Mysterious Peruvian Meteor Disease Solved

Technician writes "The meteor that crashed in Peru caused a mystery illnesses. The cause of the illness has been found. The meteor was not toxic. The ground water it contacted contains arsenic. The resulting steam cloud is what caused the mystery illness. "The meteorite created the gases when the object's hot surface met an underground water supply tainted with arsenic, the scientists said." There is a very good photo of the impact crater in the article. The rim of the crater is lined with people for a size comparison."

Comments

Don't Believe it..

[lucabrasi999]

Bah! That's what they want you to believe. I prefer to believe my own complex conspiracy theory involving secret government projects, space aliens, and duct tape.

Re:Don't Believe it..

[morgan_greywolf]

Bah! That's what they want you to believe. I prefer to believe my own complex conspiracy theory involving secret government projects, space aliens, and duct tape. Mine involves those, plus a copy of Catcher in the Rye, several men known by three names, a few guys wearing all black, some black helicopters, Area 51, and a can of cheeze whiz.

I'm not sure what the cheese whiz is for.

And it would have gotten away with it too...

[pieaholicx]

If it weren't for those meddling scientists!

drat, a commonsense explanation

[jollyreaper]

I read on Pravda that the "meteor" was actually a downed US spy sat and it was done as a blue-on-blue false flag strike to be blamed on certain foreign powers as a prelude to starting a new war. The locals were suffering from radiation sickness from the plutonium core on the sat! And now you're saying there's a reasonable explanation? Feh. Pravda is my new Weekly World News, I just wish they'd pick up the Bat Boy features. I've been wondering what that little scamp is up to.

Re:Who are these scientists?

[Rob T Firefly]

I'll just bet the water it contacted was, upon further study, found to be wet.

Re:Who are these scientists?

[PlatyPaul]

Well, for what it's worth, some people were on the right track from the start. From the first BBC article:

A local journalist, Martine Hanlon, told the BBC experts [that he] did not believe the meteor would make anybody sick, but they did think a chemical reaction caused by its contact with the ground could release toxins such as sulphur and arsenic.

Re:How embarrassing!

[PlatyPaul]

Arsenic pollution doesn't have to be man-made, and groundwater-borne arsenic frequently isn't. Go check out the Wikipedia page on it, which is also summarized nicely here. The external links are particularly enlightening, and you can check up on all those shiny statistics.

Re:How embarrassing!

[ScentCone]

Sorry, folks, nothing to see here. We're just slobs and our place is a toxic shithole. Sorry about that. Just call us Newark south.

Yeah, those poor, uneducated Peruvians and their backwards, self-polluting, toxic-drinking-water ways. Imagine dumping your arsenic right there where you live. Well, you WILL have to imagine, because if you RTF, you'll note that the area has naturally occuring arsenic deposits. It's in the ground water, and it's always been in the ground water. Nice troll, though!

Re:far far away

[CptNerd]

Have we learned nothing from 1950's horror movies?

Or even 1970's science fiction?

If it's glowing, and just came from outer space, RUN. AWAY.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.