Hold the Arsenic

Currently, I work in the juice bar of a "healthy supermarket" called Planet Care.  I put raw vegetables into a very loud industrial strength grinding-things-up machine and their juicy innards flow out of a little drain pipe and into a cup waiting below.  I then serve this cup of juicy innards to a customer who hopes this elixir of life will be the solution to the problems they face - losing weight, remembering important daily details, having energy, having motivation, having the energy to have motivation, being motivated to have energy, living a long and fruitful (or veggie-full) life.  Not to knock it: vegetable juices can be entirely beneficial.  Just not when coupled with a muffin.

The other day, a woman came in and ordered one of our house specials and this is what she said, "I'll have a Red Sunset, light on the arsenic."  I write all orders down because I am often inundated with more orders than I can fill quickly and need to keep tabs on who ordered what first.  So I was writing down "Red Sunset" as the words "light on the arsenic" reverberated in my brain.  I finished writing and looked quizzically at my customer and asked, "Did you say 'light on arsenic'?"  The woman looked at me in earnest and said yes.

I stood there completely befuddled.

I've been obsessively thinking about the coal ash spill in the Dan River.  And arsenic is a component of coal ash.  So naturally, my thoughts were immediately directed there.  To Eden and the Dan River.

~~~

Arsenic? Coal ash.  Dan River.  Eden.  We're not in Eden.  Our water isn't arsenic-laden.  Yet.  Is it?  Oh God!  Is it?!  All those poor fish.  Mussels.  Turtles.  All the plants.  The birds.  The mammals.  The people!!!  All that coal ash.  How can we restore the river?  How? Still, she wants a juice.  What does a vegetable juice have to do with water, either arsenic-laden or regular?  What is she talking about?

~~~

Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal for the creation of electricity.  Surprisingly, it is "more radioactive" than the waste generated at nuclear power plants according to Scientific American.  Additionally, coal ash contains heavy metals such as arsenic,  and selenium, and cadmium, and mercury, and many others.  But primarily when one talks about the toxins in coal ash, arsenic is at the top of the list.  It is a highly toxic substance.  Carcinogenic even.  The EPA requires that there be no more than 10 parts per billion of arsenic in drinking waters.  And 10 parts per billion of arsenic in commercially produced apple juices, for that matter.  More on that in a moment.

The coal ash contamination of the Dan River occurred an a no longer functioning coal power plant owned by Duke Energy.  Duke Energy generates 70 percent of its electricity via coal.  It is the largest power holding company in the United States.  I get my electricity from Duke Energy.  Currently, I have no alternative energy source.  I am, therefore, responsible in part for the contamination of the Dan River.  And this realization drives me crazy.

I don't want to give Duke Energy my business.  I don't want to perpetuate a reliance on fuels that destroy the land, harm people and pollute the environment.  But I don't have a choice if I want to use my computer, cook my food, read by lamp light and stay warm in the winter months.

I launched an event via Facebook called Coal Ash Wednesdays in order to promote the reduction of energy consumption.  One day a week, anyone who cares to participate cuts their energy use back and from 7 pm til 7:30 pm EST, everyone shuts off the main breaker to their house.  This much is doable.  This much can help.  It's the only thing that makes sense in light of the senseless destruction of life and the local economy along the Dan River.

~~~

Dan River.  Coal ash.  Arsenic.  Juice.  Arsenic and juice.  Red Sunset.  Arsenic....oh!

The juice ordered by the woman wanting light arsenic is called Red Sunset.  Red Sunset contains carrots, beets, apples, parsley and ginger.  In contemplating these ingredients, I remembered a crucial element in solving the mystery of what this customer meant.

There is a misconception that apple seeds contain arsenic.  Apple seeds contain cyanide, an equally poisonous yet completely different compound.  In order for one to die from apple seed ingestion, one would have to pulverize and/or masticate the seeds to break the hard protective coating exposing the inner amygdalin.  One would need to consume a shit ton of these in this manner because the human body is able to detoxify small amounts of cyanide.

At any rate, I remove all the seeds from each apple before I run it through the pulverizing/masticating juice-making machine.

The customer may have been referring to the trace amounts of arsenic found in commercially packaged apple juice.  This is the result of naturally occurring arsenic in the soil and the use of pesticides and herbicides in orchards.  There is organic arsenic, which the human body can process, and inorganic arsenic, which it cannot.  In fact, the inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen.  Long term exposure  to it can result in especially nasty forms of cancer. But I, the Juicer Person, do not use commercially produced apple juice in the fresh juices.  I juice real live apples.

 ~~~

"Excuse me...but you said 'light on the arsenic...'?

"Yes."

"Do you mean light on the apple?"

"Yes."

"I see.  Alright then.  I was momentarily confused."

"I was wondering....it can't be that complicated."

No.  It's not complicated at all.