin Miller for the lead, and thanks as always to the teams at Global Times, China Daily, and Shanghai Daily.
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best-seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.
