Letter: He doesn’t offer rational dialogue

In his Jan. 16 Viewpoint (“‘What is known’ about PFCs is debatable,” Bulletin) on the PFCs-in-the-water issue, Paul Esch asks how we can believe 3M because it is not a “neutral party” or “unbiased” — an interesting question since he himself begins his column with the statement “3M says it’s safe to drink the Kool-aid.”

This despicable comparison [twice] of 3M to the intentional cyanide poisoning by Jim Jones of hundreds of his religious followers does little to identify Mr. Esch as a “neutralparty” in the matter, either.

But wait, maybe it's 3M's fault, after all. Mr. Esch goes on to seemingly blame the company for marketing so successfully that “their products are everywhere.”

Horrors! A successful company, with world-wide recognition, in our midst. What were we thinking?

Interestingly, Mr. Esch's own company's Web site claims he is a “marketing pro” — apparently not a bad thing.

His column includes erroneous statements, i.e., contrary to what he claims, independent experts have indeed reviewed what 3M is telling us.

He does list many informative Web sites; however, an unbiased list might have included 3M’s informational site as well.

And I earlier complained in a Letter to the Editor about the Web site Mr. Esch refers us to which claims to be a "grass-roots effort" and is still maintained by the same law firm.

Rational dialogue is needed on both sides of this issue for some time to come.

Thank goodness there are people capable of that. Mr. Esch, alas, does not appear to be one of them.

Carol Turnbull

Woodbury

Tags: letter, turnbull, pfcs