The first sentence does not prove the second. It gets worse from there...
The heart and brain diseases it causes—to which children are especially susceptible—accounted for at least 1.4m deaths in the region in 2019.
From Turmeric? Or lead in general? They don't say, let alone prove causation, yet that is the unfounded conclusion. Lead is a huge issue in Third World crops, including coffee imported to the U.S. (mainly from Africa).
What, that dishonest dealers would adulterate food to make it more saleable?
Yes
The stuff is hard on nervous system.
Fr AI-
India:
Despite the phase-out of leaded gasoline in 2000, an estimated 275 million children aged 0 to 9 years in India still have blood lead levels (BLLs) ≥ 5 μg/dL, which adversely affect intelligence and behavior.
Sources of lead exposure in India include spices, cookware, paint, traditional medicines, cosmetics, and lead-acid battery recycling and repair.
Over 200 lead pollution sites related to battery recycling and repair activities were identified in Bihar and Jharkhand, India, with soil lead concentrations exceeding US Environmental Protection Agency standards.
It is grimly humorous that all of us have been told conflicting advice on so many health things. Staying away from all whole grains versus years of be sure to get a lot of whole grains. Reduce fats and eat a balanced low calorie diet and lose weight or eat fats but reduce carbohydrates in the Atkins Diet controversy.
I for a while kept two printed issues of Science Digest to remind myself not to listen too closely to “science” advice.
One had a cover story that coffee was ruining health and reducing life expectancy. The second from two decades later said coffee each day had great health benefits.
Turmeric is used as a supplement to treat conditions that involve pain and inflammation. Curcumin, a chemical found in turmeric, has many beneficial uses for oxidative and inflammatory conditions, metabolic syndrome, arthritis, anxiety, and hyperlipidemia. It may also help in the management of exercise-induced inflammation and muscle soreness, thus enhancing recovery and subsequent performance in active people.
I doubt any turmeric used as a supplement has any lead.
Not really.
Do I think some sources of it are better than others? Sure.
Do ai thi k turmeric hurts you? No. Clearly they point the finger at lead/foreign contamination in the turmeric. Not turmeric.
So its a quality of sources, not an inherent issue with turmeric.
A person can grow their own. Buy tumeric root in the store and plant it.
P
The article does not read turmeric is killing people. It reads that lead chromate used in the processing of turmeric is killing people. This is not a recent problem.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/
Lead contamination of food and cosmetic products from India and China is a concern and have prompted recalls in the past.
If only people had recognized the dangers of lead poisoning a long time ago.
Still I prefer lead citrate in my wine for the sweet overtones it provides
What a stupid headline. Blaming a harmless spice because some people are adding a poison to it.
The Economist hid their true intent until the last paragraph - an attack on India’s PM, who is kicking deep-state political Western NGOs out of India.
Must be cutting in on Big Pharma lookalikes
I guess don’t buy the super cheap supplements from sketchy vendors. Hopefully the better companies don’t have this issue with their products.
I have read that this is the case with turmeric imported from Bangladesh. From India not so much. Just avoid turmeric with bright yellow color. Natural turmeric is slightly reddish or orangish.
Here I thought Turmeric was the bestest, most healthy thing since UN-sliced bread. Maybe just don’t use a ton.
To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world.
The Economist didn't say that Turmeric is poisoning people. You did.
Title is “ How to stop turmeric from killing people”
What has the Economist said about the vax?
I believe it was the Economist the featured an article by the insipid Peggy Noonan expressing her orgasmic love for Obama circa 2008. Good chance I’m mistaken, but both projected the same degree of Progressivism at the time.