Literary Fear Mongering

I really have to wonder about some of the reading materials available out there. During a recent trip to the bookstore, I found a slim paperback book titled "Wash Your Hands! Dirty Truth About Germs, Viruses and Epidemics." Since I have a fairly sick fascination with all things viral, I picked it up. What I didn't realize was the book was little more than a roadmap to turn even the most level-headed American into a hypochondriac. The description on the back of the book reads, in part:

"Did you know the brown spots on apples are carcinogenic? That gardening can lead to Legionnaire's disease? That a a toothbrush can pass on the hepatitis virus, or than an improperly cared-for cavity can endanger the heart? These health risks -- the very real results of diminished attention to personal hygiene, especially hand washing -- crop up in every part of life. ... From allergies to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic, Dr. Frederick Saldmann examines in detail the many dangers that may lie in wait and sets out simple measures for keeping them at safe distance -- his number one mandate being washing your hands as often and as thoroughly as possible."

Hmmmm ... really? It's our inattention to personal hygiene that has caused this? I am to believe that we are dirtier now than at, say, around the Civil War, when baths were taken once a month? And as for the brown spots on apples being carcinogenic ... well, that's a stretch, in my opinion. Brown spots are rot often caused by mold or fungus. Although not particularly toxic, studies have indicated that one of the main forms of this rot could be a genotoxic, which has led people to speculate that it is a carcinogen. Animal studies have been inconclusive.

That's my long way of saying that I think this book represents fear mongering at its worst. Yet you know someone is going to buy this and believe it. And then we are going to have another hypochondriac on our hands.

Help us all.