Word: dangerous
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Even harder to uproot than the coca leaf may be the widespread conviction among South Americans that cocaine is a U.S. problem. "We are putting our lives in danger to prevent drugs from entering the U.S.," complains Bolivian Under Secretary of the Interior Gustavo Sanchez. While U.S. officials claim that it is illicit production that begets consumption, many South Americans contend that the process works the other way round. "The U.S. is to blame for most of this mess," says one Panamanian official. "If there weren't the frightening demand in the States, we wouldn't even have to worry...
...danger is real. In 1980 General Luis Garcia Meza seized control of Bolivia in what came to be called the Cocaine Coup. One of his first acts was to release drug mafiosos from jail. He proceeded to have the police records of cocaine traffickers destroyed and to punish those who disagreed with his policy. His army meanwhile pocketed millions of dollars in bribes and payoffs from drug dealers. In despair, local U.S. drug enforcers closed their office. As soon as Siles brought back democracy in 1982, however, the fight against drugs resumed. The DEA reopened its office and President Reagan...
...first glance, the bombardier does appear to be unique in the animal kingdom. Its defense system is extraordinarily intricate, a cross between tear gas and a tommy gun. When the beetle senses danger, it internally mixes enzymes contained in one body chamber with concentrated solutions of some rather harmless compounds, hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinones, confined to a second chamber. This generates a noxious spray of caustic benzoquinones, which explodes from its body at a boiling 212 degreesF. What is more, the fluid is pumped through twin rear nozzles, which can be rotated, like a B-17's gun turret...
Salon operators reply that tanning machines are safer than sunlight because they can be more carefully regulated. "Anything can be abused," says Randy Novak, owner of Tan Chicago. "But the damage from sunbathing comes from out of doors because it isn't controllable. You can reduce the danger at a tanning parlor." The Food and Drug Administration requires tanning machines to carry labels warning that users should wear goggles to protect their eyes and that people taking photosensitive drugs, including some antibiotics, should consult their doctors before going under the lamps...
Another 160,000 or so farmers, Naylor's figures indicate, are carrying a debt load equal to between 40% and 70% of their assets and "are not in imminent danger." His explanation of why not: "If you had no improvement whatever in the farm economy, they could continue their operations for two to five years / before they would be completely wiped out." Meanwhile, those farmers are in no position to buy tractors, cars, clothes or much of anything; their troubles are dragging down the whole economy in Iowa, Nebraska, northern Missouri, southern Minnesota, western Illinois, Kansas and other parts...