A Nantucket resident presented the town's School Committee with laxative-laced brownies at its meeting last week, prompting school officials to file a police report. No-one appears to have suffered from having eating any of them (or indeed eaten them in the first place) but the speaker nonetheless achieved the goal of making everyone feel queasy.
Meghan Perry, a frequent critic of Nantucket government, told the committee the brownies contained Ex-Lax at what she described as a non-detectable level—her point being that officials consider non-detectable levels of PFAS acceptable in a proposed artificial turf field at Nantucket High School's Vito Capizzo Stadium.
"It's my understanding they do have a non-detect level of Ex-Lax in them, but I figured since we're OK with a non-detect level of PFAS, it would probably be OK," Meghan Perry said with a grin, referring to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or "forever chemicals."
Perry wore a shirt reading "clean water is a human right" and thanked the committee for its work before leaving. Committee member Laura Gallagher Byrne said it "appeared to be a gotcha display around the PFAS/turf issue, and one that seemed designed to provoke and ridicule the School Committee." A police report was filed "to document the incident." Massachusetts law prohibits distributing food containing harmful substances, but Nantucket Police Chief Jody Kasper said the report remains incomplete, and it is unclear whether Perry faces charges. The meeting was days ago and there don't seem to be any news updates since. Perry told the Nantucket Current, which first reported the story, that the brownies were safe to eat.
Laxative baking has a legal track record: in 2018, a Michigan woman was fired after baking Ex-Lax into brownies for a coworker's farewell party, with police noting that food tampering carried up to 10 years in prison—charges avoided only because nobody ate those, either. PFAS, the chemicals at the center of Perry's protest, persist in the environment and are linked to adverse health effects.
The classic of the genre is, of course, industry lobbyist Patrick Moore claiming that the controversial herbicide Roundup is safe to drink by the quart, then refusing to touch it when offered a glass by Paul Moreira. Roundup manufacturer Monsanto found it prudent to publicly disclaim any association with him; Roundup is carcinogenic in rats and likely in humans too.
Laxative-laced brownies rattle Nantucket School Committee meeting [Boston.com]
