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<ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Although it's impossible to say exactly what would happen if all <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/insects">insects</a> on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/earth">Earth</a> suddenly vanished, it's likely that civilization and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ecosystem">ecosystems</a> would be in serious trouble. </strong></li><li><strong>Nitrogen-rich feces would potentially build up, choking plant life and preventing new growth. </strong></li><li><strong>Meanwhile, no dermestid beetles and other corpse-eaters would lead to fewer custodians available to clean dead bodies and recycle their nutrients back into the ecosystem. </strong></li><li><strong>Plus, the absence of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/mosquitoes">mosquitoes</a> and other insects would mean fewer food sources for bats, birds, and other animals up the food chain. </strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></strong></li></ul><p><em>Following is a transcript of the video.</em></p><p>Humans might have built civilizations, but insects own the world. After all, over half of all known species are insects. So if they all suddenly vanished, you'd notice. No more summers of singing cicadas and flickering fireflies. No bees to pollinate apple, cherry, peach, or almond trees. No one to make honey. A world without insects means a world with empty grocery-store shelves. But that would be just the beginning of our problems. Now, it's impossible to say exactly what would go down, but here's a worst-case scenario of what could happen if all the insects disappeared.</p><p>There are a few insects most people would be happy to see vanish. Like mosquitoes. They kill hundreds of thousands of people every year by transmitting malaria, West Nile virus, and other diseases. But if they disappeared tomorrow, we might actually miss them. There are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes on Earth, all of which are food to birds, bats, frogs, and other animals. No more mosquitoes means these creatures and the animals that eat them could go hungry. The same goes for the dreaded cockroach, a protein-packed meal for birds, rodents, and even humans in some parts of the world. If we lost all 4,400 species of roach, entire ecosystems would struggle to survive. Believe it or not, we'd have even worse troubles ahead since we'd face a serious poop problem without one of the world's greatest recyclers, the dung beetle.</p><p>You see, history has taught us exactly what happens when these critters can't do their job. Back in 1788, the British introduced cattle to Australia, and these cows pooped a lot. Each one poops enough to fill five tennis courts every year. But while the dung beetles back in Britain would eat and break down cow poo, the native Australian beetles wouldn't touch the stuff because they evolved to munch only on dry, fibrous marsupial dung. So the cow poop piled up. By 1960, the cattle had carpeted 500,000 acres of pasture in dung. That's enough to cover over half of Rhode Island, and while a little bit of poop is great for fertilizer, this ocean of dung would flood plants with nitrogen, making it impossible for anything to grow. So, imagine if all 8,000 species of dung beetle, plus other doo-dining insects, like flies, vanished worldwide. The land would be knee-deep in...you know.</p><p>Farmland, forest, and desert would all collapse, and floating throughout would be loads of corpses. You see, most animals won't eat dead bodies. That's where flesh-eating beetles, aka dermestids, and other corpse-munching insects come in. Over 500 species of these grisly undertakers live worldwide, devouring dead flesh until nothing but bone remains. Without them, there would be fewer custodians around to clean up the mess. Sure, there would still be hungry vultures and bacteria around to help, but it wouldn't be enough.</p><p>So, that's where we could end up in an insect-less world. Starving to death while drowning in a sea of poop and corpses.</p>

Here's what would happen if all insects on Earth disappeared

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></p><p class="caption">Noe Contrez carries a tray of romaine lettuce transplants next to a planter at the EG Richter Family Farm in Puyallup, Washington.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Romaine lettuce is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-it-safe-to-eat-romaine-lettuce-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned from the table once again</a> as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates a multi-state outbreak of E. coli that has sickened at least 50 people across the US and Canada.</strong></li><li><strong>This is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-e-coli-how-outbreak-spreads-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">third time in less than 12 months</a> that romaine lettuce has been deemed unsafe to eat.</strong></li><li><strong>The problem shows how difficult it can be to control a supply of fresh, uncooked produce that touches dirt and changes hands countless times before it reaches consumers.</strong></li><li><strong>Still, fresh produce is not the most deadly source of pathogens that we eat. That prize goes to meat.  </strong></li></ul><p>Once again, salad-eaters are being told to avoid romaine. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Tuesday</a> that it is investigating an E. coli outbreak that spans at least 11 US states and two Canadian provinces. </p><p><span>"Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away," </span><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the CDC said, just two days before Thanksgiving</a><span>. The ban comes as peak harvest season picks up at some of the nation's busiest romaine farms in states like Arizona. </span></p><p><span>"At this time, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified," the CDC added.</span></p><p>Lettuce-related outbreaks are starting to feel like a wintertime tradition. Seven months ago, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/romaine-e-coli-outbreak-ending-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another E. coli outbreak in romaine killed five people</a> and sickened near 200 more. A year ago, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2017/o157h7-12-17/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one person was killed in another leafy green outbreak</a> that made 25 people ill. Here's why this keeps happening.</p><h2>There's only one way that romaine gets contaminated with E. coli</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></p><p class="caption">Tim Richter right, walks past workers on a tractor as they plant romaine lettuce at the EG Richter Family Farm in Puyallup, Washington.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>E coli is a broad species of gut bacteria (you have some of it in your intestines right now), but the strains that public-health investigators have discovered in sick people's feces recently are not the kind that keep us healthy. Instead, the E. coli in question - called O157:H7 - can make people develop <span>bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, and kidney failure. In severe cases, the gut poisoning can kill. It's most dangerous for elderly adults and children.</span></p><p>An E. coli outbreak in lettuce can only mean one thing: the leaves have poop on them. The feces could come from livestock in a farm close to where lettuce grows, or they could come from washing the lettuce in water that's not clean. The contamination could also come from one of the countless people who touch the lettuce before it reaches consumers' mouths.</p><p><em><strong>Read More</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-e-coli-how-outbreak-spreads-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is E. coli?</a> </em></p><p>It's pretty easy for bits of contaminated soil to get lodged into the folds of lettuce leaves. Although washing your produce at home can help reduce the chances of infection, it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foods-most-likely-make-you-sick-food-poisoning-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won't eliminate your risk</a> of getting sick. That's probably why fresh produce accounts for <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/attribution-image.html#foodborne-illnesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly half of all foodborne illnesses</a> in the US. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Janice Haney Carr/CDC via AP</span></p><p class="caption">E. coli bacteria of the O157:H7 strain.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>An easy way to reduce your risk of getting sick, though, is to cut down on the number of hands that touch your leaves before you eat them.</p><p>Tim Richter, a romaine farmer in Puyallup, Washington, told the Associated Press that he encourages his customers to buy their own romaine heads and then wash and chop them at home, rather than buying pre-chopped bags of lettuce. That way, the leaves touches fewer hands, knives, and countertops as they go from soil to table. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></p><p class="caption">Tim Richter, left, and his son Timothy Richter check a planting of romaine lettuce at their EG Richter Family Farm in Puyallup, Washington.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>There's probably nothing inherently bacteria-prone about romaine lettuce as compared to other fresh leafy greens. Outbreaks probably just affect more people and are easier to notice when tied to a leaf that's commonly consumed. Lettuce is <a href="http://www.pbhfoundation.org/pdfs/about/res/pbh_res/State_of_the_Plate_2015_WEB_Bookmarked.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most common veggies</a> on American plates, and romaine's share of the market has been growing steadily since it was introduced in the late '80s. Romaine and leaf lettuce account for well over 60% of per capita lettuce consumption across the US, according to <a href="http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/ers/VEGANDPULSESYEARBOOK/2016/VegetableandPulsesYearbook2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the USDA</a>.</p><h2>Uncooked leaves are not the deadliest thing on the menu this Thanksgiving</h2><p>People infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli can develop "<span>severe abdominal cramps and watery </span>diarrhea<span>, which may become bloody within 24 hours," according to the <a href="https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/infections/bacterial-infections-gram-negative-bacteria/escherichia-coli-infections#v38706037" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merck Manual</a>.  </span></p><p><span>"People usually have severe abdominal pain and diarrhea many times a day. They also often feel an urge to defecate but may not be able to," the manual says. In severe cases, the illness can lead to kidney failure. </span></p><p><span>There's typically no fever involved, and there isn't much otherwise healthy people can do about the infection besides staying hydrated. It can take anywhere from one to eight days for the illness to pass. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Alfred J. Hernandez</span></p><p class="caption">Pre-mixed salad moves down the assembly line for packaging and transport to customers at Earthbound Farms plant in Yuma, Arizona.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Fresh produce is the most common source of food contamination, but <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/attribution-image.html#foodborne-illnesses">food poisoning from meat and poultry is more deadly</a>.</p><p>Taken together, meat and poultry account for <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/attribution-image.html#foodborne-illnesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29% of the foodborne illnesses that kill people</a>, while produce (fruit and vegetables combined) accounts for 23% of deaths. </p><p>In fact, veggies are not even the worst source of E. coli infections - beef's track record is equally bad. Vegetable row crops (mostly leafy greens) and beef each account for roughly 40% of E. coli cases across the country, according to a 2013 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/pdfs/IFSAC-2013FoodborneillnessSourceEstimates-508.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC report</a>.</p><p>Chicken and other poultry can also get people really sick - the birds are commonly a source of listeria and salmonella infections. This Thanksgiving, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/reading-07-18/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a salmonella investigation is underway</a> for raw turkey that has sickened more than 160 people and killed at least one.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Matthew Mead</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The good thing about meat is that correct preparation involves an easy "kill step" - cooking it to a high temperature ensures you won't sick. But there isn't a step like that for fresh greens. That's why the <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/food-water-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC urges travelers</a> not to eat fresh salad or unpeeled fruits in developing countries, where nightsoil (i.e. human manure) might be used as fertilizer and water used to rinse fruits and veggies may not be clean enough to drink.</p><p>Fortunately, these contamination concerns are less of an issue in the US. Americans consume, on average, <a href="http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/ers/VEGANDPULSESYEARBOOK/2016/VegetableandPulsesYearbook2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 25 pounds of lettuce</a> per person each year. So a couple dozen cases of food poisoning this fall (while miserable for those infected) are still a drop in the proverbial salad bowl.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ranked-10-healthiest-leafy-greens-should-putting-your-salad-lettuce-2017-6">RANKED: The 10 healthiest leafy greens you should be putting in your salad</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Romaine is off the table again because of E. coli poisoning, and the lettuce trouble reveals why outbreaks are so common

You Searched For "bird poop fertilizer" and got 2 results

Here's what would happen if all insects on Earth disappeared

Gina Echevarria,Shira Polan

Romaine is off the table again because of E. coli poisoning, and the lettuce trouble reveals why outbreaks are so common

Hilary Brueck

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