After the Food and Drug Administration announced the results of testing of saccharin as a possible carcinogen and ruled that it should be banned, a public outcry brought about a delay in the ban. A study of magazine coverage of the reasons for the ban and information about the testing showed that in eleven mass circulation magazines, the reporting of the proposed banning of saccharin and of the controversy that surrounded it was much less complete than should be expected. Coverage did not help the public develop respect for the Canadian tests on which the ban was based or to understand how the tests were done, nor did it explain the danger of saccharin use in terms that made it meaningful or applicable to people's lives. (TJ)