Snow eating now endangered kid pleasure

[onehandle]

Source: AP

PITTSBURGH - To the list of simple childhood pleasures whose safety has been questioned, add this: eating snow. A recent study found that snow — even in relatively pristine spots like Montana and the Yukon — contains large amounts of bacteria.

Parents who warn their kids not to eat dirty snow (especially the yellow variety) are left wondering whether to stop them from tasting the new-fallen stuff, too, because of Pseudomonas syringae, bacteria that can cause diseases in bean and tomato plants.

But experts say there's no need to banish snow-eating along with dodgeball, unchaperoned trick-or-treating and riding a bike without a helmet.

"It's a very ubiquitous bacteria that's everywhere," says Dr. Penelope Dennehy, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases. "Basically, none of the food we eat is sterile. We eat bacteria all the time."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eating_snow

[enlightenment]

1. Problematic if your kid happens to be a tomato or a

green bean - not so much otherwise, I imagine.

[Ian David]

5. Good point...

[cbayer]

2. Just don't eat the yellow snow. nt.

[AnnieBW]

4. Watch out where the huskies go!

n/t

[Ian David]

6. Don't eat the red snow, either!

Watermelon snow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Watermelon snow, also called snow algae, is snow that is reddish or pink in color, with the slight scent of a fresh watermelon. This type of snow is common during the summer in alpine and coastal polar regions worldwide, such as the Sierra Nevada of California. Here, at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet (3,000–3,600 m), the temperature is cold throughout the year, and so the snow has lingered from winter storms. Compressing the snow by stepping on it or making snowballs leaves it looking red. Walking on watermelon snow often results in getting bright red soles and pinkish pant cuffs.

Watermelon snow is caused by the presence mainly of Chlamydomonas nivalis, a species of green algae containing a secondary red carotenoid pigment (astaxanthin) in addition to chlorophyll. Unlike most species of fresh-water algae, it is cryophilic (cold-loving) and thrives in freezing water.<1> Its specific epithet, nivalis, is from Latin and refers to snow.



More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_snow

[cbayer]

11. OMG! That is frightening!

Someone needs to write a song. Where is Frank when we need them?

[unblock]

3. will someone PLEASE publish a study about bacteria deficiency syndrome so we can cut this crap??

i'm a big tired of the cootie-phobia that the media and lame-ass anti-bacterial makers push on us.

a bit of exposure to germs ultimately is a GOOD thing. it keeps the immune system up. and ultimately, we don't digest properly without bugs in our gut. and women have a special place filled with, um, flora and fauna....

[populistdriven]

8. kids consumption of dirt is waay down nowadays

hell we even used to eat an occasional worm or gum off from under a shoe

[lonestarnot]

17. Dirt cakes are a staple in Haiti.

[XemaSab]

21. I remember drinking out of puddles when I was little

:P

[awoke_in_2003]

13. "a bit of exposure to germs ultimately is a GOOD thing"

I feel the same way. When I think of all the things I did as a kid, today someone would tell me it would kill me. It is one thing to protect kids, but we have been going overboard lately. How many parents freak out when their kids have a fever? First thing they do is give them some drug to bring down the fever. Fever is how the body fights off invasion- it is not a bad thing (as long as it isn't too high for too long).

[kestrel91316]

7. Oh, this is UTTER BS. The entire world is FULL of bacteria,

99.99999999999999999% of which are either complerely harmless to us or outright necessary for our survival. Normal environmental bacteria like the Pseudomonas they found in the snowflakes ARE NOT PATHOGENIC TO HUMANS, OR PRACTICALLY ANYONE OR ANYTHING ELSE.

People seriously need to get a grip and STFU about things they lack the slightest comprehension of. (On edit - this comment directed toward the dumbass media hypesters who want to SCARE the soccer moms)

Sterile snow is neither desirable nor feasible. Ditto for our food, our water, our air, our toys, our kitchen counters, our clothing, or ANYTHING ELSE except surgical instruments and other invasive medical stuff.

[PinkTiger]

9. Wow! WE quit eating snow in the late 50s because of contamination

by nuclear fallout. No joke. During the 1960s, especially, we lived in a zone impacted by fallout - SW Missouri. Dad wouldn't let us eat snow ice cream any more.
I thought nobody did that anymore. So, now you are telling me it is OK?

No fallout? LOL

[kestrel91316]

10. When I was in college in CO int the 70s and 80s we had a cabin way up

in the Rockies. We had NO NEUROSES about eating snow or that fabulous treat, snow ice cream. If you lived in a smoggy, dirty metropolis, obviously you don't want to ingest the CHEMICAL pollutants in snow. And you ONLY eat fresh snow, preferably within 12 hours of falling.

BFD if it has "germs" from dust and dirt. We can't escape those, and there's no need to. And we DON'T have nuclear fallout these days to worry about (though Bush is working on that).

I have a BS in Microbiology from a prestigious university (not some penny-ante community college) and frankly, germ-phobes annoy hell out of me.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. "snow ice cream"

I loved snow ice cream. Also, snow "snow" cones.

[kestrel91316]

19. Snow ice cream was my dad's thing to make. Where he grew up,

on a remote eastern NV ranch in the 40s, they had no electricity, so they had NO ICE CREAM. WHen it snowed, they got some!

[dysfunctional press]

12. we had some very delicious snow in northern illinois this winter...

both my dog and the neighbor's dog were really enjoying it, so i decided to join in- although i did get mine from a nice clean patch on a pine bough. it was the first time in years that i've indulged, and i have to say that i was impressed all the way around- texture, crispness, lack of any real flavor.
it was great.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. I haven't had a good taste of snow

since I moved to Texas 17 years ago. Kinda miss it, but I don't miss the shoveling (moved from Cleveland)

[enlightenment]

18. My favorite was pouring maple syrup on fresh snow in tracey

lines. It would harden almost instantly. Yum. I'm sure the bugs from the snow stuck to the syrup, so we all got our RDA of useful flora!

[Voltaire99]

16. Won't somebody think about the snow-eating children!!!

Somebody? Anybody?

[Gman]

20. Which is why we have immune systems

so we can eat some bacteria and it's ok. Our bodies handle it.

[Xenotime]

22. I'll pass. This thread makes me feel ill at the thought of eating...

something off the ground. What is this? The 1800's?!?

[Javaman]

23. To quote the Cramps...

"don't eat stuff off the side walk!".