One more reason to go vegetarian - it turns out that blowing pigs brains out with compressed air guns may not be bad just for the pigs, but for the people behind the guns as well.

Apparently some slaughterhouse workers at Quality Pork Processors in Minnesota have been experiencing numbness, tingling, and other symptoms, and neurologists believe it may have something to do with being exposed to "inhaled airborne brain matter." It's thought that the workers may have been are exposed to a pig-brain aerosol as they use air guns to remove the grey matter from pig heads. However, at present no specific cause has been confirmed.

While the working processes have now been changed and there's no known risk to the pig-brain-eating public, the revelation raises some disquieting questions. If there is something in the pigs that can cause neurological disease, shouldn't we get to the bottom of that pretty quickly? If it were transmissable through the food chain to the general public, would we even know? Maybe I'll cut back on the Christmas ham this season.