Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides a deep dive into the media coverage of Latin America, highlighting the limited and often biased reporting from first-world media. He explains that only a small fraction of Latin American news reaches first-world audiences, with most coverage focusing on crime, natural disasters, and political upheavals. Johnny emphasizes the importance of alternative media for expats and mentions the unique experiences of expats in Latin America, such as encountering strikes and protests, which are common but often overlooked by locals.
Johnny also discusses common misconceptions expats have about Latin America, particularly regarding civil unrest and landmines. He explains that while there was a history of wars and revolutions, such events are now rare. He addresses the fear of landmines and other dangers, noting that they are not a significant threat today. Johnny highlights that even in recent years, incidents like landmine explosions are extremely rare, and the overall safety of the region has improved significantly. He also touches on the frequency of strikes and demonstrations, which are usually peaceful but can occasionally lead to chaos, as seen in the recent strike in Cordoba, Argentina, which resulted in looting and citywide disruption.
The podcast segment then shifts to the ongoing crisis in Argentina, where massive inflation, riots, and looting have led to a breakdown of social order. Johnny highlights the irony that despite a significant salary raise for police, their purchasing power has not improved due to hyperinflation. He also touches on the broader context of economic instability in Latin America, drawing parallels to Venezuela. The segment then moves to Nicaragua, where severe water pollution is a major issue, with over 50% of the population drinking contaminated water due to poverty. Johnny critiques the so-called 'pure' bottled water and the lack of effective cleanup efforts, emphasizing the need for better sanitation infrastructure and the challenges of implementing it in a poor country.
Johnny continues the discussion by exploring the issues surrounding septic systems in Latin America, highlighting the risks of undersized systems and the lack of oversight. He explains that while new regulations have improved the situation, many locals still lack the means or awareness to install proper systems, leading to pollution of lakes and rivers. He also warns about the dangers of eating seafood from lakes and streams due to contamination, while recommending fresh seafood from the ocean and cautioning against farmed seafood and supermarket imports.
Finally, Johnny discusses his experience with shrimp farming in Central America and his decision to avoid eating shrimp unless it comes from an ocean trawler. He then shifts focus to chicken, highlighting its popularity in Latin America, especially among the lower and middle classes. Johnny explains how many families raise their own chickens, which he calls 'driveway chickens,' and praises them for being natural, hormone-free, and healthy. However, he also notes the challenges of keeping chickens, such as the noise from roosters and the mess they create. He suggests alternatives for expats who want to eat natural chicken, like buying directly from local farmers or avoiding mass-produced chicken brands like Tyson, which he claims use arsenic in their feed to increase weight gain. He concludes by emphasizing the benefits of driveway chickens over factory-farmed chicken.
Topics
Media coverage of Latin America, Expat experiences in Latin America, Strikes and protests in Latin America, Misconceptions about Latin America, Historical context of wars and revolutions, Landmine safety, Argentina's economic crisis, Hyperinflation and its impact on purchasing power, Riots and civil unrest in Argentina, Water pollution in Nicaragua, Sanitation infrastructure and poverty, Environmental cleanup efforts
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:01:10 The Lack of Comprehensive News Coverage from First-World Media 00:02:38 The Importance of Alternative Media for Expats 00:05:42 The Fear of Civil Unrest and Landmines in Latin America 00:06:18 The Reality of Landmine Safety in Latin America 00:10:56 The Chaos of the Cordoba Strike and Looting 00:11:16 Argentina's Economic Crisis and Riots 00:12:24 The Impact of Hyperinflation on Purchasing Power 00:12:48 Argentina's Decline and Civil Unrest 00:13:07 Water Pollution in Nicaragua 00:14:21 Pollution and Sanitation in Nicaragua 00:14:51 Cleanup Efforts and Funding Sources 00:17:13 The Dangers of Undersized Septic Systems 00:17:59 Improved Regulations for New Houses 00:18:38 Pollution and Health Risks from Lakes 00:19:52 Avoiding Contaminated Seafood 00:21:15 Finding Fresh Seafood from the Ocean 00:22:12 Chilean Sea Bass and Shrimp Farming Issues 00:22:40 Shrimp Farming and Chicken Consumption in Latin America 00:22:59 Chicken as the Dominant Meat Dish in Latin America 00:26:21 Arsenic Use in Chicken Feed and Its Health Implications
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America the show that tells you just what it's like to live Work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Now I don't know how much news you get up in the first world concerning South America and Central America I do know you get all the crime and cartel stuff coming out of Mexico because well It's on your border and of course you hear about tsunamis and volcanoes and natural disasters like that
[00:46] Everybody wants to read about a good tragedy as long as it's not in our neighborhood, right? But do you really get any good day-to-day information? Coming from first world news sources about the regular news coming out of Latin America And I know you can hardly expect any great shakes from first world news sources. In fact, they suck That's why you're listening to alternative radio, right? Now. I've been told by a correspondent from CNN Latin America Yeah, they have that channel down here, too Anyway, he told me that he figures that less than 1% of Latin American news ever gets reported by a first world news source he says the only thing first world news picks up our elections natural disasters narco stuff naturally and Revolutions and coup d'etat and the occasional high-profile murder, but only when there's an American caught in the crossfire
[01:32] That's what you get in that less than 1% of Latin news up there in the first world Even though down here there's 20 countries and over a half a billion people and it figures because people up in the first world Don't give a rip about Latin America Unless of course you're an illegal living in Miami or Cleveland or a Latino American citizen Who 98% of the time had parents or grandparents that came in illegally. That means you have very close relatives living in Latin America So naturally you're interested in every little bit of news you can pick up from the homeland Which is why in big US cities populated by many Latinos like Miami, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and LA if you've been there You've probably noticed Latins have their own Spanish language newspapers and Spanish-speaking cable TV So Latin media outlets like that up in the first world are actually a cut above the newspapers and TV you can get down here
[02:22] In Latin America though. It's about two cuts below Mainstream first world media, which we all know sucks But that's the state of mainstream media and again the reason why you're listening to shows like this But I digress as usual now the point I'm trying to make here is that when you're up in the first world You're missing a lot of good news coming from Latin America news that could have a big impact on you if you're thinking about moving down here Unfortunately so much of the interesting news stuff coming out of Latin America You can only get in the big city newspapers down here and it's in Spanish So that's a double whammy for anyone up in the first world interested in keeping up the speed with some of this stuff For example, you know lately I've been talking about Argentina and how it's cracking at the seams and how Doug Casey and his megabucks buddies have created kind of an island
[03:07] Gringolandia up in the Argentine boonies. It's kind of a compound for rich libertarian investor folks By the way, nothing against that since I'm a libertarian myself though Not a megabucks one like Doug Casey and his crowd Anyway, his little upscale enclave is far far away from the nearest big city ours by car Which he and his buddies claim puts a big buffer between what they're trying to do and the country that they're in That's virtually falling apart and just how bad it's falling apart I've been mentioning from time to time on previous shows and up to this week Anyway, there have been some strikes and popular protests, which are called by the way by two names down here well guys or Manifestation is and that second word manifestation is looks almost exactly like the word
[03:54] manifestation in English which is logical enough a manifestation right and speaking of well guys and manifestation is here's something that every Gringoan expat finds kind of odd If not funny when driving down one of the major highways in a big city now Just like up in the first world big city Latin American transit departments are putting up big electric signs and flat-screen billboards that tell you in real time when you're driving if there's an accident or road construction up ahead so you can take an Alternative route and oftentimes those big electric billboard signs will actually tell you what alternate route to take so what's odd and funny about that well every so often a gringo or expat will be driving down the road and The electric billboard will give you an alternative route to take because guess what they're announcing that there's a well guy or
[04:43] manifestation down the road a piece Be the teachers a bus drivers or city workers strike or whatever and the billboards just giving you advanced warning now This kind of stuff happens so often in Latin America I'm talking about those strikes those well guys and manifestation is that Latin's don't even flinch when they see one in fact It doesn't even rate a mention and by the way the people participating in those strikes and stuff never get what they ask for It's almost always completely futile and as you might guess it's always government workers who go on strike The private sector just doesn't have time for that crap anyway Latin's driving cars are Unaffected by the news that there's a strike or a huaga They just stick with the bottleneck or take the alternative route But gringos and expats once they learn their Spanish that is when they're first able to figure out what's being announced on the big
[05:31] Overhead electric billboards that is at that very second There's a big-time strike or a protest going on in the business district or in front of the courthouse or in a big shopping area That's when green gringos and new expats get all panicky Thinking the clock is ticking for some kind of civil unrest or even a revolution Since us gringos when we were growing up in the first world Some of the only news that came out of Latin America that we heard of was all the wars and revolutions and coups that were Going on down here practically on a weekly basis I know that's the impression I had of Latin America when I was taking my high school social studies the picture I teacher gave us of Latin America was that it was a war zone not to mention I remember one of my world history teachers saying that there are more unexploded landmines in Latin America than any other place in the world
[06:18] Which is something that tends to change your summer vacation plans Especially if you're a hiker or are into outdoorsy activities, you know That's why back in the 70s and 80s so many of us took our backpacking summer vacations in Europe instead of Latin America We figured slogging through Europe would be a lot less hazardous to our extremities not to mention our balls And by the way, just one thing about those landmines detonated or otherwise whatever you've heard on the news or read about Here's what it's really like now Nearly 25 years ago when I first came down here when you got off the main paved roads and way out in the boonies things Tended to be a bit ragged and I would say the occasional guy on crutches with a pegged leg or a stump and the occasional One-armed guy and I knew back then these guys were casualties of war
[07:05] It was obvious, but in the last five or ten years, you just don't see guys like that anymore In fact, it's been a generation or two now since there's been any armed revolutions or civil wars So like I said, you just don't see one armed and one like guys walking around these days There's not a single reminder that there ever was a war or a revolution in any of these countries Except for the fact that in Nicaraguan politics, you've got that famous ex-sandonista gorilla for president Daniel Ortega And even so these days that name only rings a bell with above average educated first world people over 50 Even down here in Latin America high school and college kids know nothing about his past to them He's just another corrupt politician who has looted his country for himself his family and his friends. What else is new, huh?
[07:51] So like I said before as far as seeing guys on the street lacking appendages You rarely see them these days except on very infrequent occasions at busy street corners Will you see a guy like that begging for money? But there a guy like that's got his begging work cut out for him since he's competing with jugglers and clowns and 14 year old girls with babies, but that's a subject for another show and I will get to it Anyway, there are folks without appendages every country's got people in that sad condition But these days in Latin America no more than what you'd expect anyway from the odd birth defect or car accident You know what I mean and about lost and forgotten landmines scattered around throughout Latin America You can forget about that too In fact the last time I saw a news report on Latin TV
[08:37] About such a mind like that going off if I remember in a cow pasture That was around 10 years ago That stuff is duly and quickly reported here in the press always exciting news. In fact a year or two ago I remember I was in Salvador and the big news for the afternoon was that a kid discovered a couple of live hang grenades In his dad's garage now. I have to admit I've only seen five or six reports like that in the whole 20 something years I've been down here And you know I talked to and meet people all the time and I've never met anyone who actually had a story about a hand grenade Or a landmine himself and believe me if you had a story like that in the family that'd be the one you'd want to tell The fact is even if you're a backpack and hiker and you like to go way way off the beaten path You've got about as much chance of stumbling onto a landmine in Latin America as you would if you were stomping around
[09:26] Normandy France after all during World War two more than a million landmines were planted there So anyway, I hope that helps you cross landmines and hang grenades off your fear factor list look at it this way You've got a better chance of winning the lottery or being killed by a falling coconut. I'm not kidding 200 people a year die from being clobbered by a falling coconut look it up Now I was talking about strikes and manifestations right like I said those kind of things happen all the time down here So if you do much driving in the big city You're liable to encounter one of those every once in a while Almost always hosted by lazy ass government deadbeat employees and of course they always strike looking to get more money What else and note 99% of the times these strikes and demonstrations are very peaceful
[10:14] All they really want to do is screw up traffic Which they're good at and since I started this conversation by talking about Argentina and how it's falling apart You can imagine how many demonstrations and strikes are going on in all the big cities down there and up to now They've been pretty peaceful up till now well it turns out that just this week in one of the bigger cities of about a million and a half people a city called Cordoba the entire police force of 6,000 went on strike asking for what they always ask for more money and then as a chain effect to that huge strike All the buses went on strike and the taxi drivers, too And as soon as that news broke on Tuesday Pandemonium broke out in the streets and looters started appearing everywhere going primarily for mom-and-pop supermarkets and small stores
[11:04] Including clothing stores sporting goods outlets toy stores bike shops and branches of cell phone companies With the local media reporting on the news that the city of a million and a half people was virtually paralyzed And all through the next day Wednesday businesses remain closed including all banks talk about a bank holiday, huh? Then late Wednesday on the news business spokesmen were telling the local media that there was Immeasurable theft going on and that the authorities have lost count of the number of people affected all this on the news set to a video Background of residents smashing windows with sticks and stones and armed gangs of youths on bikes including women smashing and looting stores while Incapacitating the traffic now. Here's the catch by Wednesday night the cops got their raise a massive
[11:53] 52% raise which you have to admit is an unheard-of increase in salary for anyone And the question is where is the city gonna get the money? Remember? We're talking 6,000 cops here. Well, it turns out that's not the question to ask at all in this case the reason why the cops got such a huge unprecedented raise and by the way They actually asked for double that but settled for 52% Anyway, I don't know if you know this or not But Argentina is running a 35 to 50 percent a year Inflation rate as it is, which means that 52 percent increase in salary only brings those cops back to the purchasing power They had with their salary a year or so ago In other words in the last year or so the cops and everyone in Argentina has lost
[12:40] 35 to 50 percent of their earning power. It's the same thing by the way that's happening in Venezuela right now But you knew that right now the point I want to make here is that Argentina long considered the most educated and civil of all the 20 Latin American countries is Falling apart at the seams. Not only do they have massive inflation, but they've got riots looting an uncontrollable civil unrest Enough said about that while I'm talking about late-breaking news Let me throw this one at you just reading a little article in Spanish here from the biggest Nicaraguan newspaper Are heavily polluted and no one should drink the water However, since Nicaragua is quite poor over 50% of the population drinks that water on a daily basis
[13:28] They've got no other choice because they just can't afford to buy bottled water at 50 cents a pop for a 500 milliliter bottle Or even $2 a pop to get a five gallon plastic jug called that got a phone That's got a phone Refilled by a company that supplies pure drinking water which by the way as Every astute expat in gringo knows is not pure either these so-called pure water companies down here Basically supply water that just looks better in the bottle meaning It's not murky and cloudy like municipal tap water making it just a little better and slightly more pure than the polluted stuff in the lakes Rivers and streams meaning you should never really trust so-called pure bottled water either Anyway, this Nicaraguan newspaper article that speaks to the water conditions
[14:15] There has been all over the news lately to announce a cleanup plan for all of the totally polluted lakes and rivers what the government and so-called eco-friendly businesses are trying to do is to try to educate the public who have habitually thrown everything and anything into the lakes rivers and streams including all household liquid and solid waste as well as Toilet effluent. Hmm. That'll give you second thoughts about owning a beach house in Nicaragua great views But where's that stink coming from? Anyway, you have to admire the fact that someone is trying to start up a cleanup and education campaign there And it turns out more than 75% of the money is coming from guess where? First world environmental cleanup groups. Oh, and by the way regarding Lake Nicaragua
[15:02] There's a figure here in this article It says during the last year through private government and first world cleanup efforts The lake has been continuously dragged and dredged and so far just this year with limited effort. They pulled out 45,000 metric tons of garbage and solid waste at that rate a Spokesman for one of the cleanup group says they could have the lake cleaned up in about 10 years Provided the population around the lake quit using it as their personal toilet In other words, you just have to beam everyone living around that lake to another planet or train them in a hurry to be good clean sanitary and ecologically sound citizens now I say fat chance and I also say don't eat anything out of that lake Noting here in the article that at least 60% of Nicaraguan households run their sewage directly into lakes or streams
[15:54] And of course, these are the poorest of folks who cannot afford septic systems that are now required with all new housing projects and by the way down here local builders and contractors can build a pretty good septic system with all the feeders and fingers a Nice big one out of cement block and concrete underground and far away from the house Of course for around four or five hundred bucks now I know what you're thinking up in the first row You're talking about four or five thousand bucks for pretty much the equivalent thing That's even if you can get permission to do a traditional septic system Since up in the first world for a lot of new construction, especially out in the boonies where there is no city sewer hookup They're forcing everyone to put in a sewage holding tank Not a septic system that feeds the effluent into the soil up in the states. Those are rarely allowed anymore
[16:40] So without city sewer you're stuck with a holding tank, which has to be pumped every so often Which is a pretty disgusting proposition and down here You just don't see sewage holding tanks like that You see septic units that last practically forever That is if your contractor or workmen don't take shortcuts when constructing one because after all it's underground and what you can't see Well, you know the old story and down here in Latin America, you know, they're into cutting corners That's why you always have to keep your eye on these guys when they're building things like that Not that they're out to rip you off They're out to actually save you money and they think it's a good thing if for example They undersize your septic system and save you a hundred bucks Not good and by the way, you might wonder who's inspecting these things after they're built because they are custom built
[17:26] You know, you just don't order one up and have it delivered The workers build those things block by block hand mixing the cement a level brick course at a time So who's checking their work to see if it's done to code? Well, as you might imagine nobody and I mean nobody not a single government official or inspector is gonna come out and look at that Thing that's why you have to keep your eye on these guys. The fact is you don't want them to save you a hundred bucks On the septic system. That's one item if anything that should be oversized not under built So down here, it's always buyer beware, but you knew that already, right? So at least in the last 10 or so years it's been much better When you hand in your building plans to the local public ministry, you'll have to have an adequately sized septic system on the plans Well, that's good news if you've got a new house
[18:12] But what about the other 60% of that Latin population who can't even afford a half-ass undersized septic system? And for that matter more than half of the population is so under educated They think that a sewage system like that is overkill since the rivers and lakes are right there for the dumping Besides for the locals a decent septic system is just too expensive even at four or five hundred bucks That works out to two or three months pay So the bottom line is if you plan on living on or near a lake in Latin America workers can dredge those lakes 24-7 till their hearts content while 60% of the residents around the lake as well as about 80% of the businesses run their sewage directly into it So that means you along with your upscale neighbors living on your nicely landscaped part of the lake
[19:00] You can all be good green ecological citizens While all the local poor and lower middle-class folks dump and pollute in their part of the lake And I don't have to tell you that sewage is an equal opportunity spoiler Oh, and by the way all the locals eat the fish and marine life that live in that lake And it'll be on the menu at all the local restaurants, too And I mean all the restaurants low-class and upscale to even if you bring up the fact that the fish might be Contaminated which they are and you've got proof like a news article or a chemistry port You mentioned something like that the locals even the restaurant owners will think you're nuts since the fish look fine They don't have three eyes and two heads The fact is the seafood from rivers and lakes is a big part of the local diet and always has been yes
[19:46] Surprisingly enough fish from those lakes look absolutely fine, and they taste just fine, too But smart gringos and expats know they shouldn't eat anything from any lake or stream in Latin America That is unless you're fishing high up in a mountain stream where you're not downstream from any human habitat That's about the only exception in land But note that seafood coming in daily from trawlers and fishing boats miles out in the ocean can be just fine The big thing you have to worry about there is contamination by Fukushima now We already know there's some seafood contamination by Fukushima up in the northern Pacific areas like around, California But for now the jury's out on whether Fukushima's affected fish in the South Pacific Meaning the Central and South American Pacific Coastal Line will keep an eye out for news on that now as for my take on it
[20:35] I have a sneaking suspicion that no government or agencies even thought of pulling out a Geiger counter and checking the fish down here Soon enough we'll see now. I know I'm gonna get some grief for saying that but personally I'm a big seafood eater And I only eat seafood if it comes from the ocean and never that farmed seafood either Though there are plenty of those disgusting fish and shrimp farms down here It's a growing industry, and I'll get to that in a second now as far as natural fish from the ocean And I don't mean farmed fish who live in putrid swimming pools swimming in breathing and eating their own poop not to mention soaking 24-7 in antibiotics and growth hormones Yep, there's a lot of that going on But thankfully you can keep that stuff off the menu down here if you live anywhere near the coast there are fresh fish markets
[21:21] Everywhere and better yet every medium large and small coastal town has a fishing port and dock called a Moye Moye that's where the boats come in every day loaded with seafood There's no fresher fish than that not to mention they'll fillet it for you right there and normally you'll pay no more than two or three Bucks a pound for it unless of course you live way inland then it'll generally come in frozen at double that price Still it's easy to find out if your seafood comes from the ocean or from an inland lake or stream Oh, and by the way You should always buy seafood fresh and never boxed or packaged from places like Walmart or Costco since they get most of their seafood crap from unsanitary fish farms and places like China and Indonesia And I know you've been cautioned about food that comes from there
[22:07] Oh, and by the way, Chile happens to be one of the biggest sea bass exporters in the world in fact It's one of their top 10 export products, and I'm warning you right now. You should never eat any of that stuff I've seen those fish farms personally, and they're nothing but heavily overcrowded swimming pools with these poor fish living Elbow to eyehole in a stinky soup of hormones chemicals and their own poop And that's the good news Compared to the shrimp farming business down here the Chilean sea bass have won the lottery the fact is I don't even want to tell You what I saw on my trip down to the shrimp farms on the Central American Pacific Coast only to say I'll never eat shrimp Unless it's coming into port from an ocean trawler now since we're talking about food Let's talk about chicken since throughout Latin America
[22:55] Chicken is by far the biggest meat dish now I've mentioned before in a past show that maybe 60% of Latin America the poor and the lower middle classes Have their own chickens clucking around the yard I call them driveway chickens and of course they're really the best chickens of all because they're not cooped up they get no hormones And well, they're just totally happy running around all day eating insects and anything else that moves Which is just the way it should be nice and natural like however if you and I and other gringles and expats wanted chickens like that You can have a couple of your own in your yard Which can be a pain in the ass especially if you like to sleep since you'll need a rooster and he'll wake you up at four Of five every morning one by the way if you're living in Latin America the only place you can really get away from the sound of roosters
[23:41] Crowing at three four and five in the morning is if you live in a big city Residential tower and even in the occasional cock will crow but to have your own chickens You'll need a rooster and unless you like barnyard sounds 24-7 or are the really laid-back type It won't be long before you want to take that rooster out to the chopping block believe me in fact I can't tell you how many expats and gringles I've spoken to who want to slip down the street some night and kill someone else's Noisy rooster because you see you can live in the nicest guarded high-browed neighborhood and still a couple of blocks away they'll be roosters after all where do you think you're cleaning lady and gardener live a Couple of blocks from your development because like I've said in past shows the zoning laws are quite different down here In fact, you might say there are no zoning laws in most cases developers buy a piece of land and make their own zoning
[24:32] Meanwhile right next door anything goes so anyway Like I said, you can have your own driveway chickens And I don't because all that clucking and dodging around your car not to mention the constant stream of natural fertilizer It's just a little too much for me So then what are the alternatives if you like eating chicken that grew up naturally like a driveway chicken? Unadulterated by growth hormones fateners antibiotics and the usual first-world alphabet soup of chemicals well for one thing You can make friends with one of the nearby ladies that has her share of driveway chickens and buy them directly from her However, that doesn't last long because the average lower middle class family with a small plot of land might only have four or five or six chickens enough for their family But not yours too now one thing you can do is put the word out in the neighborhood through your cleaning lady and gardener
[25:23] Then the talk will get around and you'll have a nice supply of driveway chickens certainly from a number of sources But they will be nice fresh healthy Unadulterated driveway chickens and nope you won't have to pluck them yourself unless you're so inclined now Of course being from the first world you know about Tyson chicken, right? It's one of the number one chicken producers in the world and unfortunately They're here in Latin America, too In fact these days they're in some of the biggest Latin American Supermarket chains and of course middle-class Latin families that don't have driveway chickens Buy those Tyson chickens and chicken parts up like crazy now I don't know the logistics or the shipping time of a chicken that gets killed in a Tyson farm in the States and How long it takes to actually get down here in Latin America to Costco Walmart or any of the other big chains?
[26:13] Frozen of course whether it's days weeks months or years It's anybody's guess but here's what you didn't know up north in the states Tyson chicken puts a very small amount of arsenic in their feed. Yep. You heard me arsenic Go ahead and do a search and you'll see that I'm right In fact, it's not just Tyson all the big first world chicken producers have been putting arsenic in their feed yum Which gives them about a six percent more weight gain Simply due to the fact that arsenic irritates the cells in a chicken and then they bloat by about six percent Of course, it's not good for them and it's a sad way to get him to put on more weight Naturally, it's all about the bottom line because chickens are sold by the pound and that six percent weight gain is not meat
[27:00] It's water weight due to the reaction of the tissue to a chemical insult and in the first world We're eating millions of pounds of that stuff a year. So what it means is that when you eat chicken It's not leaner and better than red meat at all Meaning it's a popular myth if you eat chicken, you're gonna lose weight remember when you eat chicken the arsenic is going into you getting Assimilated into your tissues and your cells reacting the same way to the arsenic as the chicken cells. You're gonna gain weight Bottom line. You gotta love those driveway chickens You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com and don't forget to check out expat wisdom comm to sign up for your free
[27:51] Reports on Latin America. See you next time. No spamos