People, it turns out, are very poor judges of risk.

Each year in the US about 43,000 people die in car accidents, around 21,000 people die from alcohol poisoning, and about 20,000 are killed by falling. Around 800,000 die of heart disease and 500,000 die of cancer. Each year.

The latest in the great tomato scare? 150 people threw up a bit.

Given that, why are tomato farmers nearly out of business when 150 people lose their lunches? Given the huge amount of raw tomatoes consumed nation-wide, 150 people upchucking is a terribly minor risk. You probably have a greater risk of choking on the tomato than by contracting a fatal case of salmonella.

You just know the people worried about tomato-borne illnesses the same people who run red left-turn signals on their way to McDonald's to order their BigMac without tomatoes thank you very much.