Reader W.W. comments on the $5 billion class-action suit against Dupont Inc., manufacturer of Teflon non-stick cookware coating on the theory that Teflon is carcinogenic–despite the fact that peer-reviewed scientific tests have shown it isn’t, and there have been no elevated levels of cancer among the two generations of women who have cooked with Teflon-coated pots and pans. (See “Teflon-Coated Baloney,” Aug. 3.) W.W. e-mails:
“One ingredient is a deadly poisonous war gas, the other is a substance that explodes when put into water. The substance? Sodium cloride, table salt. Find me an attorney to sue Morton’s.”
Alas, your joke isn’t so far off the mark, W.W. Lawyers here in Washington have posted huge billboards at subway stops soliciting lactose-intolerant people (and about 75 percent of the population has trouble digesting milk, say the lawyers) for some major class-action litigation. So who?re they gonna sue–Bessie?
And E.B. comments on The Other Charlotte’s post on the Democratic Party naysayers who insist that America is in deep economic trouble despite all indications to the contrary (see “Nancy Pelosi’s Bleak House,” Aug. 3):
“The Bleak House scenario is the Democratic Party talking point. I spoke recently with my best friend, who lives on the West Coast. She has, unfortunately, been unemployed for awhile (why no one has hired this wonderfully capable person is beyond me.) She connected into the Dem party and repeated the party line — that the U.S. economy is in horrible shape — during our last conversation. Her latest evidence is GM’s struggles, although she seemed to note in the same breath that people are buying Toyotas. (I didn’t point out it seems a company/product problem if one company is OK and another is struggling — not a sign of a bad economy.) She also notes that layoffs occur in the Bay Area and that she knows a lot of people finding it more difficult to change jobs. (Not recognizing that her circle consists mostly of those connected to politics and her friends are in the ‘party out of power’ right now.)
“I didn’t even bother getting into it, other than to note that Germans were happy when their unemployment rate dropped something like 0.3 percent but is still over 11 percent. Because I knew it was simply the party line that no one is hiring and our country is in terrible shape. The difference between my friend and Pelosi…is that she actually believes it….Pelosi is just dumb.”
Good points all, E.B.–although isn’t it possible that Pelosi is both dumb and actually believes all that business about the U.S. economy’s tanking?