Who doesn’t love the yummy taste of some raw fish that’s been left in a plastic bag in the sun for a few days? Well the problem is that the stinky treat that is so popular upcountry may be giving you cancer. In fact, according to research by Khon Kaen’s tropical disease laboratory, eating pla som is a major cause of bile duct cancer, a relatively rare form of liver cancer that accounts for nearly 70 deaths a day in Thailand. To be fair, it’s not really the fish but actually a tiny little parasite known as a liver fluke that lies inside the fish that is the culprit. These little critters then accumulate in a person’s liver and have similar long terms effects to drinking heavily over a number of years. Of course there is a simple solution: kill the bug by cooking the fish, but where’s the fun in that?