Keller @ Large: Using Fear In Headlines To Get Attention Is Wrong

BOSTON (CBS) -- Browsing through the internet yesterday for something interesting to talk about with you, I saw a headline on the CNN website that caught my eye: THE HIDDEN DANGER OF GRILLING OUT.

Oh my. What could that possibly be? Exploding propane tanks? Carcinogens in charcoal smoke?Terrorists lurking under the grill hood, just waiting for their chance to burst out and impose sharia law on your cookout?

None of the above.

It turned out to be an article about wire grill brush bristles that break off during the grill-scraping process and then get lodged in the next burger you make.

Oh, the horror! Help!

...But actually, wait a second.

Three paragraphs in, we learn that this is "not a very common occurrence." A bit further on we read that researchers estimate a total of about 1,700 grill brush injuries over a 12 year period, an average of about 130 a year.

The numbers "are not huge," says one of the researchers, which turns out to be an understatement when we get to the very end of the article, where we find that "grill brush injuries are less common than swallowing a fish or chicken bone, or children swallowing a coin or battery."

In other words, there is almost no chance of you or a loved one being injured by a grill brush bristle in your sausage.

Let's face it, we live in a culture where it seems everyone from researchers to politicians to headline-writers is trying to scare the daylights out of us for, often, no good reason.

It may get votes and publicity to do so, but it's wrong and obnoxious.

Please, guilty parties, cut it out--because as you can see, it's making me bristle.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.