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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2005 
Indigenous Communities Shunning Eggs Over Rumor
 Wire services
| | While lawmakers said the move was a positive step for Mexico, they lamented that the United States has not adopted the treaty. |
San Juan Chamula, Chiapas - Indigenous communities in the southern state of Chiapas have stopped eating eggs, generally a major part of their diet, due to mass hysteria prompted by rumors that a supposedly malevolent "black worm" was found in a yolk.
Domingo López, mayor of San Juan Chamula, where the rumor started, said the story of a black worm discovered in a chicken egg is still causing trouble, and that most of the residents of 120 Indian communities have stopped eating the rich source of protein.
In the colonial city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, near San Juan Chamula, the principal egg sellers said the rumors have spread to several of the region's municipalities, prompting sales to drop 90 percent over the past week and a half.
López pointed out that the story of a worm known as "sucumo" showing up in an egg started rolling two weeks ago, and keeps going despite the efforts of municipal authorities.
"We have received false reports of deaths caused by egg consumption," López said.
"On Tuesday, we were told two little girls had died of it, but when we went to check it out, it was a lie," he said.
The rumor kicked off when a woman who practices alternative medicine purchased several products in town for use in her "cleansings" and healings, including several chicken eggs.
When her teenage son broke one open, it reportedly had a black worm inside it.
One of the stories circulating in the communities, according to a local councilman, refers to the rumored black larva growing into "a giant worm, two meters (six feet) long that lays 90 eggs a day, and that's what most scares people."
Mayor López said scientists at the School of the Southern Border, a highlevel education and research institution focusing on sustainable development, ruled out any possibility that such a rumor could be true, and are urging people not to stop eating eggs.
"People still don't want to eat eggs, but they haven't been telling us people are dying from eating them, as they did last week," the mayor said.
In response to the drop in egg sales, Belisario López Hernández, one of the top sellers in San Cristóbal de las Casas, said he had called on the governments of municipalities in Altos de Chiapas to conduct educational campaigns to squelch the rumor.
In addition, and as a result of the story, "several bakeries have closed because their sales have also dropped," he said. |
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