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  • 1999-07-30 (xsd:date)
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  • Radioactive Cat Litter (en)
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  • A one-line comment tossed in at the end of an NBC Nightly News segment left pet owners gravely concerned about a potential health threat to themselves and their pets. George Lewis' August 7, 1997 report on Internet rumors and urban legends was brought to a close by anchor Brian Williams thus: In a cruelly-ironic twist, NBC Nightly News contributed to the very misinformation problem its report had decried. A less-than-careful reading of a cryptic entry in a miles-long Internet newsgroup's list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) led to the NBC anchor saying scientists had made a startling discovery about newly-manufactured kitty litter when in fact the misread note referred to a 1994 news story about one cat's leavings (not what the kitty left them in). The entry (with the T standing for true) read: Right beneath it was the clue (U stand for unproven) that should have twigged NBC that this entry had to do with one cat's used kitty litter: The story coming out of Berkeley in 1991 didn't involve fresh bags of radioactive cat litter sold to unsuspecting pet owners; it had to do with the furor raised by one cat's used litter turning up in a garbage dump. Further reports suggest that another drugged cat's eliminations caused similar consternation in New Mexico in 1994: How NBC turned Radioactive cat litter found in May 1991 in Berkeley, California into Scientists discovered some brands of kitty litter are radioactive is a prime example of how misinformation can slip through even the tightest of nets. It but takes a simple misreading or misremembering of a story to turn a fact from it into a scary rumor on the rampage, and even the most trusted news sources will at times slip in this fashion. Pet owners, take heart -- concerns over glow-in-the-dark kitties are misplaced. (en)
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