Air quality, smoking and flatulence
Quit stealing my oxygen
Editor,
According to a study published in the August 2000 edition of the journal Nature, an explosion of methane gas 183 million years ago may have been responsible for the extinction of 80% of some deep sea species. This has me concerned as methane gas is one of the main byproducts of flatulence. According to the article, the release of this gas depleted the oxygen levels of the ocean and choked the plants and animals to near extinction. With approximately 290 million people in the U.S. alone there is some cause for concern. The average person farts about 14 times daily, which equates to about 2 cups of oxygen depleting gas. Just think, in the U.S. alone this amounts to 580 million cups of methane per day! Could this be contributing to our poor air quality? Some people claim that each person should have the right to choose whether or not to fart in public. But according to some who have taken economics, “when other people have to suffer the effects of a persons decision, the government has a right to get involved”. When people decide to fart in public places they are not the only ones facing a depletion of the oxygen levels by taking the horrible stench of flatulence into their lungs. I don’t know why we should have to smell or breathe another’s flatulence. According to E.J. Carstensen M.D. carbohydrates are the most effective gas producers. I don’t understand why I should be made to suffer from another’s inability to limit their consumption of excess carbohydrates. Lucky for us there is an answer to this problem. Like cigarette smoking farting in public should be prohibited. I dream of a day when I can walk through the aisles at the grocery store and not be subjected to the oxygen robbing, foul smelling fart that some inconsiderate person has recently released into the atmosphere. Is it so wrong for me to think that once the freedom to smoke in public has been taken away that the right to fart will be next? It may never happen but it is something that many of us look forward to.
Westin Allen (a non smoker) westina@cc.usu.edu435-787-2959518235975