acroyear | uh, i'll take "food bourne illnesses" for $400, Alex

Aetiology: Martha, Martha, Martha...:

The Today show had a cooking segment with Martha Stewart on BBQ'ing great hamburgers. So Martha put a burger on the grill, and the anchor asked her, "how long do you cook that for?"

Martha's reply? "For a rare burger, about 3 minutes on a side."

Ground beef. Martha Stewart, cooking icon, telling viewers that they can cook it rare. No mention of using a food thermometer to be sure that the internal temperature is up to 160 degrees F in order to kill any contaminating bacteria. No mention that eating such a burger rare increases one's risk of developing a food-borne illness. Nothing.

This is why public health officials bang their heads against the wall. Who has more influence--your local public health department, already understaffed and underfunded, trying to get the word out about safely BBQ'ing this summer, or Martha Stewart with 5 minutes on the Today show, telling everyone how to cook a rare hamburger?

yeah, its a busy day for me, can't you tell?

UPDATE to clarify MY position which is also likely Tara's:

if the average person could be told that "its ok if you're careful", they'll do it without being careful. and then they'll sue the person who says "its ok if you're careful".

if "normal" people would, like myself and most on my f-list, take personal responsibility, that would be one thing, but as long as the vast masses of Martha Stewart fans think she's a goddess who can say no wrong (rather than a convicted felon), people are going to get sick following her advice that she just preached on national tv to an audience of about 25 million.