if you think YOUR job stinks...
Posted: Sep 25th 2003, 6:54 pm
From a list of the worst jobs in science:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/ar ... -1,00.html
1. FLATUS ODOR JUDGE
Odor judges are com-mon in the research labs of mouthwash companies,
where the halitosis-inflicted blow great gusts of breath in their
faces to test product efficacy. But Minneapolis gastroenterologist
Michael Levitt recently took the job to another level-or, rather, to
the other end. Levitt paid two brave souls to indulge repeatedly in
the odors of other people's farts. (Levitt refuses to divulge the
remuneration, but it would seem safe to characterize it thusly: Not
enough.) Sixteen healthy subjects volunteered to eat pinto beans and
insert small plastic collection tubes into their anuses (worst-job
runners-up, to be sure). After each "episode of flatulence," Levitt
syringed the gas into a discrete container, rigorously maintaining
fart integrity. The odor judges then sat down with at least 100
samples, opened the caps one at a time, and inhaled robustly. As
their faces writhed in agony, they rated just how noxious the smell
was. The samples were also chemically analyzed, and-eureka!-Levitt
determined definitively the most malodorous component of the human
flatus: hydrogen sulfide.
Levitt defends his work against the reflexively dismissive by noting
that doctors have never studied flatulence and that smell is a
potentially critical medical symptom: "The odors of feces and
intestinal gas and breath could all be important markers of
gastrointestinal health," he says. Hydrogen sulfide, for instance, is
an extremely toxic gas to mammals, potentially playing a role in
ulcerative colitis, among other diseases. And so Levitt has dedicated
his career to the study of the myriad fragrances produced by the
human gut and imprudently ignored by the medical establishment.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/ar ... -1,00.html
1. FLATUS ODOR JUDGE
Odor judges are com-mon in the research labs of mouthwash companies,
where the halitosis-inflicted blow great gusts of breath in their
faces to test product efficacy. But Minneapolis gastroenterologist
Michael Levitt recently took the job to another level-or, rather, to
the other end. Levitt paid two brave souls to indulge repeatedly in
the odors of other people's farts. (Levitt refuses to divulge the
remuneration, but it would seem safe to characterize it thusly: Not
enough.) Sixteen healthy subjects volunteered to eat pinto beans and
insert small plastic collection tubes into their anuses (worst-job
runners-up, to be sure). After each "episode of flatulence," Levitt
syringed the gas into a discrete container, rigorously maintaining
fart integrity. The odor judges then sat down with at least 100
samples, opened the caps one at a time, and inhaled robustly. As
their faces writhed in agony, they rated just how noxious the smell
was. The samples were also chemically analyzed, and-eureka!-Levitt
determined definitively the most malodorous component of the human
flatus: hydrogen sulfide.
Levitt defends his work against the reflexively dismissive by noting
that doctors have never studied flatulence and that smell is a
potentially critical medical symptom: "The odors of feces and
intestinal gas and breath could all be important markers of
gastrointestinal health," he says. Hydrogen sulfide, for instance, is
an extremely toxic gas to mammals, potentially playing a role in
ulcerative colitis, among other diseases. And so Levitt has dedicated
his career to the study of the myriad fragrances produced by the
human gut and imprudently ignored by the medical establishment.
