Who Really Pays the Price of War?

In today’s episode, Ariel walks us through the public health impacts of war. We start by providing a very brief history of human conflict. Next, we talk about technological advances during WWI, WWII, and the Cold War that have made modern warfare extremely deadly. We then discuss the on-going Iran War, and finish out the discussion on why war is terrible for public health. Spoiler alert: it affects more than just service members.

Mattie also discusses global wins in renewable energy, more analysis of Survivor as it relates to public health, and a whole long list of recalls.

Recalls:

• 4/14/26 Good Brain Tonic 16 oz & 32 oz - potential botulism
• 4/13/26 Morovan Gel Nail Polish Remover (15ml) - Prohibited Methylene Chloride and Chloroform
• 4/10/26 Vital Nutrient Aller-C Dietary Supplement - Undeclared egg, hazelnut and soy
• 4/08/26 Revitaderm, Tridergel Antiseptic wound care gel bottles and tubes - Lysinibacillus fusiformis, an environmental organism
• 4/07/26 DTF Sexual Chocolate - Undeclared Sildenafil and Tadalafil
• 4/03/26 Karns FoodsMini Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cups - May contain undeclared peanut allergen
• 4/03/26 Wawa Iced Tea Lemon, Iced Tea Diet Lemon, Diet Lemonade and Fruit Punch - Potential or Undeclared Allergen – Undeclared Milk
• 4/02/26 RAW FARM Raw milk cheddar cheese, shredded and block - Potential E. coli
• 4/01/26 Kian Pee Wan Dietary supplement capsules marketed for treatment for gaining weight and stimulating appetite - Device & Drug Safety/Unapproved Drug
• 4/01/26 Christopher Ranch, Garland Peeled Garlic - Potential Clostridium Botulinum

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome to Public Health Group Chat, the podcast where we solve conflict through talking to each other civilly. Not by bombing each other.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Not by bombing each other, you know, but I I will say sometimes like my my my conversations outside of public health group chat, I'm I'm not as nice and I should work on that, but maybe not. It's usually to men. You know, I feel that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Um, well, I'm Maddie. And I'm Ariel. And all views expressed on this episode are our own. And we have a lot of good stuff coming up. So let's just dive right in. Um, Maddie, I think you're doing the good news for us.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Yeah. So I did an Honor of Earth Day coming up on next week. Um, I did like a little roundup of some good news with renewable energy throughout the globe. Well, just kind of rapid fire. So we're not gonna have a lot of details. Um, but Great Britain broke their solar energy generation record on two consecutive days on April 6th and on April 7th, with 14.1 gigawatts and then 14.4 gigawatts. France has doubled its electrification aid to help cut fossil fuel dependency. So they're giving 10 billion euros a year, so much money, 12 billion dollars through 2030 to boost electric vehicle use and modernizing home heating to help cut the country's dependency on foreign fossil fuel. Then global solar energy capacity has skyrocketed in the last decade. Um, and it's set to hit 9,000 gigawatts by 2030, which could cover more than 20% of the world's energy demand. The largest offshore wind farm in the US just sent its first power to the grid, and this is fully online. It can power up to 660,000 homes and saving customers $3 billion in the first decade of operation, and that is off the coast of Virginia. And despite the attempts to undermine renewable energy, the US still ranks third in the world for solar expansion, so that's huge. Um, Norway reached it, uh reached 97% electric vehicle sales. Now their electric vehicle usage outnumbers the diesel on the roads. And then a people-led solar revolution in Pakistan is giving people energy and security amid all of the fossil fuel volatility. And it jumped fivefold between December of 2021 and December of 2025. It makes up one-fifth of the country's grid supplied electricity in 2024. Um, and that is a little roundup of all of the good news for renewable energy around the world.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

That's really cool. I have a couple thoughts. The first being, I don't actually know what a gigawatt is. Like, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

I, you know what? I meant to look that up too, because I was like 14 gigawatts. That can't be that much, but like that has to be a lot. Oh, it's uh the power equivalent to one billion watts. So that that's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

That is a lot. I need to go back to physics class. Yes, I took physics. Yes, it's been a very long time and I remember nothing.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

I so in my previous life in college, I was an engineering major, so I took honors engineering physics, and I'm terrible at physics. I don't know why I did that. And the only reason I passed is because a boy had a crush on me and he helped me with my homework. Whatever it takes. We gotta use men when we can. This is the man tax right now, is using you when that's my class.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah, it works. Like I said, gotta get through school somehow. Exactly. I got through college physics by literally Googling the questions in the textbook and finding answers. So yeah, I'm a real high achiever. Dude, you you gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

It's physics. It's like we're not, it's not like we're physics majors.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

No, there's a reason we yeah. Yeah, there's a reason we studied public health, okay?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, no a thousand percent. Like there's been after that year I switched to literally anything else because I was like, I can't do this.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Exactly. And also, um, going back to what you said about the US being third in solar expansion, that honestly surprised me. Um, again, because everything you hear in the news about green energy is like, oh, it's terrible. We need to go back to coal and gasoline and blah, blah, blah. So really happy that there's still people out there that are pushing this forward.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah. And I think especially like in places like Colorado where we get so much sunshine, it makes a ton of sense.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Yeah, I would love to have solar on my house, but the actual cost of like installing solar panels is a little steep.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, that's hard. It's like it's like most things with like public health and stuff like that. It's like you, it will save you money in the long run. However, you do have to pay a lot up front.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Yeah. And public health is not the highest paying field, so my bank account might not be able to handle that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Future, hopefully, future us can though. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Ask myself in 10 years, see where I'm at.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, everybody come back, email us in 10 years. Or if you already have solar. Tell us how much it cost to install. Oh, yes, that is a good one. And also where you're at where you did the solar installation. Um, the other piece of good news is my hat. This is one of my favorite hats. It's from a brand called Aliens in Brooklyn, and um, it just says dead inside. It's covered in clay because I worked to pottery a lot. But I love this hat so much that I lot thought I lost it and I bought another one. So now I have two of these hats.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Perfect. Now you've got your pottery studio one, which can get covered in clay, and then your clean one to wear everywhere else. See, you get it. You get it. All right. So are you ready to move on to the main topic today? Super depressing, but we got to talk about it. I'm ready. All right, so today's topic is about the public health impacts of war. This has been on my mind for a while. I actually have wanted to cover this for, I don't know, since before we even recorded our first episode. But it seems especially relevant right now with what's going on in Iran. So I'm gonna give a very brief history of war. This is like super high level because I can't talk about every war that's ever happened in the history of human beings. Um, and the public health impacts will be pretty high level too, again, because each war, each conflict has its own unique impacts that we don't have time to talk about everyone individually. So just want to give an overview and spoiler alert, it's bad for public health, but we'll get there. So, war and conflict have been around for as long as different groups have clashed, no surprises there. So, what has changed is not the fact that different tribes, different countries, different societies fight, but how the fighting happens. So, if you think back to like the earliest days of humans, conflicts were pretty much spontaneous due to clashes, just when different tribes encountered each other. Hardly what we would call a war today. But the nature of warfare changed when people began developing permanent civilizations with agriculture and animal domestication. And then these groups started clashing with tribes who were still nomadic and relied on hunting and following their food. And obviously, each country's or region's history of warfare and tactics is different, different tools, different technologies, different cultural practices at play. Um, so I'm gonna keep this really more US focused, or not necessarily just US, but wars that the US has participated in. So a little bit American-centric. Um, sorry to our international listeners if this is not super relevant to you, but hopefully you can at least find some takeaways. So prior to colonization of what is now the United States, Native American wars, that was an air quotes, mainly used hit-and-run tactics to achieve specific goals. And some examples of these were defending territory and stealing food. And weapons included objects like spears, bow and arrow, lances, clubs, stone axes, and rawhide slings. So, like things that, yes, can be very dangerous, but these are not exactly capable of causing mass casualty and destroying infrastructure like we see in wars today. Um, so more on European colonization of the Americas. The colonization period of the Americas occurred during the late 1400s into the 1700s. And by this time, many Native tribes had treated their nomadic lifestyles for permanent settlements, and there were a ton of tribes and cultures across the continent, like so much diversity. After Christopher Columbus's 1492 arrival to North America, other countries followed, wreaking havoc on Native Americans. So not only did colonizers impose on these settlements, obviously, there were already people living there. They also clashed with one another, so the different colonizers, to claim different European colonies. And so this was just a lot of conflict happening. And guess who suffered the most? Any any guesses, Maddie? Oh, pick me. All right. What do you got to say? The indigenous population that was already there. Yes, you now that you are so smart. Um, so yeah. Can I get that on writing? Yes, we can put it on another hat.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Maddie was so smart. Ariel. I would wear that hat everywhere. I would too. Okay, please continue.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

So, like you said, the native people were the ones to suffer the most. Their land was stolen, and then on top of that, they were exposed to infectious diseases, and many of which they never encountered and therefore had no immunity to. And it is estimated that between 80 to 95 percent of the indigenous people, that's around 56 million people, died within 150 years of European colonization. And this was mainly due to infectious disease, but it was compounded by things like slavery, violence, and famine. That is so heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

And this is That's so heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

And this is not even like tons of fighting and like mass destruction yet. It's literally just the invasion of the land where people already lived.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, that's terrible. There's like genuinely no word for it.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, and I don't I don't want to call that war. That's really more a conflict, but just a really great example of how colonization and colonialism really harm a native group. So we're gonna fast forward to some more modern wars that we actually call wars, starting with World War I. And so there were a lot of technological advances that made this war, you know, more deadly than past conflicts. These included machine guns, which were developed in the 1880s and 1890s, and these could fire 600 bullets per minute with a range of a thousand yards or 900 meters. There was field artillery, and recent advancements at the time before the war included improved breach loading mechanisms and brakes. And so these advancements allowed the guns to stay in place after each firing instead of being repositioned after each round. And there were airplanes. This was World War I was the first war to be fought on land, sea, and air, so just coming from all directions. World War I saw the first major use of poison gas in the form of chlorine. And World War I saw the use of tanks. And so while early tanks were slow and unreliable, they were fucking scary looking. Like, can you imagine just seeing one of those rolling up in your neighborhood?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

They were.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah. Even if it was slow. Like, what is that? It was probably just more of like a thing to look scary, not an actually scary thing. But yeah, that would be. I also can't, I don't think I realized that this was the first war to have like airplane involvement. That would also be super freaky. Especially like if you were in these like smaller like villages and you had no idea what an airplane was, that'd be so scary.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, or even if you grew up in a time, like if you remember life before airplanes and life after airplanes, just like having that memory before the technology existed. Anyway, the estimated death toll was between 15 to 22 million people, and this was in the whole world. About 9 to 11 million people were military members, and between 6 and 13 million were civilians. Like this is not just affecting soldiers and military staff, like this is affecting regular people, as we know that modern wars do.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

I think that that is probably one of the biggest public health tolls that come from war is civilian deaths and civilian involvement, because they are people who did not sign up for this, shouldn't be involved at all, and genuinely probably have no stake in the game. And yet they are involved and they are the ones who feel so much of this fallout. Like if we think about like Vietnam and like the use of like Agent Orange and stuff like that, like they're the ones who are left with the repercussions.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

And it's so heartbreaking too, because like I truly believe that most people out there just like want to live their lives in peace. Like, yeah, there are some people who want power, who want control, but like most of us want to go to work or have a family or you know have our hobbies or whatever. And when I think about prejudice between countries, like certain people from certain countries dislike people from other countries for whatever like historical or cultural reasons. But I feel like the real issue is between governments and like the civilians and regular people, don't give a fuck. Just let them, you know, live their lives.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Like nine, probably nine times out of ten, that like six to thirteen million civilians probably didn't give a shit. Yeah. Yeah. Like they just wanted to live their lives and yet they were collateral. And World War II, World War I especially was just kind of crazy because that was more of a flex of soft power, I think, globally, because it was more about allyship, because it just was from the assassination of Arch Archduke Ferdinand. Genuinely, so many of these people were like, what are we even fighting about? I like that World War I especially kind of just like really kind of fucks me up because it did have such a high civilian death toll, and it was there wasn't really like there wasn't really like a reason other than just like I think men were just threatened by other men.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

And that sounds valid. I honestly don't even remember what I learned about World War One in school other than when it happened, but I can't remember why. My history knowledge is not the best.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah. No, literally, it was because the Archduke was assassinated and because like these smaller countries in Europe had bigger allies that got involved. And so that's how it ended up as like a world war, was because these like the the where the actual conflict was, they had strong allyships with like Germany and the US. So that's how it kind of like divided out. Always coming back to men. Everything always coming back to men. It's always men, always someone email me. I I want I want this email. Someone email me a woman who started a war, please. Oh, yeah. I want to know that too. I want to know all these history buffs. Like, I fancy myself a history buff, but like I don't know. So someone tell me.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

So we're gonna skip to World War II um and talk about some more technology that was developed during that time that made wars different. Um, so first we have cavity magnetron. Do you know what that is? Don't look at don't look at the notes.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

No, I literally would saw that word and I was like cavity. No. I don't know what I used the word cavity in there.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

So I didn't know what that was either. Um, but it's just microwaves. And so microwaves were used in war to improve radar technologies. And some historians claim that this was the most helpful piece of technology to help the Allies win World War II, even more so than the atomic bomb, which is wild. Microwaves. Now we use them to heat up our food.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I know. That actually makes a ton of sense because you are able to see what's coming. Well, you're not like what specifically, but you're able to see that something is coming. And that eliminates the surprise that I think was the benefit of most warfare tactics prior to that.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Yeah. Um, and as I alluded to, the atomic bomb, we're gonna talk about that next. Uh, these were dropped by the US on Hiroshima in Nagasaki in Japan, and an estimated 170,000 people, mostly civilians, who was surprised, died. 110,000 died instantly, and then another 60,000 from effects later on, um, which is absolutely disgusting. And Maddie, did you see Oppenheimer?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

I saw half of it and then um I fell asleep. But I want to because I in my hyperfixations that I've gone through in my life, World War II was one of them. And I thought all of like the politics and the just everything that I think went into it was really, really interesting. And so I kind of like hyperfixated on that a lot. Like Pearl Pearl Harbor was one of my favorite movies for a long time. Like I never said I wasn't weird. But um, but like to your point with the atomic bomb, like similarly, like I mentioned with the Vietnam War, is the civilians had to pay the consequences of that fallout. And I granted, I don't know if like the government stepped in to help or what, or like with the after effects, but like they are the ones who had to like figure out the radiation poisoning, like everything with that. And again, probably nine times out of ten, they just wanted to live their lives, but they are sucked into this conflict. And I also think it is important to mention that if we're making this American-centric, very few wars. I think the last war to like actually be fought on US soil was the Civil War, unless you want to count like Pearl Harbor. But where there was actually genuine like warfare going on was the Civil War. And so it's like, I think it's important to note that we as public health people, I think see the consequences of war in a different frame than I think most people would, because that's not something that we've ever experienced in our country. That we've had the privilege of like not having to experience war. And so I think if we were to talk about like a normal to a normal person about about warfare, like I don't think they would have the sort of same sort of perspective because you don't like see it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

And like most people are not trained in public health, which is fine. Not everyone needs to be trained in public health and think about these things. But yeah, going back to Oppenheimer, it's a great movie. I don't know like how historically accurate all the details are, but the dramatization was great. And I think one of the pieces I like the most is like, yes, the atomic bomb was horrible, but like I can't imagine the guilt of being the person or like one of the main people responsible for that technological advancement and knowing that your work led to the destruction of like two cities and all of these people. Um and I think they did a good job kind of portraying that internal conflict of Oppenheimer.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah. I need to go watch it. This will be like top of my movie list. I'm not a big movie person. I'm more of a TV show girly, but I need to do it.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

All right, so I'm gonna move on with more technology in World War II. So we got computers. Um, computers were actually developed before World War II, but the war pushed them to advance more quickly. Um, and then other technology that actually I think is cool, not that you know it's related to war, but there were advancements in medicine, including skin grafts, blood transfusions, and trauma medicine. Um, so I guess that's one silver lining, but I feel like that stuff would have been figured out eventually anyway. So I don't know. But the estimated death toll of World War II was between 70 to 85 million people. It is the deadliest conflict in history, and between 50 and 55 million of the deaths were civilian, with only 21 to 25 million military deaths. So again, twice as many civilians died than military members. Like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

I think the other hard part too is like what makes me sad is like if you think about the estimates, like there is so many people who aren't accounted for in these things that never got like their proper proper, like not only did they probably not want to be involved in this at all, they also didn't get like their proper burials and like those things that were probably really important to them. And I find that really sad. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

I don't know much about the methodology of estimating war deaths, but like I know that you can't count that perfectly accurately. Next, I want to highlight the Cold War, which was not a physical conflict, but really important in regards to technology. And this was driven by competition between the US and the Soviet Union. Both nations were racing to build up stockpiles of both conventional and nuclear weapons, and there were two major breakthroughs in technology during this time. So there was the high-speed jet aircraft and the intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM for short. And ICBMs can deliver nuclear weapons across long distances like oceans. So you could be on a different continent and send the bomb across the world, which, like the technology is cool, but the application of it is not. I'm gonna skip ahead again to the 2026 Iran war, which is happening now. Um, again, there are so many examples of deadly and senseless conflicts that I could have covered or that have happened in history. So I realize I skipped most of them. Um, but I'm gonna talk about Iran just because, again, this is happening now, it's in the headlines, and I'm in terms of conflicts, that's what I'm following most closely. On February 28th, 2026, which is about two months before this episode will drop in your feed, the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran in what has been dubbed Operation Epic Fury. That's such a stupid name. It's so fucking stupid.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

I'm not like I saw that and I was like, what? Who like sorry just about to say that it's gross, but that's that name specifically for the Gives me the ick. The ick. Yes.

unknown 22:02

I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I barely tolerated Operation Warp Speed when they were coming up with the COVID vaccine. I'm not gonna tolerate Operation Epic Fury.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Like, yeah. It sounds like it came right out of the manosphere. But anyway, war was not even officially declared. Um, but this is being referred to as the Iran war or the war with Iran, so that's what I'll call it. Um, but Congress, U.S. Congress did not declare war, which is what they have the power to do. This is not within the president's power. But anyway, it's what it's being called the Iran War for whatever reason. The rationale for this conflict was to force an Iranian regime change as well as target its nuclear and ballistic missile program. Um, so international and global relationships in the Middle East are not my area of expertise. I don't know enough about the history of this part of the world to really give you a nuanced analysis of everything leading up to this point. I know there's a ton of conflict in this area between multiple countries, and yes, this is far above what I have really learned about in history or just know much about. Um, I don't support the war with Iran. I think it's stupid, but I don't feel qualified to give any kind of explanation for why we are here. And Maddie, maybe you do, but I won't I won't make you if you don't.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

I kind of have like a vague understanding of like the conflicts in that region. And I I am using vague like super loosely because I think there are so many levels to it. And that portion of the world has been populated for probably the longest, like like Africa, north like North Africa, like that area has been populated for so long that there I feel like a lot of these conflicts go back so long that you really do need to have a lot of education around it in order to be able to talk about it. And I think that's probably why like a little bit of it has been frustrating because I think there's so many people weighing in on this and they just genuinely have no idea about like the cultural context of like what's actually going on in these countries. And that's really frustrating. I've like talked a lot about it with like some friends and like things like that. And so it's like I I try to be as informed about it as I can, but I also know that like in my position, like there's like no way I can become an expert on conflicts in the Middle East, you know. But I will say my new thing, I haven't I don't know if I've said this on the podcast, is I will not let you talk to me about geopolitics until you can point that country out on a map. I don't want to hear it. You have said that. Okay, good. But I want to say again for the people on the back about how I'm running this. I'm like, I don't want to hear your like half-baked opinion on any sort of conflict unless you can point that country out to me on a map. Yeah. So that's that's my thought process. And I also do want to clarify, I don't support this conflict. I think this is actually so ridiculous, be especially because didn't somebody from was it the, I don't know if it was like the CIA or like somebody from one of the three-letter government organizations who was like really high up with like all those security clearance, basically came out and said like Iran doesn't pose a threat. Like this was started under this guise of this regime change and like their missile program, but like there wasn't the actual intelligence to back that up.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah, I believe you. I have not certainly like read every piece of reporting about this war. So I don't know if I saw that specifically, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Um, Joe Kent, top counter-terrorism official, says Iran posed no imminent threat um as he resigned because of Trump's Trump's war is the headline. But yeah. What a shock. No one is surprised by this. I'm once again deeply disappointed and not surprised. So and I also think being in public health, you inherently are always anti-war, anti-conflict, because again, of the civilian tolls that come with it. But it's like it destroys countries' infrastructure. And then how do you get them clean water? How do you get them medical access? And it's like cutting off medical access and cutting off like food supplies and humanitarian aid and all these other things, you know. I think that like being in public health, you are just inherently anti-war.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Yeah, war is a public health disaster, and we'll get to some data shortly. Um, but moving on with this conflict. So in the first 12 hours alone, there were almost 900 missile strikes, which is insane. Again, technology making that possible. We're not just using spears and lances anymore. Iran's supreme leader was killed. Iran did not take these attacks laying down, as you know, no one would. Anyone would retaliate if you're being bombed. So they retaliated with strikes on Israel and U.S. military bases in the region. And some UK bases have also been attacked. One particularly heinous strike from the US was in a school in Minab, which killed 168 people, and over 100 were children. Like, what threat do school children pose to the US? Please tell me.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Again, like I don't know. That was so heartbreaking because again, they're kids. Yeah. Like, isn't this a war crime? Like, yeah. I I don't know. Again, I think this points out the hypocrisy of this administration in general, because they're saying that they're attacking attacking Iran based off of their threats with ballistic missiles and their regime change, and yet they're attacking a school. And the people who pay the price are vulnerable communities. Like a lot of the times, like the civilians that pay the highest prices are those who are like in the marginalized communities. Yeah. So, you know, like kids, they can't defend themselves. They can't dissolve from any, like from most things, let alone a missile.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

So the fighting continued until April 8th, when a two-week ceasefire was reached, though its status is uncertain. The Strait of Hormuz has been at the center of this conflict. So after the attacks began, Iran blocked the strait, which is crucial for shipping oil. About 20%, or that's one-fifth, of the world's oil and natural gas passes through this waterway. And so, not shockingly, this led to surging oil and gas prices for many, including us here in the US. I know gas at my local gas station is quite a bit more expensive now. I read that some Asian countries have been hit very hard. So people being ordered to work from home, having a shortened work week, and then universities closing early, again, all to conserve fuel. And Slovenia was the first European Union country to implement fuel rationing. So yeah, this is not just affecting people who live in Iran. This is affecting the whole world.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Well, I also think if we extrapolate this a little bit, I'm sure this will also continue to hit consumers in the fact that like plastics a lot of them come from like crude oil. You know what I mean? Of like, and everything is plastic. So I guarantee you this will have longer repercussions than just high gas prices right now.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Yeah, we're gonna see it play out. It's yeah, nothing we can do but sit back and watch, unfortunately. So after this, the US put a blockade on the strait at all Iranian ports, pretty much halting maritime traffic. And it is estimated that this causes Iran to lose about $435 million per day. And so the takeaway here, it's really a fucking mess. And who knows what will be happening in a few weeks when this drops in your feed. So we are recording this on April 16th. By the time you hear this, that two-week ceasefire will have passed. Like we don't know what's gonna happen, but we're telling you what we know up to now. And so obviously, war is extremely disruptive to economies. Like, even if you don't care about people, if you care about money in the economy, I mean, it makes prices higher for everyone. It fucks up the stock market. Like it's not good. There's nothing good about war.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

That's a really good point to make about the economic costs of it because I feel like you see all these finance bros that are like pro-Trump and pro-war. And I know I'm generalizing, so I apologize for the finance bros out there who get it. But there are so many like economic consequences to war because it's like, again, you're disrupting the supply chain, you're disrupting people going to work, you're um completely destroying infrastructure, and that is expensive to repair and to replace. And you're potentially taking out hospitals and medical things. And so, like, there's no way to access care. And so then, like, that affects your workers who can actually go to work when things open back up and like things like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah. So true. And then, Maddie, as I was talking about oil, I was thinking about your roundup of renewable energy. I was like, well, why the fuck aren't we just like moving toward all these renewable energy sources? And then it won't matter if we can't get oil because we can use solar, we can use wind. Um, like the technology is there to make these things a reality. The political will is not, but it would it would make our lives better right now.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Yeah. I think people have been stuck on like crude oil and coal because of the money associated with it. So, and I don't think there's necessarily that sort of continual payout that comes with solar and wind and hydro energy. Correct me if I'm wrong, internet, but you know what I mean? Of like, I think I think it's more appealing because of the money with it.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, you can't charge people to sit in the sun, unfortunately. Yeah. Or to like stand out in the wind.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, exactly. Well, and big oil lobbies are so ingrained into our legislative system that uh there's not like big solar. There's not like big wind. Unfortunately. Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

So yeah. So I checked the death toll last night. I don't know if it's changed much today. I'm hoping not because we're still technically in that ceasefire. But the death toll up to this point, I've seen estimates between 3,600 to 7,000. Again, that's almost like a two-fold increase. So not really sure how those those are being counted. But the majority of deaths have been in Iran with an estimated 3,636, with 1,700 of those being civilians and 254 are children. Like, yes, obviously very threatening to the US. Um, and then Lebanon came in second for the death toll at 1,830. Um, Iraq, 117. And I've listed the death toll of various other countries, which I'm not gonna sit here and read them all on the podcast, but just thinking about how this is affecting countries like all around the region. This is not just in Iran, um, this is not just Israel and the US, which has lost 13 uh military service members, but again, just like so much death and destruction. And that's not even to mention the injuries.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

That is a really good point to make, not even to mention the injuries. And again, like if they take out like medical services and things like that too, it's like, how are people gonna get health care? Like, how are people going to how are the people who are in the hospitals gonna have clean water? How are they gonna get what they need? Like, I think these are the things that I know go through my head whenever I hear something about conflict, is it's like my heart just breaks for the civilians because it's like they're just there living their lives. Trying to do it. And now they have to worry about how to get water, how to get food, how are they gonna how are they gonna be safe? You know? Yeah, it's so stupid.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

All right, so we're gonna talk more about the the public health effects of war. But in case you hadn't heard us say it yet, war is bad for public health. First, the obvious reason deaths, like when you die, that that's not good for your health, obviously. But death doesn't only affect the dead, it affects their families and entire communities, spouses, children, extended families, social groups, social networks. Um, and then think of a time that you have experienced a loss, whether that was like a very personal one or even someone in your community or like a valued community member, and then like think about how that affected you in your community, and then imagine that on a mass scale. Like that's not really quantifiable. And so next we've got physical disability. Um so even if war doesn't kill you, it might disable you. According to data from the American Community Survey, 30% of veterans in 2022 had a service-related disability. And that was up from 15% in 2008. In 2022 alone, over $112 billion was spent on veteran disability benefits. And as much as I hate the military as like a complex, I really respect individual veterans because guess what? They're human beings doing very difficult things. And so, like, support the people, but not the system and not these senseless wars.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Well, and the other part of this too, which I wholeheartedly agree with you just said, like, I hate the military-industrial complex as a system. Our veterans are incredible people. And we also need to mention the economic implications of being disabled, because if you are disabled, like that might change the way that you bring money to your family. You know, like that changes a lot of stuff that has like economic impacts, not only of like what it costs taxpayers, but like also what it costs the individual as well.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Yeah, huge economic consequences. And like, depending on the severity of your disability, this could be the rest of your life. Um, and so it's really just so much money. And again, hard, hard to quantify how much money is lost due to due to disability, whether it's from war or from another cause. In those numbers, I shared too, just snapshots of a couple of different years. If you think about all of this over time, like how much money has been spent on disability benefits. Again, like totally want to support the veterans. Like, I'm glad they can get that support. But if what if we had just avoided all of that in the first place by like not going to war, you know?

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Well, that and then also Trump keeps trying to cut stuff for the VA. So I don't get it. I don't get it. Like, I don't get how you can be so pro-war and run on this platform of like support our troops, blah, blah, blah. But then you don't actually support them. Like the track record's not there.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Yeah, it makes no sense. But again, he just like says whatever he's feeling that day, and his like die hard supporters don't actually take time to be like, oh, what he's saying and what he's doing are two different things.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

And again, I hate and like I hate to talk about the financial and economic consequences, like reducing people to money in numbers, but it's huge, like you mentioned.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Well, I think like the money aspects sometimes can make it more relatable to people. Because again, it's not like we experience war firsthand in the US, but like I think people are able to better wrap their minds around financial implications because when it comes to human toll, they it's easier to just be like, well, that doesn't affect me. That's not me. Like kind of brush it out of your mind. And I think that happens a lot with like public. We've like, I mean, we've talked about that with like other public health stuff too. So I think sometimes the money might be the way to get people to listen and understand. So I think it has its value.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Yeah, that's so fucked up though.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

No, it's super fucked up. It's super fucked up that it takes money to peep for people to care. That's fucked up. But I get why people share that because it like might get somebody to care. And then we can open the box of worms of like, why is it fucked up that you care about money but you don't care about people?

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Yeah. It's the American way, right? It is the American way to care about money and not people, unfortunately. Put that on a t-shirt. God damn it. Okay. Um, another effective war I want to talk about is mental health. And again, poor mental health outcomes affects not just soldiers, but also people living in conflict zones. Civilians who didn't sign up for this, who just want to live their lives. And so living in a conflict zone can lead to anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicidal tendency, and no one is surprised by this. Um, race of mental health disorders are correlated with the number of traumatic events experienced during a war. This is also influenced by individuals' own resiliency and vulnerability, so like individual factors are at play here as well. A 2024 study on just over 8,000 adolescents exposed to war in Ukraine found that 32% screened positive for moderate or severe depression, 17.9% screened positive for moderate or severe anxiety, 35% screened positive for clinically relevant psychological trauma, and 20.5% screened at a medium or high risk of substance use disorder. And again, this is one study from one conflict. So think about this on a global scale, all of the conflict zones, all of the people exposed to this.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Like that is a huge human toll. There's like more and more research coming out about like how things in your childhood impact who you are and how you grow up and like who you are as an adult. And war is definitely one of those things that would talk about like how like the effects, the like psychological and traumatic effects of war as a kid can imp will stick with you and impact you for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Oh, yeah, absolutely. There's there's no doubt. Like, how could you ever let go of that? Yeah. So those stats that I just shared about the effects on adolescent mental health are adolescents, civilians, so not to mention anything of military service members. Um, so active military are screened and trained, at least in the US, I assume worldwide, but can't say that for sure. But I don't think that any amount of training can prepare you for being in an active conflict. Um, according to the VA, PTSD is more common in veterans than in the civilian population, but rates can vary based on factors like gender and the individual conflict experience. Um, but anyway, this is all to say that war puts a huge strain on the mental health of many people, not just those fighting. And the majority of our listeners are American. Um, in many cart in many parts of the country, appropriate access to mental health care is a problem. Like, I don't think that's you know, that's a surprise to any of us. Like it really was amplified and brought to light during the pandemic. Um, and we don't currently have any wars going on on US soil. But imagine if conflicts came here and we started seeing these mental health problems on a population issue. And so that would make our mental health access problem so much worse. Um, it's already bad for multiple reasons that I don't want to get into right now. Um, but a war on US soil certainly would not help. I don't know what access to mental health care is like in other countries. I'm sure it varies by country, so can't really talk about other countries as a monolith. Um, but just take that comparison with a grain of salt. I don't imagine many, if any, places where war is happening are equipped to handle the kind of need that is out there from what's going on. And then I just want you too to think about like reporting, right? We see it on social media, we see it on the news, we see it um reading the paper, it's all over. But like photos and videos coming from war zones, like you see infrastructure being totally destroyed, like cities and towns demolished, and it just looks like an apocalypse. And so I can't even imagine waking up one day in my whole town is just gone, like a heap of rubble. Wild. Yeah. So yeah, just uh just a few things to think about. God, that sucks.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

And what a privilege it is to just be able to sit here and talk about how much it sucks and not have to real like experience it and live it.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Yeah, that thought occurred to me, and I'm like so grateful that this is not my reality, and also it's so unfair that I won the the birth lottery of being born where I am.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah. Like I think it is like the social determinants of health. I think that is super clear through the war of like we are able to just like sit here and like go on out about our daily lives, and that is just not the case internationally.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Do you ever think about that? You're like, oh, what am I gonna wear to work today? Like, what am I gonna make for dinner? And someone else is like, oh, like, is my house gonna be standing? Like, are my kids gonna come home from school?

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Planning a wedding on the brink of feels like World War III. I think about that constantly. I am like, I am so vain, I'm so vapid for caring about this, but it's also like I need to then kind of like put in my reality of like, okay, well, this is my reality, this is what I'm facing, this is what I'm like doing. And so, like grappling with that has been like the biggest, the biggest mind fuck of the entire thing because it's like at the end of the day, like it's a big party, like it's important, don't get me wrong. And I am really excited about my wedding. I love my fiance very much. But like thinking about this and then sitting down and doing research to record a podcast about the implications of war and what's going on internationally is really weird. It's a really weird place to be in.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Yeah. I guess you have to live your own life, but also thinking about things that people are experiencing in other parts of the world that are so different than what we see on a day-to-day basis.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Right. And in public health, like we just that that's like something that we inherently like really care about. And so like both of those two things conflicting of like I care about my wedding and I care about the world. It's like lots of thoughts. My therapist cares about it in depth every Wednesday. Well, you can care about both of those things. True. They're gonna be both gonna be important, and that is a really good important thing to say. But you know what I mean? Of like it just feels it feels silly to like be upset about tablecloths at a time like this.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Yeah, I did tell you skip the big wedding and It's so much less stressful. Yeah, we're way too far into it.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

I get that. We're committed at this point.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

So it'll it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

Especially for your guests who had to do none of the planning.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

None of the planning.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

All right. So I'm going to move us on to public health and pop culture. And it is my understanding that I get to hear more about Survivor.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

We are in our the second part of our I don't know how many part series about Survivor. Um, and we're gonna talk about the health and safety side of Survivor and how this kind of came up is so in season 49, and one of the contestants, Jake, got a snake bite because he was stupid and was fucking with a snake with his foot, and the snake bit him. Of course, like the medical team comes in because there are two snakes in this part of Fiji that look very similar. One is like super poisonous and the other is just a little guy. And so um there was like a big that that was basically the entire episode. Um there's this kind of like big concern of whether this was like actually a poisonous snake, venomous, venomous snake, or just a dude, you know, this little guy on the on the sea. And so they bust out this binder, and it is a binder that they give to all the contestants, and it has like what you can eat, what you shouldn't eat, what the animals are, what you can touch, what you shouldn't touch, and like where you get the water from, and kind of more of the process. And I thought that was so cool. Um, because that was something that I kind of wondered. I was like, how do how do they know like if they can eat that or not? Because to my knowledge, no one's died on Survivor from eating poisonous berries. Um, so that was cool to kind of get to see the behind the scenes of that, that there is like a whole safety team. And I did tell my boss, because I do work in environmental health and safety, I had to tell him to his face, I was like, my dream job is to go be the EHS person for Survivor. And he thought that was super cool. So that's my dream job is to go be the EHS person for Survivor. So if anyone knows how I can get that job, someone please email me because that would be so sick. But kind of besides that, that they get going into it, there's a full medical team there. So since survivors moved into the new era, so this is kind of like COVID post-COVID, where they shortened the they shortened the amount of time. They don't get any rice at the beginning. There's been a couple changes, but the main change is that they don't go place to place now. So they used to be in different spots, but now they can be, they're just in Fiji all the time, which is cool in the sense of like then they can kind of set up camps. So they have like kind of more of like a substantive like medical facility. And also the sets are just cooler because they can like reuse stuff. And so travel council is super sick. But other parts with like the environmental health and science parts of uh survivor is they will have medical checkups before I think it's before every challenge. I was like looking through some TikToks of like behind the scenes of like past survivor competitors that they'll go through and you basically have to sit for like an hour before each competition, and they like will go through medical, make sure you're okay, like make sure you drink enough water for the day, things like that before you like actually go and compete in the challenges. So these like medical checkups are for little things like scratches, like making sure nothing's infected, like getting bandages, things like that. And I guess there's also you can't really see it, but there's also attendance that's got like bug spray and sunscreen. Um, there's ways for people to get period products. There's a time that they give out medication, but it's I did find this interesting because I had a whole conversation with my like survivor, one of my survivor besties, Cassidy. She knows the entire, she's an encyclopedia of survivor knowledge. Like you can ask her anything about any episode of Survivor ever, and she will know. It's insane to listen to. It's so cool. I'm like, I wish I knew this much about something. This is so cool. And so she was like mentioning she's like, yeah, like you can have your like if you have medicine, you can take it and they'll give you water for it. But if you have to have food with it, they won't give you food. So like you have to, so you can't like compete on Survivor if you have like a medicine that you have to eat food with, because that is like a whole part of it is like not eating. So it's like not fair to the competition and things like that. Or it's like, uh, I think you I don't know about like the contacts versus glasses thing. If there's like you have access to like how to change your contacts and things like that, or if you just have to wear glasses, I don't know. But so there are there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that you don't see on the actual survivor episodes that have to do with the safety of the contestants. Um, and it's really interesting that production edits it, how they edit it, to make it look like they are genuinely out there all by themselves and there's nothing and no one. And and I also saw that like they're not super far like where they're at from like civilization. So they will see like boats going by and they're like, oh, is that a production boat, or is that just like a normal boat? Kids like people watch people living their daily lives here in Fiji. They're just like on part of the island that they like can keep. I don't know what part of what part of Fiji, but yeah. So that is public health and pop culture, and that is series part two of the survivor, the public health of survivor.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

That's really cool. The behind the scenes with like the medical checks and like checking scratches, bites, etc. All you gotta think of though is like regular people in the US like don't get that. But to get that, you have to go on survivor, like go on the set of a TV show. Like, how fucked up is that? Like, I can't live my life and access care necessarily. Yeah. Well, I can't, I have health insurance and I can afford it, but that's not the reality for so many people. So I was just thinking about the like dual realities of like, oh, I'm a competitor on Survivor and I have access to all this care. And like, you know, people who are living in a war zone. So why not?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah. No, it's that is that's such a good point. I mean, they're not doing like any sort of preventative care stuff. It's all just like slap a bandage on it, go get them kind of thing. But yeah, you're so right. Uh the other part I forgot to mention is like people will be metavaced from the competition. So it's like if they are too injured or too sick to in good conscience continue on, they'll send people home. This has happened like a handful of times. This happened most recently in sur uh season 50. Again, spoilers, but one of my all-time favorite survivor contestants, Kyle, and I'm biased because his name is Kyle, my fiance's name is Kyle. Um, and he's such a good Kyle. Kyle gets the Kyle slander is usually warranted, but not with these two men. Okay, I will die on my hills for these two Kyles. But he tore his Achilles in the very first episode, and it was really sad because he's such a good player that it would have been really cool to see how the rest of the season played out with him. And we just didn't get that. So maybe in the future, but so but he was like, Oh yeah, I'm fine. Like, I I got a limp, but I'm good. And I guess uh the medical team like did some scans and stuff, and they're like, You will actually walk with a limp for the rest of your life if you continue to join in this. Like, we can't we can't do this. And he was like, Okay.

unknown 50:59

I guess.

SPEAKER_02 50:59

Yeah, no, it's it's definitely good that they have like that kind of medical care to make sure the contestants are not gonna be, you know, like permanently disabled, hopefully, or have anything seriously bad happen to them. I mean, that is a pretty dangerous premise, so you need that kind of oversight, which is wild to think that we can like spend money on things like that, but not on basic preventive care for a population. And again, I feel like I'm such a Debbie Downer and just like bringing this all back to like how much stuff sucks. So I think you're being a Debbie Downer.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Realistic. No, but that's like that's that's a really good point. I'm like, I never really thought about like how they have a fairly good access to care. They literally have their own doctor, probably I think maybe two doctors. Amazing. I know that just are there whenever they film in Fiji. They have a whole like they should have I should have tried to pull up pictures and stuff, but like this that episode in season 49, they like show a lot of like hospital little like little clinic they have for survivor contestants too.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

So yeah, and they get to go to Fiji. Like, I've never been to Fiji. I want to go to Fiji. Fiji.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Well, and if you get voted off, you basically are at they have like a hotel there and it's called Ponderosa. So that's like you go to Ponderosa when you're done. And so if you are voted off pre-merge, you get to just go hang out in Ponderosa until the merge happens, and then you get sent home because that tries to help like delay who gets voted out first, who makes the merge, whatever. Um, and then if you are one of the jury members, you obviously have to stay like after the merge. That's usually when the jury they decide who the jury is, and you have to stay through. So you're basically on a vacation. Like you get to just like hang out in Fiji if you get voted off. So, like, best case you win Survivor and you win a million dollars. Worst case, you just hang out in Fiji. I mean, worst case you win the medivac time.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

I would say best case you get voted off and don't even participate, but just hang out. But that's that's just me.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

I'd like to make the merge and like get on the jury. I'm like really I'm like really tempted to like apply for survivor and solely just be like, hello. I want to hear more about the safety side. I yes, I would like to participate in Survivor, but could you tell me how you do it? I would like to know. Can I experience it, please? Like that's my that's gonna be my whole survivor, uh survivor application was just like I'm a nerd. Let me do nerd things, please.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

All right. Are you ready to move on to some recalls? We've got quite a few. And since uh you didn't cover them in measles, I'm so happy that we have a bunch to talk about today.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Oh my god, please tell me, are there any boner bears? Or is it no, wait, don't spoil it. Don't spoil it. Don't look. Don't look at the notes. Don't look. Okay, it'll be a surprise. I haven't looked.

SPEAKER_02 53:39

Today in public health, what's on your shelf? We have some recalls for you. All right, buckle up. The list is kind of long. We'll move through them as quickly as we can. First, April 14th, we've got good brain tonic, 16 ounces and 32 ounces. This is a carbonated soft drink, probably marketed as some kind of supplement. I don't know, I've never seen it. But anyway, it's recalled for potential foodborne illness for botulism contamination. I don't get botulism.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Don't get botulism. I literally was like, I looked ahead, I was like, What was it getting recalled for? I was like, fucking botulism. Fucking botulism. Always botulism. Don't get it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

That is some that is some scary shit. All right, on April 13th, we've got Moravan gel nail polish remover in a 15 milliliter container. And it is being recalled because it contains methylene chloride and chloroform, which are prohibited in cosmetics. I can't imagine just like using nail polish remover and it's got chloroform, which is passing out. Like that's the image that I get.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

I and I feel like I asked that, A. And I feel like I asked this every single time we do recalls is why is there chloroform near the cosmetics? Why is it there? Who put it there? Why, why? I just like it's things like that that I'm like, why is this anywhere near that? Who had access to chloroform to put in it? Like, where did they get it? Why do they have it? Why is it there?

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Poor safety practices, it seems like. Seriously. Okay, please continue. All right. So next on April 10th, we've got Vital Nutrient Aller C dietary supplement, and that is being recalled due to an undeclared egg, hazelnut, and soy allergy. So if you use that and are allergic to any of those ingredients, throw it away. Or give it to a friend who's not allergic.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

That's so scary.

SPEAKER_02 55:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

As someone with food allergies, God, I hate that for everybody involved.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Yeah, I am glad I don't have food allergies. I think about this every time I travel. It's like how it makes it so much easier to travel. On April 8th, we've got Ruvitoderm Tritor gel, antiseptic wound care gel bottles in tubes. Um, these are recalled because the products were found to contain Lacinobacillus fusiformis, which is environmental spore-forming bacteria. If you use these wound care gel products, throw those away because we don't want that bacteria in your body. Um, so this is my favorite recall, Maddie. I saw this yesterday and I was looking them up and I was like, I cannot wait to talk about this on the podcast. On April 7th, we have DTF sexual chocolate, which again was declared for listeners. You could probably guess it. Undeclared sildenophil and tidalophil. And I could not stop laughing when I read this. Like, why are all these chocolate products having boner medication? I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 56:29

Oh my God, that's so funny. And for the listeners, I need you all to know I went through the rabbit hole of boner bears. So Ariel and Olivia didn't have to the other day. At dinner, it was very entertaining. And Kyle was like, what the fuck are you doing? Um yeah, that's I think now we I need a hat that says undeclared cedenophil and to todolophil. I need a hat that says that. And I don't think most people will get it, but we'll get it and it'll be really fucking funny.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

Ooh, we should make stickers that say that.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Oh, I'm gonna do that tonight. Give me, give me, like, give me a latte in an hour, and I will give us stickers.

SPEAKER_02 57:07

Yeah, why why are these products in all these like chocolates and what are boner bears? Like gummy bears, but like anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

I the only thing that I can think of is like I think there's like a big market for stuff like this. Like they're supposed to be like aphrodisiac type things. But the only thing I can think of is like the pills that you find at the gas station. What I can go when things like this happen. I'm like, is it gas station? Bonner chocolate?

SPEAKER_02 57:36

Okay, moving on. We just got a couple more. On April 3rd, we have Carnes Foods Mini Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cups, um, which may contain undeclared peanut. So if you have a peanut allergy, throw those away. That's those sound delicious. Um, you can also send them to me if you have those and you're allergic to peanuts.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

Shoot them to Ariel, please see on us. We'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 57:59

Um also on April 3rd, we have Wawa Ace T lemon, Ace T Diet Lemon, Diet Lemonade and Fruit Punch, more undeclared allergens, undeclared milk. So if you are allergic to dairy, throw those away. Two more. On April 2nd, we have Raw Farm, raw milk, cheddar cheese, shredded, and block for potential foodborne illness, pathogen E. coli. Also, it's raw dairy products of throw it away because it's raw, also because of my heavy colour.

SPEAKER_01 58:26

Breaking news, fork found in kitchen. Like, yeah, there's E.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

coli in it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

No duh.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

Oh, that's funny. Oh, now there's two more. Sorry, I said there was two more. There was three, and now there's two. Um, on April 1st, we have Kian P1 dietary supplement capsules marketed for treatment for gaining weight and stimulated appetite. Um, and those are being recalled for unapproved drugs. Um, so FDA analysis has found that this product contains the undeclared drug ingredients dexamethasone and ciproheptidine. Um, and so products containing these two ingredients cannot be marketed as dietary supplements. These are, these keon P1 capsules are an unapproved drug for which safety and efficacy have not been established and therefore are subject to recall. So, yeah, throw those away because we don't know if they're safe. Better safe than sorry. Um, and then finally, we've got Christopher Ranch Garland Peeled Garlic for, again, potential contamination with botulism. So throw that shit away. And this specifically was distributed in tops markets in New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Um, if you want to read more, you can Google FDA recalls. It will take you directly to a page that lists all these recalls. It will also have it in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

Not botulism, again.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

It's everywhere. It's everywhere. And that has been Public Health, what's on your shelf. Honestly, Maddie, reading through these recalls makes me afraid to eat anything.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

Yeah. Oh yeah. Spooky. It's spooky out there, folks.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

It is. I know the US has one of the safest food systems in the world, but this is still like freaky.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

This has been Public Health Group Chat. Um, if you want to reach out to us, you can find us on TikTok. Not really. On Instagram, definitely. And you can text us via the number on our website or email us.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:20

The devil works hard, but botulism works harder. Don't forget about the undeclared Soldonophil and Todolaphil. It'll get you. It's everywhere.