[koolba]

> To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world.

The turmeric is not to blame here. It’s the idiots that demand bright yellow food without regard to whether it is poison, and the disgusting people who manufacture said poison to meet that demand.

It’s not just turmeric either. There’s plenty of other unnecessary dyes (eg red dye 40) adulterating such foods.

As a general rule, if it’s supposed to be a home cooked meal but the colors make it look like it came out of Willy Wonka’s factory, it’s not normal.

[hombre_fatal]

Nobody is blaming the plant. Obviously it’s the evil people adding an adulterant to a dietary product.

I don’t see how you can victim blame here. People absolutely should be able to pick the best looking alternative on the shelf without fear of being fed a neurotoxin. I’d like to see the argument rendered for how it’s their fault rather than the person poisoning them.

PS real turmeric looks like it came from a willy wonky factory. And you don’t deserve to be poisoned even if it didn’t.

[kukkeliskuu]

The title of the article is blaming the plant.

[richbell]

It's blaming the spice that people consume because it's widely adulterated.

[kukkeliskuu]

The point is that many people see just the headline, and from the headline they will only remember that turmeric kills people, and some of them will start avoiding turmeric due to this.

In a magazine like The Economist, which is considered to be a quality magazine, one can suspect that misleading titles might not be an accident.

If one is even slightly cynical about the attitude, which is not really that deeply hidden, use of turmeric reduces the need for medicine, which reduces profits, so it is contrary to the aims of the market-fundamentalist magazine.

[mcny]

> The point is that many people see just the headline, and from the headline they will only remember that turmeric kills people, and some of them will start avoiding turmeric due to this.

I think until there is drastic action on behalf of India, there should be a ban on import of turmeric or products containing turmeric. Or at least as consumers we should avoid turmeric made in India.

[koolba]

> I don’t see how you can victim blame here.

You can blame multiple people. And nobody is saying the blame is equal. IMHO, there is a non zero amount of blame on cultures that promote “colored” food.

[crazygringo]

> It’s the idiots that demand bright yellow food without regard to whether it is poison

In nature, color very often corresponds to freshness (which corresponds to flavor). It's not that consumers are being idiots, it's that they're looking for something fresh.

The fault is 100% with manufacturers here. There is no excuse to blame consumers whatsoever.