Who needs medical expertise when you can use stills from Ridley Scott’s Hollywood blockbuster ‘Alien’?
That was senator John Kennedy’s questionable logic when he showed off a photograph of the monstrous-looking creature with knife-sharp tusks and warned that Americans could ‘look like this’ if they eat raw frozen shrimp shipped from abroad.
His performance comes after recalls of frozen seafood that is feared to be radioactive.
Kennedy, of Louisiana addressed lawmakers inside the US Capitol: ‘This is a photograph of the alien from the movie “Alien.”
‘This is what you could end up looking like if you eat the raw frozen shrimp being sent to the United States by other countries.
‘In late August, the FDA found that raw frozen shrimp from Indonesia was being sold in Walmart… in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia…
‘How could you end up looking like the alien in the “Alien”?
‘Because the shrimp was radioactive. I kid you not… It will kill you even if it does not turn you into the alien. If you eat this, I guarantee you that you will grow an extra ear.’
The Republican added: ‘How could this happen in today’s America? This is unconscionable… It is not being suspected.’
He warned that shrimp is not being inspected – as it is supposed to be – by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a US government agency tasked with ensuring the safety and quality of seafood entering the country.
The US Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, first announced the recall on August 20, and to date three companies have pulled out the product.
It confirmed that one sample of breaded shrimp tested positive for a radioactive material, but this positive sample ‘did not enter US commerce’.
The material was revealed to be Caesium-137, the radioactive form of the periodic element Caesium.
Shoppers in 13 US states where the products are sold have been advised to throw any recently bought products among three batches.
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