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The Guinness book of world records states that Most people are aware that lead isn’t great for
Michel Lotito died at age 57, of natural causes. But you—immediate side effects can include nausea,
not before this competitive eater had consumed 18 vomiting, and abdominal pain. If the lead poison-
bicycles, 15 supermarket carts, seven TV sets, six ing continues, the victim can eventually die, typi-
chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a low-calorie cally from kidney failure. In 2006, a child died after
Cessna light aircraft, and a computer. swallowing a small lead charm—eating an entire
First things first: No nutritionist, doctor, or even the computer’s worth of the metal is a viable way of
trendiest of dieters would recommend or applaud eat- ingesting enough to kill. So how did Lotito sur-
ing a computer. But it begs a ridiculous yet perhaps vive? In the child’s case, the lead charm got stuck
equally intriguing question: Is consuming one really in the kid’s stomach, where acids slowly broke it
that dangerous? Many of the same metals that are down. If it hadn’t, the piece of metal would have
found inside electronic devices—magnesium, iron, passed through the digestive system quickly and
and sodium—are also found inside the human body. would have caused less damage, according
In the event of a dare, would consumption be possi- to Helen Binns, a professor of pediatrics and pre-
ble? ventative medicine at Northwestern University’s
Unfortunately, the benefits of eating a computer do Feinberg School of Medicine. “If you had a
not come close to outweighing the risks, many of fishhook that got stuck in your intestines, that
which include death. The first potential peril is the would cause problems,” she says. “If you swallow
choking hazard. Even competitive eaters have been a bead or something like that, it just passes
unable to swallow much softer foods. In fact, last through your bowel.”
year, two Nathan’s contestants died after choking on
a doughnut and a pancake, respectively, according But metals aren’t the only form of toxic indigestion
to Metro News. Silicon and fiberglass are much hard- you might endure. The optical drive, the part that
er to gulp down. Even Lotito cut his metallic allows you to read CDs (unless you have a new
meals into pieces that were one to two centimeters Mac), is covered with a light-sensitive substance
long. On top of that, anything that is long or sharp has called a photoresist application. Studies have
the potential to scratch or tear the eater’s esophagus, shown that this doesn’t seem to be very good for
the long tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. lab animals, though it was not fatal. When scien-
tists gave it to mice and rabbits, it caused inflam-
If you did somehow manage (like Lotito did) to pulver- mation around their eyes and skin, as well as
ize the computer and then swallow it without issue, weight gain.
heavy metal poisoning would be your next obstacle.
Circuit boards sometimes contain tiny amounts of ar-
senic — not enough to kill you immediately, but if you The flame retardants that keep your electronics
ate several computers, the dose would add up. Alumi- from easily combusting are not delicious or nutri-
num, a common component found in the casings of tious, either. These substances surround the com-
both the computer and its hard drive, has no biologi- puter’s copper wires and drift into the atmosphere
cal function in the human body and seems to gum up if burned or crushed as waste. In addition
normal body processes. Some case reports have de- to disrupting fertility, some evidence suggests
scribed that people in the end stages of liver disease these flame retardant chemicals might also dis-
who are no longer able to flush aluminum out of of rupt human hormone systems, according to the
their bodies suffer nerve damage, presumably from National Institute of Health, and
the metal. Older computer monitors also contain up to some studies have shown a correlation between
eight pounds of lead, as well as mercury, arsenic, certain types of flame retardant and cancer.
cadmium, and beryllium, according to the Long Island
manufacturing center, a recycling and e-waste drop-
off site. (Continued on page 9)
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