Filed under: Things We Already Knew, Things Millions Didn’t
What do you get when you add a self-righteous twit, an internet connection, the backing of shills like Dr. Oz, and millions of scientifically illiterate soccer moms?
You get the phenomenon that is known as “Food Babe”.
“Food Babe”, also known as Vani Hari, is responsible for some of the most idiotic nonsense spouted on the subject of diet and health. For example, she believes that microwaves are evil, homeopathy is good, and that “if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it”. Obviously she’s not getting enough (2R,3S,4S,5R,6R)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-[(2R,3S,4R,5R,6S)-4,5,6-trihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-3-yl]oxy-oxane-3,4,5-triol - aka “starch” - in her diet, which explains why she is full of shit.
It’s an old truth that you can make a lot of money by scaring people, as long as you sell them the thing that will make them feel safe. Hari employs this tactic to scare people into buying her books, which are filled with all sorts of nonsense about “Toxins” and “GMOs”.
The scientific community has had enough of her bullshit, and is fighting back. In a scathing piece on, of all websites, Gawker, analytical chemist, toxicologist, and forensic scientist Yvette d’Entremont, curb stomps Hari’s misinformation.
[INDENT][i]Hari’s campaign last year against the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte drove me to launch my site (don’t fuck with a Bostonian’s Pumpkin-Spice Anything). She alleged that the PSL has a “toxic” dose of sugar and two (TWO!!) doses of caramel color level IV in carcinogen class 2b.
The word “toxic” has a meaning, and that is “having the effect of a poison.” Anything can be poisonous depending on the dose. Enough water can even be poisonous in the right quantity (and can cause a condition called hyponatremia).
But then, the Food Babe has gone on record to say, “ There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever.” I wonder if anybody’s warned her about good old dihydrogen monoxide?
(AKA water.)[/i][/INDENT]
As if it weren’t bad enough that she’s got millions of idiots convinced she’s spouting things on the level of someone with a master’s degree in chemistry, Food Babe is notorious for encouraging her “army” to zerg rush websites and social media pages, to silence criticism, and to harass companies into removing completely harmless preservatives from their products, for no genuine reason other than to assuage these idiots’ collective senses of righteousness and unfounded outrage.
ED: Hari is definitely a candidate for our Douchebag of the Month feature, and may grace its unhallowed halls at some point in the near future; we need less "Activism and more “Factivism”.
