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Media Treatment of Risks

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* The series “Living Scared” by David Shaw (Sept. 11-13) was well-researched and long overdue. While there is little evidence that exposure to low levels of Alar, caffeine and radiation cause health effects, there is considerable proof that fear and anxiety often result in sleeplessness, elevated blood pressure and increased alcohol and drug use.

SHERRY FOLSOM

Mission Viejo

* You seem to have set out on a crusade to clobber the environmentalists.

Since when is accurate knowledge detrimental to the public? Is Shaw telling us ignorance is bliss? The tobacco industry is fighting tooth and nail, refusing to admit that their product causes cancer. The FDA refuses to require that milk be labeled when hormones are injected in cows. Our own government was quite secretive about experimenting with radioactive injections on pregnant women. Reagan insisted the “Star Wars umbrella” was our protection and Bush pooh-poohed the ozone hole, just to mention a few cases.

The environmentalists may not be perfect, but they certainly are more on our side than greedy corporations, lying politicians and fawning journalists!

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ESTHER KAPLINSKY

Los Angeles

* In the articles there no mention of the profit the “Chicken Littles” make from their activities. Reporters get bylines. Scientists get grants. Politicians get votes. Consultants get clients. It beats working hard for a living.

In these days of belief in ESP, astrology, and other paranormal processes, combined with widespread ignorance of mathematical logic and scientific understanding, it should not be surprising that people get uptight about perceived risks.

Two non-hazards that I did not see mentioned are low-frequency magnetic fields and radon exposure. Both are building up constituencies for fun and profit.

WILLIAM BUCHMAN

Los Angeles

* In his hyperbolic series on the alarmist (“cry wolf”) trends in technological reporting, Shaw criticizes basic human instinct and intuition because they don’t look at the numbers. After Chernobyl, Bhopal, Hiroshima, etc. I think some healthy skepticism is warranted. We can’t seem to stop or even slow the race to progress anyway. Has any new technology ever been stopped? Oh, Da Vinci did suppress his own submarine when he realized its destructive potential!

Shaw’s reading of the media’s bias is simply wrong. I have never read an article introducing a new innovation that didn’t first thoroughly exhibit its benefits. Later, when implementation is imminent, voices of protest may be raised, but our destiny has been set. Now he doubts the technologically enhanced media: technology’s mental component. How interesting that we are now discovering that media does in fact sway public opinion. The bounds between us and technology blur. What we hold in our hands is technology! And though it can give us the truth, it can also lie like there is no tomorrow.

DAIN ROLF OLSEN

Altadena

* Shaw’s article was interesting and thought-provoking. While I agree that claims about the risk of AIDS within the heterosexual population have been presented by the media in an alarmist fashion, the information presented on AIDS and heterosexuals in Shaw’s article was misleading. The statement “AIDS is not presently a serious threat to the non-promiscuous, non-intravenous drug-using, North American heterosexual” is inaccurate. It can take only one sexual encounter with an HIV-infected person to become infected with the virus, and many people who are HIV positive are unaware of their own HIV status.

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Second, when the term “heterosexual AIDS cases” is applied, one must look at AIDS cases among men and women separately. In 1993, the Los Angeles County HIV Epidemiology Program reported that 1.1% of all AIDS cases among men were associated with heterosexual contact.

Conversely, 46% of all AIDS cases among women were associated with heterosexual contact and 19% with undetermined risk. This second group is believed to largely represent women who were infected heterosexually but who could not identify a sexual partner who was HIV-infected or at high risk for HIV infection. Many women find out after they are HIV-infected that their partner had sex with men or used needles in the past.

This information points out the need for the media to address men and women separately when discussing AIDS in the heterosexual community. More important, it speaks to the urgent need for better communication between partners about each other’s sexual history and risk factors for HIV.

JANE STEINBERG MPH

Coordinator, AIDS Education Program

Homeless Health Care Los Angeles

* The series about media scares was excellent but it stopped too soon. I hope to see a lot more along this line--there is certainly abundant material.

DENZEL L. DYER

Rancho Palos Verdes

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