Oh No, Neti!
Have you guys seen this article floating around Facebook lately?
People are posting this all over their walls with mis-informed messages about the dangers of Neti Pots and it’s making me crazy. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about my love affair with the Neti Pot, but that little piece of plastic changed my life and I won’t have people talking shit about it.
What these folks are failing to read in the article (and the article’s title for that matter) is that the Neti Pot is not to blame for these deaths, it’s the tap water. Now, I have used tap water in my Neti pot for years — here in New York, in Florida, Georgia, perhaps even internationally and to my knowledge, I am without brain-eating amoebas. However, it seems that may be so because there is one place I haven’t used tap water for my Neti Pot: Louisiana.
That’s right. Both deaths referred to in this article occurred in a state that not only borders the oil-damaged Gulf Coast, but whose water filtration systems were in all likelihood damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And where did these deaths occur, you ask? Why, New Orleans (Katrina) and De Soto Parrish (only 185 miles north of the Gulf). Maybe the blame shouldn’t even be on tap water but on Louisiana tap water specifically.
CNN wrote their own article on the Neti Pot deaths and they say that the brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, that was found in the tap water as well as in the victims’ sinus passages, is totally fine if you drink it. It’s just when it comes in contact with your brain that problems (i.e., deaths) crop up.
Now, I’m no scientist, but I’m thinking that maybe someone should take a little closer look at that tap water in Louisiana and maybe figure out a way to avoid any and all contact with this nasty Naegleria fowleri stuff. But then again, what the hell do I know?
December 21st, 2011 at 6:33 pm
I saw this article/news story and it freaked me out…….I was going to send you a “distilled” water of the month membership, thankfully your tap water is safe;)