Actually, people in 3rd world countries do have very high rates of diseases spread by dirty water. Young children & infants are especially prone to dying of diarrheal diseases. I imagine the ones that survive to adulthood would have better resistance than people like us who were raised with cleaner water & food, but they still get serious diseases. Their extremely high birth rates may make it seem otherwise, but people there are not enjoying good health, & they have shorter lives.

@Carin I hear you however the purpose of the link in this post is to undermine something very specific. The third world country reference in my comment is in regard to the political rhetoric embedded in the original post, not an attempt to debate third world country issues.

Well I've worked in several kitchens and if you do go out, please never tell them you want a lemon slice in anything. I've never seen one washed before slicing. And many times no gloves are used. Beware.

They are filthy & their underpaid employees are more concerned with working as fast as they can so they don't get fired from their miserable jobs, than they are about your health. The places I worked in didn't wash most things except salad, spinach & leeks. We were expressly forbidden to wash other things. & if the meat fell on the floor it was too expensive to throw out. If the customer was lucky it was rinsed off. Fancy places were the worst about that as the meat was pricier. A dropped fast food burger might be tossed (depending on the manager on duty) but the fancy chefs were also in charge of purchasing & expected to keep costs down, so prime rib or lobster would never be wasted. Our immune systems are truly amazing.

And some would propose reducing regulations that have been relatively successful in eliminating typhoid & other transmittable plagues. Not that some still do not wash their hands.

@Countrywoman
With you on this one CW. As our population grows, international travel & migration continue to expand.... we're just asking for it by not taking care of our food and water sources.

@PalacinkyPDX I agree but I also realize this industry has been around a long time under all kinds of legislatures. Going after these industries would be very difficult considering the increasing meat consumption of the world.

@JackPedigo It's only difficult because of the buying of our politicians. There is no problem we can't effectively deal with, the problem is political will. We need to vote for real issues, like food safety, the environment, and sustainability.

@Ktcyan Who is WE? You and I agree on the importance of this issue but there are lots of people who see this as just another "liberal" agenda. There are lots of people who are able to be brainwashed by the industry and also vote what they think are their interests. I see most of the posts/comments here are much more complicated than we would like to think.

@JackPedigo Yes true many people will never admit they are voting against themselves.

@Ktcyan Again and again another complicated issue. There are so many externalities (unintended consequences) that no can be certain their vote really makes things better.