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President Carter proclaimed a war on fraud and error in the food stamp program as part of a more general concern with the mismanagement of social programs. He succeeded in reversing the increase in the number of households classified as receiving both too many and too few food stamps, and he also increased the percentage of eligible households that actually received stamps. An even more visible war against fraud and abuse was pursued in the first Reagan administration. This resulted in a decrease in the number of cases being paid too much, but no such decrease in the number paid too little. The percentage of eligible households receiving food stamps also decreased, and there was a rapid increase in the number of fraud cases detected and prosecuted. However, conflicts emerged in the first Reagan term between federal and state governments about who should bear the financial costs of the war on error and fraud. The second Reagan term resulted in few changes in error and fraud compared to what was found at the end of his first term, and the level of rhetoric about "fraud and abuse" decreased markedly. However, the data available on fraud and abuse deal only with detected frauds. Hence we cannot say with any certainty whether fraud actually decreased m the food stamp program during either the Carter or the Reagan years.

BackgroundBenzene is a human hematotoxicant and a leukemogen that causes lymphohematopoietic cancers, especially acute myelogenous leukemia. We investigated uptake of benzene in hookah smokers and non-smokers attending hookah social events in naturalistic settings where hookah tobacco was smoked exclusively.MethodsWe quantified S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), a metabolite of benzene, in the urine of 105 hookah smokers and 103 non-smokers. Participants provided spot urine samples the morning of and the morning after attending an indoor hookah-only smoking social event at a hookah lounge or in a private home.ResultsUrinary SPMA levels in hookah smokers increased significantly following a hookah social event (P < 0.001). This increase was 4.2 times higher after hookah lounge events (P < 0.001) and 1.9 times higher after home events (P = 0.003). In non-smokers, urinary SPMA levels increased 2.6 times after hookah lounge events (P = 0.055); however, similar urinary SPMA levels were detected before and after home events, possibly indicating chronic exposure to benzene (P = 0.933).ConclusionsOur data provide the first evidence for uptake of benzene in hookah smokers and non-smokers exposed to hookah tobacco secondhand smoke at social events in private homes compared with their counterparts in hookah lounges. Hookah tobacco smoke is a source of benzene exposure, a risk factor for leukemia.ImpactBecause there is no safe level of exposure to benzene, our results call for interventions to reduce or prevent hookah tobacco use, regulatory actions to limit hookah-related exposure to toxicants including benzene, initiate labeling of hookah-related products, and include hookah smoking in clean indoor air legislation.