Hannah Hecht's Blog

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The New York Times opinion article “The Cancer Lobby” by Nicholas Kristof examines the chemical formaldehyde and its capacity as a carcinogen. Formaldehyde is present in all kinds of different household items “from nail polish to kitchen countertops, fabric softeners to carpets.” However, most people do not know that formaldehyde is a carcinogen, and the American Chemistry Council is lobbying Congress to keep it that way. The article compares this cover-up effort to the efforts of the tobacco industry to delay legislation regulating cigarettes.

This is definitely newsworthy. In fact, the main purpose of the news media is to keep the government honest, and this article works to do so. It exposes some of the corruption that comes with lobbying efforts in Washington that end up hurting the people, in the end. I think that the article was written very well and I would not have done anything differently. It was even able to effectively use a question in the lede, which is a very tricky thing to do. The article is aiming to shock the audience, which I think is the approach to take. The fact that there are a multitude of carcinogens in my home is very shocking, and the writer treats it as so.