Asian Food: SARS Attacks! Run! Run! Run! SARS is here. The latest thrill of the media is to display a horrific view of the new disease SARS. In almost every newspaper, magazine, and radio story, SARS is portrayed as the doom of the world. Don’t get me wrong. I mean, SARS is a threat and people have died, but the sensationalism of the articles is just causing more trouble than is necessary — especially here in the United States. For example, did you know that in the U.S., as of May 7, there have been 65 cases of SARS (MSNBC.com)? That’s 65 out of over 290,000,000 people (U.S. Census Bureau). Yet a few weeks ago, I actually saw people walking down Clement Street in San Francisco with the paper filters and masks over their mouths! C’mon, it’s ridiculous! Not only is the media making people scared to breathe air, the American public is now scared to eat Asian food! I don’t know if it’s the media that’s frightening people or if it’s just the SARS association to China. It’s just an all around bad situation. In Newsweek, it was reported that a group of L.A. politicians ate in Chinatown to show how there really isn’t any danger of obtaining SARS by eating Chinese food. If you think about it, there may also be a hint of racism in the Asian food predicament. If SARS had been found in Italy, do you honestly think that people would not eat Italian food, or even stop getting pizza? I think not. Also, since when have the odds of catching a disease from another country by eating food made in America risen? To me it doesn’t make much sense, but I personally am not letting the frightening articles get to me and I’m definitely not going to change anything I do on a regular basis. Traveling has now become a hassle. There are constant SARS examinations at airports. The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised people not to go to Toronto because there have been a number of cases in Toronto and this is considered to be a mildly hazardous area. The WHO has also advised people to stay out of Beijing and Hong Kong. If you were to walk around any of the airports in any of those places, you would see swarms of people walking around with those paper filters over their face and disinfectant being sprayed all over. It looks like something from a sci-fi movie! SARS is something very real, and something we should be concerned about, but I just don’t think people should live inside a “plastic bubble.” — Danny Lannon is a junior at Skyline High School in Oakland.