A Dinner in Ukraine Made for Agatha Christie [blogerated NYT link]

Toxicologists say dioxins are tasteless, although Dr. Schecter pointed out the provenance of this assertion is uncertain; he knew of no one who had ever tried tasting them.

From the end of the article, which is devoted to a) debunking the Youschenko “dinner” poisoning thesis, which is the word-of-mouth explanation for what happened to the Ukrainian presidential candidate’s face, and b) in a roundabout way, justifying the TOTAL FUCKING SILENCE in the western media about what exactly DID happen, thereby absolving the Times from complicity in those self-same popular rumors.

For what it’s worth, a city councilman in the town I grew up in once drank a glass of water that he claimed had been contaminated by the dioxin-based chemical, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that severely pollutes the county. Apparently the stunt was inspired by New York Governor Hugh Carey once claiming that the Hudson was so lightly polluted by PCBs that it was drinkable in an untreated state. A reporter challenged him on it at a press conference, and the governor wisely declined.

In my own experience, I associate a distinct rusty tang with exposure to the greasy, clear fluid. That may come from the rusted casings of the power-line transformers that contained the chemical, originally used as an insulator by the locally-based manufacturer.

The thrust of that hidden argument in the Times piece, by the way, is that there are no verifiable facts to report, and since reputable news source don’t repeat rumors and innuendo (unless they come from State or the Company, that is, natch), well, then, the only alternative was dignified silence.

Especially since Judith Miller’s gone up the river. Mum’s the word, people.