We have all been told by our doctors and mothers to eat green leafy vegetables. Not anymore, media hysteria tells us that we should be wary of eating spinach and lettuce for fear of E Coli bacteria. This is the type of fear mongering story that the media loves. Something that theoretically has the potential to affect nearly everyone, but in reality the threat is about as large as the chance the Oakland Raiders will win the Super Bowl this year. While the media tries to create frenzy about the latest potential threat to you and your children, (they always make sure to mention your children as well) here are the types of things they don’t highlight. Regarding the Lettuce E Coli scare, here are some of the statements that the news quickly glosses over in favor of sensationalism: “the lettuce does not appear to have caused any illnesses.” “So far, investigators have not found any E Coli bacteria in the lettuce it self.” Admittedly the Spinach scare was more serious then the Lettuce scare. In the case of the Spinach scare, 200 people in the entire country got E Coli bacteria. Given the fact that we are about to hit 300 million people in the country, that means .000006 percent of the population was actually affected by the E Coli scare. Furthermore, nearly all of the E Coli cases were in the same part of the country. So let’s recap: there is pretty much a 0% chance that you will get E Coli from lettuce and a .000006% chance that you would have gotten E Coli from Spinach. Be afraid, be very afraid.