Certain products come in many shapes and sizes, and a reader must thank the Italian Trade Commission in Tokyo for the successful ending of her search. She was looking for a special kind of Italian support hose made by IBICI and she wondered where she could buy them in Japan. It could be an endless search, but it only took a phone call to the trade commission and a fax explaining exactly what she wanted. A short time later, I had the answer, and the reader now has the name of a person who will help her at Yoyo Corporation, the company that imports that brand.

Italian products are as popular in Japan as Italian cuisine, and over the years I have contacted the commission a number of times for information. One of the more interesting questions involved Italian pasta. This was in 1987, the year after Chernobyl, when people were especially sensitive to the possibility of contaminated crops. Several of the weeklies reported that students at a Hokkaido University had detected radiation in spaghetti imported from Italy, supposedly from the fallout. A reader was concerned. Was it only one brand or all brands? What of pasta from other countries? How about Japanese products? And what was safe?

It took a while to get the answers. The trade commission had launched its own investigation as soon as the report was published. There wasn't much to check. The figures obtained in the tests were not revealed nor were there any comparison figures for Japanese products or imports from other countries. The Japanese government, which is sensitive to anything relating to the dangers of radiation, had set strict standards. Imported products are carefully checked against these standards, and it was safe to assume that the spaghetti the students tested had been passed inspection. EC countries also have standards that must be met for products. At that time, Japan allowed 370 BQs per kilogram while EC allowed 600 BQs per kilo. The university students later revealed that they found 70 BQs per kilo, a figure well below either standard.

The weeklies thrive on their emotional headlines, and it is well known that any additional information that might refute the "facts" that they print is not provided nor are retractions prominently displayed.

It would have been easy to compare the findings with the figures given above, but then there would not have been a story. For comparison, Japanese products also should have been tested as well as other Italian brands and imports from other countries. The story was based on the test results of one package of Italian spaghetti. Were other packages tested before the contaminated package was found? Italian tests found no indication of radiation at all in several of the brands they tested. So what was all the furor about? This was the beginning of the big boom in Italian cuisine in Japan, and Italian products were becoming available throughout the country. Consumers were showing a keen interest in Italian pasta for their own kitchens and this, inevitably, was reflected in falling sales for local products. How could the weeklies miss with such a timely story?

Finally, the reader wondered if it is ever possible to find the truth. First, we must assume that world governments are not conspiring to subject their citizens to unsafe levels of contamination. Still, each country and every interest group has its own program to promote and the truth can be elusive. In this case, a comparison of test results with Japan's acceptable level would indicate that the tested spaghetti was safe.

We must hope that our bodies continue to be able to adapt, and that we -- at least some of us -- will exist in spite of the environment we must live in. Many worry about chemical/synthetic additives, yet some of these are the products that have meant survival for many of the world's underprivileged -- grains that do not spoil in storage, milk with weeks of shelf life and insecticides/weed killers that help assure bumper crops. Now we must deal with GM products and cloning. Where is the line to be drawn? Since science rarely retreats, somehow we must find a way to cope. In fact, just coping may become the biggest challenge of the next century.