Ex-Blockbuster employee loses microwave-popcorn-damages-lungs lawsuit (updated)

Update (1:44 p.m. August 3): Yesterday, I linked to a story about a Jackson County jury not siding with a former Blockbuster employee who claimed that popping bags of microwave popcorn damaged her lungs. A reader pointed out the ailment in question is called “bronchiolitis obliterans,” or “popcorn lung.” I’d never heard of popcorn lung before. Its symptoms are like asthma and supposedly linked to inhaling the vapors from a butter flavoring called diacetyl. The cases have ended anywhere from $20 million judgments to being successfully defended — like the Jackson County one. In some of these cases, the popcorn eaters were inhaling up to seven bags a day. After hearing all of this, I’m going to lay off.