Arizona Magazine Pulls Newstand Issues After Mushroom Mixup
The October 2013 issue of Arizona Highways features an item on page 13 identifying the fly agaric mushroom as being edible.
No copies of the October 2013 issue of Arizona Highways will be sold on newsstands because of an error inside the issue, its publisher announced Sept. 13. On page 13 of the issue is an item identifying the fly agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as edible; the announcement correctly notes the fly agaric mushroom "should not be consumed in its raw form because of its unpredictable psychotropic and physical effects."
"This issue will not be sold on newsstands, and we are alerting our subscribers to the mistake. We regret the error," said Win Holden, publisher of the magazine, which has been published for more than 85 years.
October issues already had been mailed to more than 100,000 subscribers by the time the error was discovered, according to a report published by the Arizona Republic.
The fly agaric mushroom has been used in pest control and also has religious or recreational uses. It contains small amounts of the toxin muscarine, which causes sweat-inducing poisoning; deaths resulting from ingestion are rare.