Review: Monsters Inside Me

My mom has been watching a lot of Animal Planet lately and has developed a serious/unhealthy fixation on a show called Monsters Inside Me. In fact, just through our conversations of late I've learned all I care to know about parasites that may infect humans. Since I'd already heard so much about the show I thought I'd give it a shot. Laura and I watched an episode that included sushi parasites, pork tapeworms in brains and river blindness.

My mom told me "70 percent of all sushi has parasites in it" she really meant "70 percent of wild fish have a certain parasite that can be killed by freezing or cooking properly." Now, I'm not sure if this is true but I think a lot of sushi-grade fish is actually frozen, per FDA rules, before it is served. I saw a figure somewhere that said between 50 and 60 percent of all sushi-grade fish is actually frozen before use. Therefore, while 70% is a sensational number, the actual risk of ingesting a parasite with your sashimi is probably pretty low.

Ok, now that we've gotten my personal parasite risk out of the way I'll actually talk about the show.

Wow. This show is sensational. It's kind of like watching a train wreck. I know it's soooo wrong, but yet I can't take my eyes off it. It's got the perfect mix of CSI style close up computer animations of gross things, like a parasite chewing through someone's intestinal wall, and X-Files music.
The website is full of "Oh My God It's Gonna Kill Us All" type articles and lots and lots of exclamation points and fear inducing terms.
I even got to "adopt" my own drooling, sharp toothed, monster-ific pork tapeworm.Normally I love popular science stuff. I care about science education after all, but I the fear-mongering and scare tactics employed by this show are a bit too over the top. Being informed is great, being scared out of your wits is not great.

That being said, the website is pretty fun and worth a cruise, just take it with a grain of salt.