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Warning: This Video NSFW (Not Safe for Worms)

September 26, 2011, 11:35 am

Thanks to a report in The Town Talk, of Alexandria, La., our colleague Jack Stripling ran across this video of Joe Aguillard, president of the Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College, eating a live earthworm during a recent chapel service on the campus.  Tweed cautions readers without college-leadership experience not to try to replicate this stunt.

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  • amcneece

    Now I get it!  This is what’s been missing in higher education – Presidents eating worms!

  • johnsonr3

    He seems to be, ummm… metaphor impaired.

  • iml_chronicle

    I love the beaker type blood and wine decanters, which lends the science to this demo!

  • mtboots

    This is newsworthy?

  • fullprof99

    This seems like a significant step down from handling serpents.

  • raymond_j_ritchie

    As a animal/plant biologist I can say that eating live earthworms is not a good idea.  There is a very good chance of picking up a nematode (roundworm) infection that can lead to lung or liver infestations and in rare cases heart and brain infestations that are life threatening.  He should go and see a doctor about getting some worm tablets and maybe a visit to a shrink would also be helpful.
    More seriously I believe there are some cat, dog and pig/human tapeworms where the earthworm can act as an intermediate host and so you can pick up a tapeworm in your intestines.  They are hard to kill.
    A mentally disturbed Bology I student at the University of Western Sydney ate a live earthworm in class as some sort of statement.  Occupatonal Health & Safety were very upset but the university lawyers felt that the university was covered because in the lab manual there was a specifc ban on eating in the laboratory.  About 20 years ago there was a serious incident at the University of Sydney where an Agriculture student swallowed a mass of Cane Toad eggs in a Biology I dissection class as a dare to his mates.  He very nearly died and the only reason why he lived was that RPA Hospital was next door.  His heart stopped several times. If it had happened on a universty campus that did not have a teaching hospital I doubt if he would have made it.

  • johnbarnes

    What’s with the piano and vocalist in the background?  Shouldn’t that be …
    Nobody likes him
    Everybody hates him…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1487003047 Darcie Callahan

    He’s teaching about the Protestant Reformation, specifically the Diet of Worms. 

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