Inside the Guinness World Records (the books that have collected official records since 1955) there are thousands of different categories, even if over the last few 70 years old there are some that, for ethical and safety reasons, have been prohibited. Let’s see the main ones and the reasons behind their disposal.
Gluttony challenges
The decision to eliminate challenges related to unbridled gluttony dates back to the 90s and was taken to protect the health of the participants. Just to give an example, Edward Abraham Miller in 1983 he was labeled the world’s biggest “glutton” as he took in approx 25 thousand calories a day – and obviously this can put the survival of the record contenders at serious risk.
At the same time, it was decided to maintain some challenges related to speed of consumption of a certain food (e.g. greatest number of ice creams eaten in 30 seconds) or to a certain number/weight (e.g. less time to eat 3 pizzas). This decision is linked to the fact that the unbridled consumption of food, in these last two cases, is limited to a narrow time frame and not continuous over time.
Heavier animals
In the 1988 the editorial team of GWR decided to ban records associated with heavier animals to discourage owners from force-feeding them. The last record holder was the cat Himmy, owned by Australian Thomas Vyse, which weighed well 21.3kg: its imposing size prevented it from moving and the owner was forced to use a wheelbarrow to move it.
For this reason they are currently monitored weight And dimensions Of races Of animals And not individual specimens.
Controversial sports with animals
Still talking about animals, they have also been decommissioned controversial sports involving themlike the fox huntingbull fights or elephant polo. Following this same logic, every new category involving animals comes first carefully analyzed before being approved.
The fastest driving around the world
Moving into the automotive sector, the fastest trip around the world driving a vehicle it was banned to minimize possible accidents and infringements of the highway code of the various countries crossed. This, until 1996, was a widely followed record but since then it was decided to change it in the completed round the world trip consuming as little fuel as possible.
Environmental challenges
Over time, challenges that could lead to a problem have been removed harmful impact on the environmentsuch as the greatest number of paper lanterns launched simultaneously. By the way, the previous record in this field was achieved by Middle Way Meditation Institutein the Philippines, with the incredible value of 15,185 lanterns.
Other categories deleted
Without going into further detail, it is worth mentioning some of the other discontinued categories:
- keep a pipe lit for as long as possible;
- highest number of guitars destroyed during a tour;
- make the largest pyramid of coins;
- the biggest edible tart throwing battle.