Reporter Finds He's Allergic to Newspapers

It's not just "politicians and police spokespeople" who are allergic to newspapers, a longtime Baltimore Sun reporter says in a hilarious letter to colleagues explaining why he's going to be wearing gloves around the office from now. Michael Dresser, who covers the political beat in Annapolis, says that after 38 years with the paper, he has been diagnosed with an allergy to the pine resin in newspaper ink, which has caused him skin and eye problems. "People have been more amused than sympathetic, which is exactly what I would probably be," he tells the Wall Street Journal. "The irony just overwhelms anything else."

Dresser has also been diagnosed with an allergy to a dye used in dark clothing, so if "a new colleague asks why the old guy always wears white or cream even in winter, that's the reason," he told his colleagues. "This transition may take some time because of the expense involved. I'm looking at Mark Twain as a possible role model," he writes, suggesting that other newspaper-handling people with puffing or irritation around the eyes get tested for allergies. "I am relieved that this news comes at a time when I can consume the fine work my colleagues do in an electronic format," he writes. "And over-zealous editors take note: I won't leave fingerprints." (More allergies stories.)