In his weekly Takimag column, the skeptical doctor learns the reason behind the English “Dog Awareness Week,” questions the motivation behind scary warning labels, and mocks mindless slogans. All in a day’s work for Dr. Dalrymple.

The overall impression given by these warnings is that we are a population of rather weak-minded, ignorant minors who are, or ought to be, the wards of a small class of well-intentioned guardians who know better. The problem is that one tends to become what one is treated as being; and some people might take the illogical leap to conclude that if something does not bear a warning, then it must be safe or even beneficial. After all, if it were harmful, officialdom would have warned us about it.