Luke Redman
Mr.Ippolito
AP Biology
Current Event #22
Chokshi, Niraj. “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/us/e-coli-romaine-lettuce.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront.
This week, I read Niraj Chokshi’s article for the New York Times, “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” Recently, there was an outbreak of escherichia coli (E. Coli) from chopped Romaine lettuce from Yuma, Arizona. “The agency was first alerted to the outbreak by health officials in New Jersey, who had noticed an increase in E. coli cases in the state, said Dr. Laura Gieraltowski, an epidemiologist at the C.D.C. After some discussion, it became clear that many of those infected had eaten chopped romaine lettuce at restaurants before getting sick.” The disease has now spread to multiple restaurants in 16 different states and has now affected 53 people, with over half of them being admitted to hospitals. All restaurants have been advised to throw out lettuce from the area, even if they are not sure if it is Romaine.
This affects us all because most of us have eaten salad within the past couple of days, and there is a possibility that some of us could have been affected by E. Coli. The widespread outbreak affects the local communities where the victims are located, and also the victim’s families.
The overall article was very well written, the quotes from officials were woven in beautifully. Also the pace of the article went well with the topic, urgent but not panicked. The only thing i wish that the author included was the side effects of E. Coli, but that can be fixed with a very quick search. I look forward to reading more articles from this author.
Ellie Parson
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
April 26 2018
Current Event 23
Citations:
Chokshi, Niraj. “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/us/e-coli-romaine-lettuce.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront.
Redman, Luke. “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” Review of New York Times. New York Times.
Comment:
Luke Redman wrote an exceptional review of “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States” by Niraj Chokshi. Recently in multiple states in the US, E.coli has infected crops of lettuce and threatens those who eat lettuce from those areas. In his review, there were three aspects well done. One of those aspects can be found in the summary paragraph, where Redman includes a quote said by an epidemiologist about the issue at hand. This quote brings in a professional opinion to the readers so they can understand the problem better. Another aspect well done is also is the summary paragraph. Here, Redman added quantitative data about how many restaurants and people have been affected by the epidemic. Readers can envision how widespread the issue is from this data. Lastly, Redman effectively connected the E.coli spread to society and how it has the potential to sicken really anyone who eats salad. People reading this review are now warned and informed to be cautious about where they obtain their lettuce. The risk of eating E.coli should never have to be a worry of someone who just wants to enjoy salad.
Even though this review had some aspects well done, there was room for improvement. For example, in the summary, a single quote took over 5 lines of space and as a result was one third of the entire summary paragraph. Taking an entire quote from an article, without even properly citing the quote according to MLA standards and leaving it untouched, appears lazy. Redman should have incorporated bits of the quote into his own sentences so it could at least be apparent why this particular quote was included in his summary over hundreds of others. Another area that could have been improved was the connection to society paragraph. This section of the review was only two sentences long, and appeared to be entirely too short to capture every way the E.coli spread could affect everyone. He did mention a few valid points, but there is more to be mentioned. To solve this issue, redman could have added a few more sentences focusing on how the E.coli epidemic could not only affect people, but also affect other people, such as the people who work at companies that sell lettuce.
This review was alarming to me. Even though I rarely eat salad, I do eat sandwiches with lettuce in them. It seems as if these types of problems, such as E.coli epidemics, are too easily avoidable for them to persist in the 21st century. I am surprised that farms exist in the United States where such an issue could emerge. Going forward, I will be more careful with what I eat, knowing that not everything is completely free of harmful bacteria.
Julia Pabafikos
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
April 28, 2018
Chokshi, Niraj. “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/us/e-coli-romaine-lettuce.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront.
Luke Redman did a great job reviewing his article “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” by Niraj Chokshi. I particularly enjoyed how Luke was able to formulate a concise review of his article which was able to state all the important points of this topic. Additionally I enjoyed that Luke mentions that the impact of this E. Coli outbreak has an effect on all of us due to the fact that we all have consumed some sort of lettuce and run the risk of becoming sick. Lastly, I enjoyed how Luke states “The disease has now spread to multiple restaurants in 16 different states and has now affected 53 people…” by adding this statistic, he is able to support his statement that this is something that ultimately affects society as a whole.
However, I do believe that Luke had two areas in his review in which he could improve upon. Primarily, I would recommend that he uses more useful quotes the agency that identified the outbreak or from the lettuce farmers in Arizona. Additionally, I would encourage Luke to further explain E. Coli, even though he states that it is not done in the original article. I believe that if he were to define what E. Coli is, what other foods often contain E. Coli and the side effects of E. Coli the review would have been more comprehensible.
Overall, Luke did a great job creating a well written review that illustrates the dangers that are caused by certain foods and the diseases that can be spread. I personally chose to read this article because of the title and the fact that I often eat food that contains lettuce and could ultimately affect my health. Therefore, moving forward I will have to be more careful as to what I should be eating.
Olivia Doyle
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
29 April 2018
Chokshi, Niraj. “E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Romaine Lettuce Expands to 16 States.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/us/e-coli-romaine-lettuce.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront.
This week, I read my classmate Luke’s article about the E. Coli outbreak tied to romaine lettuce. I chose this article because it is very pertinent to our lives today, and I am interested to learn more about the reasoning behind this outbreak. Luke did a good job of including quotes from the article to support his argument. Also, I liked how he described the author’s overall tone of the article, as it demonstrated his ability to analyze and understand writing. Lastly, Luke made his review easily readable for the reader by keeping it simple and concise.
Although Luke had a very well-written review, there are some areas which he could have improved on. For one, I think Luke good have provided a more detailed summary so that the reader could better understand the outbreak and its impacts. I was not informed of anything I did not already know. Secondly, I think Luke should have included more potential impacts in his second paragraph, as well as answered the question of how it affects local communities.
Overall, I found the article and Luke’s review very interesting. I am eager to see if this outbreak spreads more rapidly in the next few weeks, and if scientists are able to determine how the lettuce was infected.