Over the weekend, senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) excoriated health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr in a letter over his “calamitous” response to the summer’s cyclosporiasis outbreak.
New cases of explosive diarrhea, triggered by a microscopic parasite that’s been found to infest pre-packaged lettuce, have only recently started slowing down — despite Kennedy Jr declaring that the situation was purportedly “under control” almost exactly a month ago. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest numbers, there are north of 24,000 lab-confirmed and suspected cases of cyclosporiasis spanning 47 US states.
As a result, Americans are ditching lettuce at record rates, forcing producers to and retailers into a crisis. Prices for the leafy vegetables plummeted by over 16 percent in July compared to June, as CNBC reports — the single largest one-month decline ever recorded, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It’s very likely due to the cyclospora outbreak and consumers just not wanting to buy lettuce right now,” University of Central Arkansas associate economics professor Jeremy Horpedahl told the channel.
