Food and ozone layer
Every time Mr. D. Ripper sits down to tuck into his big breakfasts, his plate piled high with fried onions and baked beans, (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 27, 1994) he may spare a thought for the endangered ozone layer. Methane gas, produced in the guts of animals and humans as they digest their fodder, is a major greenhouse gas. Readers will remember that greenhouse gases are what concerned ecologists say destroy the protective ozone layer. Ozone protects us from dangerous solar rays that can cause skin cancer and blindness. Methane is a major culprit in this process. Major producers of methane gas in the human gut are baked beans and fried onions, cabbage also plays a solid role.
Certain parties take this threat very seriously. Linda McCartney (the rock star's wife), for example, has used her position of influence to ban the eating of beans (baked or otherwise) while Paul's band Wings is on tour. The band, together with the road crew, adds up to roughly thirty souls. Thirty hungry blokes, Mrs. McCartney reasoned, can produce a lot of dangerous methane. Hot dogs laced with fried onions have also had the chop because Linda's a vegetarian. Further, a source close to the McCartneys let a major British newspaper know that when in the UK the lads are also prevented from drinking real ale. This is because the residual yeast content from the fermentation process which is still present in real ale (beer) has a similar effect to that of baked beans and fried onions -- a phenomenon upon which my wife has frequently remarked.
In view of the above would it not be too much to ask that the Rippers, and millions like them, reconsider their diet? Just think of the good that would result if everyone ate less flatulent foods. Statisticians may have their work cut out in calculating the Ripper Brothers contribution to the hole on the ozone layer during the 1950's and 1960's whilst playing rugby for Chorley High School and Chorley Town. However, if we could get those figures then we would be a little further down the road to understanding the role that diet has played in damaging the ozone.
TRISHA CHONS
Jakarta