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Article: Alaskans Pepper EPA With Complaints After Decree on Bear Spray
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 29, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Big brown bears thunder through the deep woods, closing in on a
remote site where campers wait, ready to squirt the beasts.
Pffffffft. A shot of cayenne pepper to the snout stops a 700-pound
marauder in his furry tracks. And then he is gone.
In Alaska, people swear that this happens.
So when the Environmental Protection Agency began messing with
BearGuard and other pepper sprays, the Bear Affair began. It has
triggered a flood of calls to Washington from angry Alaskans, a
tirade on the U.S. Senate floor and disputes at the Canadian border.
"This may seem like a funny story," Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-
Alaska) proclaimed in the Senate chamber in May as he told how the
"long arm of the EPA ...