Myth Busted and the 411 on Farting

I recently heard that farting on someones pillow has the potential of giving them pink eye. When I first heard this, I didn’t believe it. Later I realized that this would be a perfect blog post. I asked all of my friends and they all said that they knew of this myth and they believed it. My research has proven to me that this is just a myth and I am here to tell you why.

First, what is pink eye? It is also called conjunctivitis and it is the “redness and swelling of the conjunctiva,” which is the clear lining of the eye. When irritation of infection happy, the lining becomes “red and swollen.” This is such a common condition that it disappears in 7-10 days without medical interference. It is usually caused by infections, dry eyes, chemicals or fumes, and allergies. It is also highly contagious. Symptoms include red eyes, eyelid swelling, itchy eyelids, excessive tearing, and thick, “whitish drainage.”conjunctivitis_a250px

Now that we know what pink eye is, can it actually be cause by farting on a pillow? Not really. This idea is an urban legend. Some people question whether or not gas from the body when someone farts can cause pink eye. However, most of the gas the is excreted from the body is methane, “and methane alone cannot cause pink eye.” The likelihood of getting pink eye from farting is very very slim. The conditions would have to be exactly as follows:

  1. Someone farts on a pillow “without anything between themselves and the pillowcase.”
  2. Enough bacteria would need to land on the pillow case to do any type of damage.
  3. Someone would then have to “lie down on the pillow immediately in order to get the bacteria on your skin.” However, this is highly unlikely because bacteria can not survive very in long in open air.

While this “‘perfect storm’ of flatulence” can occur, it is very unlikely. Therefore, farting on a pillow will not, in majority of the cases, cause pink eye.

Now that this myth is busted, I want to explore the world of flatulence a little more. Can farting cause some other type of infection, sickness, or disease? “The average human passes wind approximately 15 times a day” so I feel like the likelihood of such a common act causing a medical tragedy is quite low. Let’s just say that the internet has come pretty interesting stuff. I stumble on an article title “Study: Smelling farts may be good for your health.” Folks at the University of Exeter in England claim that “exposure to hydrogen sulfide– a.k.a. what your body produces as bacteria breaks down food, causing gas– could prevent mitochondria damage.” In other words, they are suggesting that “smelling farts could prevent disease and even cancer.” The study is being conducted in “several models of disease” with potentially promising results. However, Professor Matt Whiteman and Dr. Mark Wood, the leaders of the study, are now “advancing the research to a stage where it can be tested in humans.” The mechanism for this phenomenon is not known. I do think that that this research is beginning to have a snow ball affect. The research “experiment was limited to cell exposure in a lab.” This alone is not enough to conclude that AP39, the stinky fart, can actually do something.

Fart-Sound-Free-IconPeople are so quick to make assumptions in the early stages of research. I am fascinated by this question and this research but it is only preliminary. That is one of my criticisms of science. Or perhaps, how the media reports science. On Google, there were thousands of hits all on this “flatulence” topic. But the funny thing is that nearly all of the articles talked about the singular study conducted at the University of Exeter. One tiny, preliminary study alone cannot hold enough evidence to make an educated conclusion. Shoutout to Andrew for making me notice this.

So does farting cause pink eye? Nope. Can farting cure cancer? Eh, there is always the potential that it might be the cure but as of right now, it is way to early to tell and unlikely.

4 thoughts on “Myth Busted and the 411 on Farting

  1. David Tyler Bond

    this blog is really interesting. I always thought that this myth was true, but after reading this I now know otherwise. I also liked how you included more about “passing gas” and how it has weird benefits. It’s funny that smelling farts could possibly be beneficial to your health. If that was proven, I’m pretty sure that would be a very well liked method of getting healthier.

  2. Brooke Lytle

    After reading this, I was extremely curious on the whole idea that farting could even be thought of helping cure cancer. I decided to look more into it, and as soon as I googled the subject, I got extremely mixed results. The first link says yes, it could cure cancer, while the one right underneath it says no! The sources go back and forth like that for around 4/5 sources. I checked out the sources
    refuting the idea that it can help, and they went in to explain that you had to be sure to know that while AP39 can help get rid of negative symptoms, there is no proof that getting hydrogen sulfide (where you get AP39) from an outside source (like smelling farts!) can help. So maybe something in farts could help, but smelling them definitely doesn’t cure cancer.

  3. Anastasia Skold

    Usually I am disgusted by any topic that deals with the body. But your post was actually incredibly interesting! I personally have never heard that farting could cause pink eye, or even thought that that kind of topic existed. I really liked how after you concluded your myth, you went on and did even more research about your topic. There are hundreds of different topics that you could explore within this one. You could transfer over to animals and see what their farting is doing to the air or the environment they live in. Or you could see if animals don’t fart, and why.

  4. Katie Ann Farnan

    This was actually a really interesting article! My sister used to tell me this myth to scare me when we were younger so I will definitely have to pass this on. But I think it is also interesting that smelling farts may have the potential to cure cancer someday. I think more research on that subject should definitely be conduced. Great post!

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