2254...New Disease: Popcorn Lung

I Love New York.

And the New York Post.

Agnes Mercado from Queens has filed a lawsuit after her 16-year popcorn habit left her with permanent lung damage. Miss Mercado [I am guessing with all those kernels stuck in her teeth she is a miss] devoured two to three bags of Act II Lite microwave popcorn a day between 1991 and September 2007. The popcorn was flavored with diacetyl, a compound that gives food a buttery taste.

It is a fact that workers who packaged the popcorn for manufacturer ConAgra Foods developed "popcorn lung," an airway obstruction that does not respond to medicine.

The food giant dumped diacetyl from its recipe in 2007.

Miss Mercado, just diagnosed last month, uses an oxygen tank and is "likely to require a lung transplant," the Queens Supreme Court suit against ConAgra says.

Of course no one forced the little darling to wolf down three bags of buttery popcorn.

WFDS