Slashdot Mirror
The Rise of Chemophobia In the News
eldavojohn writes "American news outlets like The New York Times seem to thrive on chemophobia — consumer fear of the ambiguous concept of 'chemicals.' As a result, Pulitzer-prize winning science writer Deborah Blum has decided to call out New York Times journalist Nicholas Kirstof for his secondary crusade (she notes he is an admirable journalist in other realms) against chemicals. She's quick to point out the absurdity of fearing chemicals like Hydrogen which could be a puzzler considering its integral role played in life-giving water as well as life-destroying hydrogen cyanide. Another example is O2 versus O3. Blum calls upon journalists to be more specific, to avoid the use of vague terms like 'toxin' let alone 'chemical' and instead inform the public with lengthy chemical names like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) instead of omitting the actual culprit altogether. Kristof has, of course, resorted to calling makers of these specific compounds 'Big Chem' and Blum chastises his poorly researched reporting along with chemophobic lingo. Chemists of Slashdot, have you found reporting on 'chemicals' to be as poor as Blum alleges or is this no more erroneous than any scare tactic used to move newspapers and garner eyeballs?"
So when is Kirstof's writing an article about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide?
First bad joke?
Need I point out the most dangerous of all chemicals, Dihydrogen Monoxide? Especially with this year being the 100th anniversary of the Titanic incident, where a large number of the fatalities were actually due to DHMO poisioning, a fact that the One World Government has covered up?
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Yea, like grizzly bears. Those a natural, but they can ruin your afternoon.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Shit, responded to wrong parent. When is Slashdot going to get a comment "edit"?
That's why I like Duvel, it only contains about 92% of it.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
"Chemical" is used as a perjorative
Damn right, and I love it. When someone says something I don't like, I just give them with a disdainful look and say "I don't have to take that from someone filled with disgusting chemicals."
The enemies of Democracy are
I thought salt was a vegetable.
Did you really just Godwin the thread in three moves? That just happened like a blitzkrieg! You're an orator of Churchillian proportions! You bypassed the Maginot line of logic and rationality and annexed the Sudetenland of irrational comparisons!
Bravo, sir. Bravo.
You're thinking of pizza.
Jonathanjk.com
Water is never organic, btw.
Yes, but the water found in rivers can be considered free range.