‘Acceptable Risks’ With Pesticides Used on Fruits and Vegetables

Plaudits to Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan for her column (“Morbid Fear of Illness Makes America Trash Good Food,” Op-Ed Page, March 20) on “nosophobia,” which translates into “morbid fear of disease.” This leads people to destroy good food, like apples and grapes, because those who should know better, the regulators, encourage them to do so, on faulty and illogical conclusions. Two contaminated grapes are scarcely good reason to stop eating all grapes, and cause growers and dealers to lose millions of dollars.

What do you think would happen if all of us accepted as gospel all of the scare stories which are so prevalent these days? We would not eat anything for fear of contracting cancer. We would not drink any water for fear it was polluted. We would not breathe any air because of smog. We would stop living in houses because of earthquakes might destroy them and kill us. Then the world would revert to its original state when there were no people.

Shakespeare must be looking down from the heavens and concluding that he never wrote truer words than “What fools we mortals be.”

ALFRED B. POST

San Marino