All people stink at times. That includes old people.

Here is a question (possibly from a kid) at http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006052640128

why do old people,s breff stink?

Here are some of the answers with no spelling or punctuation corrections:

1. Because they have more bactieria in thier mouff and stomach. John

2. The same reason any one else's breath stinks. Bacteria, poor hygiene. It isn't all old people.

3. Because they are old!!

4. Probably because they have false teeth and more bacteria and food builds up because they are not cleaning them properly!

5. cause they r buzy decomposing

6. The primary cause for bad breath is a dry and unhydrated toungue. As you get older you become more and more dehydrated. This is why they can suffer from urinary tract infections easier.......as well as bad breath.

7. because bacteria is not selective about age kid

8. Death breath

9. Probably for the same reason you can't spell...being lazy.

I liked Number 5 the best.

Deb Cockerton is Provincial Coordinator for the Red Cross in Peterborough, Ontario. Deb at http://www.collegeanduniversity.net/collegeinfo/index.cfm?catid=18&pageid=2430&affid=218 says in her article that Mean People Stink, especially bullies. She did give any details as to how they smell but she did give a lot of details of what mean people are like in a school environment.

I guess you can smell them coming down the hall.

At http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?t=436670 there is the article Homeless People Stink. Evidently this person shared a lunch table with one. He recommended that "Fear Factor should start thinking outside the box and make people drink a glass of an old homeless man's sweat."

Well, homeless people do not have showers and I don't see the City of New York (or any other city) building showers and restrooms for these folks or anyone else that might be on the street and need the facility.

When I was a boy there was a public restroom by the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. Other than in parks, that is about the only place I've ever seen one. You went down the stairs under the sidewalk. A black man kept the place clean. Another black man would shine your shoes. That's when I learned that there were black people in Salt Lake City and that they had the crappy jobs.

Nicholas Wade of the New York Times reported back in January of 2003 about DARPA's "people sniffer." See http://tinyurl.com/k55o8

I don't know if they ever developed the thing but DARPA says everybody stinks his or her own stink and can be identified with one whiff with a highly sophisticated detector.

I don't think that DARPA has their sniffer yet. If they did, they would give it to the army and they would dangle it from a helicopter as they fly around Pakistan looking for Osama bin Laden.

Another reason I don't think they have their sniffer is because DARPA has switched to rats. Rats can smell a human a mile off. Not only that, rats can go where dogs can't go.

DARPA likes to place collars on the rats that have a receiver that can record rat brain waves. If you see a rat with a collar and probes sticking out of its head, DARPA is looking for you.

DARPA says that it would be good for finding earthquake victims. I have a report that a helicopter was seen last week over Pakistan dropping rats hooked to tiny quick-release nylon parachutes.

I know who they are after!

Anyway, DARPA knows that all people stink and that how people stink is determined by their genes.

There is no reason to pick on old people.

Copyright2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.