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Florida Man Dies After Bug-Eating Competition

Can eating bugs really kill a person?

A Florida man was pronounced dead shortly after participating and winning a bug-eating contest. Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach held a bug-eating competition in which the winner would take home the grand prize of a python.

Edward Archbold, a 32-year-old man from West Palm Beach, collapsed outside the store after winning the contest according to a statement released on Monday by the Broward Sheriff's Office.

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Of the 30 contestants competing for the python, Archbold was declared the winner. However, upon reaching the hospital, Archbold was pronounced dead. Michael Adams, a professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside, explained that "unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat."

The bugs that were consumed were raised in a controlled environment as food for reptiles.

via: AP Photo: Death and Taxes