The Gary Null Blog

Observation is Perception

 For years the wealthy in northern Europe ate off pewter plates, which have a very high lead content.  Tomatoes are very acidic and when placed in contact with the pewter they leached out the lead.  When eaten, the tomatoes then produced lead poisoning.  Lead poisoning manifests itself in many ways from headaches to delirium to death.  Based upon perception tomatoes were considered poisonous in those regions for several hundred years by society and the medical community until the 19th Century when a merchant publicly ate a bushel of tomatoes to prove they were harmless without ill effects.