mad cow disease, west nile virus mercury in fish, radon in homes and exploding bic pens.pushed by safety advocates and also because of the cancer epidemic i've been asked to report on breast implants, bottled water, tap water, coffee, red food coloring, ddt, power lines teflon pans, cell phones, x-rays, microwave ovens, lawn chemicals, peflt side residues, hair dye, leakage from landfills and asbestos from hair driers. and by the way, there was no cancer epidemic. cancer rates are flat or down. it just seems like there's more cancer today because there's more reporting on it and more people today will talk about cancer and we live long enough to get cancer. it's actually good news. still, none of those scares was completely specious. there was always some science behind it. often lawyers looking for money. but i eventually came to see that consumer reporters don't help people by hyping every media risk of the day. and the regulation that comes out of the hype hurts everybody. it makes everything cost more and often deprives us of good things. some clueless environmental z