Last April we told you about reports that link Simplot mines to deformed fish in Idaho rivers. Now that story is getting national attention, but not from major news outlets. Thursday the satirical news program The Daily Show on Comedy Central gave its take.
To illustrate his claim that the Environmental Protection Agency has ignored the mutant fish that may be linked to toxic selenium from Simplot phosphate mines, The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi barges into the EPA office in Boise wearing a fish costume, a two-headed fish costume.
“I can’t really make an appointment, I’m a two-headed fish, I live in a river," Mandvi tells an EPA employee whose face is blurred. "You’re not a fish, you’re a person," the employee responds.
Along with the silliness Mandvi raises some serious points; such as the political influence of one of Idaho’s biggest companies.
“Does Simplot run this whole state? Literally every single place I went in Idaho, there was Simplot," he says. "So I looked them up, and they’re one of the largest private agribusiness companies in the world.”
A spokesman for Simplot says they won’t comment on the story. In the end Mandvi, feigning fear of reprisal from the company, says Simplot is defiantly not polluting Idaho. That while standing in front of a spewing smokestack emblazoned with the name Simplot.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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