Bitter Pills

As reported on Consumerist: Vitamin company Nature's Plus has been running a campaign against Senator Dick Durbin, who proposed that warnings of harmful side-effects be required on vitamin labels. Sounds reasonable to me - would have been nice if the companies themselves took this initiative years ago, of course...

Anyway, the company's riposte? "GET A TURBAN FOR DURBIN! KEEP CONGRESSIONAL TERRORISTS AT BAY". To quote Consumerist, "It’s hard to decide what’s more disturbing: The fact that there are still people in our country who think that all turban-wearing peoples should be associated with terrorism (and not the right-thinking association, ‘driving a taxi’) or that Nature’s Plus would rather mail this repugnant, slapdash hate-mongering prattle rather than admit that sometimes chemicals have side-effect." Yeah, they're both pretty bad (and yes, I noticed that taxi joke in there, too...), but I would probably give the latter the edge - saying that a congressman who calls for warning labels on stuff is a "terrorist" is a bit over the top, don't you think? The only time it may have been appropriate was when Representative Ted Kaczynski called for coffee cups to include the warning "Caution: Contents May Be Hot!" But that still had nothing to do with the warning labels. I'll shut up now...

--YY