An article that says gluten was found in the water supply in Portland was posted to a satire news website, but a fair amount of people on social media sites thought it was real.
“Authorities in Portland, Ore. have discovered detectable levels of gluten in the city’s water supply, causing a citywide panic,” the Daily Currant article reads.
According to a disclaimer, the Daily Currant doesn’t publish real news--only satire, similar to The Onion.
“The city’s water bureau discovered the contamination yesterday and is desperately trying to find out how gluten got into the water. A preliminary report found that the contamination may have occurred ‘at least eight or nine months ago’ when a child dropped a loaf of bread into a local river,” it adds.
The disclaimer says the “Daily Currant is a satirical online newspaper. None of the information contained herein should be considered accurate. It should, however, be humorous.”
It’s About section elaborates further.
“The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide - now including South Sudan,” it says. “Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward ... Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.”
As of Wednesday morning, the gluten article on the Daily Currant had about 16,000 “likes” and shares on Facebook.
“It’s sad that an ignorant city engineer would make light of this. While some follow a Gluten free fad, others have a true medical intolerance that causes the stomach lining to slough off, removing the ability to absorb nutrients, medicine, etc. Others have real reactions to being unable to process the protein causing a host of issues,” wrote one person, who apparently believed the article.
“The fact that half of the comments do not see the humor in this shows just how spot-on it is. Looks like Portlanders will be in for a skewering for some time and the rest of us will have plenty to laugh about. I wonder if there is a connection between seriousness and illness...? LOL,” one person wrote in the comments section.
