About those experts….
I’m sure you’ve seen Sleeper, the Woody Allen movie that imagines him defrosted after two hundred years in a cryogenic sleep. This bit of dialog always amused me:
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.”
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy… precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Ah, those experts . . . and the things they get wrong:
Saccharin, an artificial sweetener dubbed a potential cancer-causing agent in the 1980s, has now been officially declared safe.
Without any fanfare, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it was dropping the crystalline powder — widely used in diet soft drinks, chewing gum, juice and toothpaste — from its list of hazardous substances.
Do I have to mention global warming here, or is that just too obvious a cheap shot?