In times of crisis, one would expect “experts” to be calm and rational, conveying reason to a public fearful of what’s to come.

Unfortunately, that isn’t happening.

Ever since the planes collided into the World Trade Center, America has been bombarded with talks of possible biological and chemical attacks. People are afraid; they’re buying gas masks in record numbers, spurred by the irrational talk of governmental officials and supposed “experts.” Those experts are saying it’s not a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when and where.” If they are so confident in these statements and they know an attack is coming, it should be quite easy to stop it, right?

The fact of the matter is government officials and bioterrorism experts are scaring the American public into a frenzy. Saying “it’s going to happen” is going to further the fear and hysteria the country is currently living in. We look to these people for reason in this unstable time. What we don’t need is another Y2K phenomenom. Sure, you can go and spend the money on a gas mask if you want. But unless you are wearing it 24 hours a day, and you know it has the correct filters for each potential virus, it has no purpose.

There is also talk that Ames and central Iowa may be a likely target for attacks, possibly from crop dusters. Unlikely.

Crops in Iowa are rarely crop dusted anymore, and even if they were, security and suspicion is at such a heightened sense, any such activity seems unthinkable.

While it is necessary for our leaders and leaders of respective scientific communities to prepare for the possibility of such attacks, reason and rational thinking need to prevail over reactionary rhetoric.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell