Genuine Risk

November, 1981

First it was cigarettes. Then sugar. Then salt, air, water, bacon, eggs, Corvairs, drugs, sex, rock 'n' roll. One by one, the very staples of life were declared unsafe for human consumption.The final straw came when a team of scientists announced that coffee was linked to pancreatic cancer. There are approximately 220,000,000 people in the U.S., and 22,000 deaths annually from pancreatic cancer. The odds are 10,000 to 1 of being one of the unlucky few, 5000 to 1 if you drink coffee. Big deal. If...