Some people fear carcinogenic trace chemicals in our environment, and such fears are promoted by many environmentalists and critics of industrial society.

The American Council on Science and Health produced a video, narrated by retired news anchor Walter Cronkite, who died July 17, titled Big Fears, Little Risks, that should calm many of those fears. I just came across the video for the first time, and wish I’d known of it long ago because it could be so helpful, especially to parents whose children face considerable propaganda in their schools.

The crucial lesson is that for any potentially dangerous chemical, “the poison is in the dose.” At high enough level, thousands of chemicals are dangerously poisonous, carcinogenic, or mutagenic. But at trace levels, hardly any are.

View the video, and you’ll not be fooled by bogus alarms about trace chemicals again.