Bad Karma

 
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Bad Karma

THE KOMBUCHA MIRACLE Tea craze that has been steeping the country came to a crashing halt in northwest Iowa last week when a woman there died and another became sick after sipping the brew. A fungus based drink made of yeasts, bacteria, tea and sugar, Kombucha has been hailed as a cure for everything from baldness to AIDS. But after the death-the first linked to the tea-the Iowa Department of Public Health cautioned people about the concoction and began investigating its connection to the illnesses. Not that the warning dissuaded the potion's New Age enthusiasts. "Every Kombucha drinker this side of the Rockies has called to tell us we're screwy in the looey," says Kevin Teale of the Iowa health department. One fan even had a Kombucha mushroom delivered to Teale's desk.
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Marc Peyser was named senior editor of the Arts & Entertainment section in October 2006, overseeing NEWSWEEK's coverage of movies, television, theater, books, art and architecture.

Previously he had served as a senior writer covering the television industry since 1999. He has contributed to numerous cover-length stories on popular television shows, stars and personalities.  Among the most recent topics: "The Colbert Report," "Desperate Housewives" and "American Idol," along with "The Sopranos," the end of "Friends" and "Six Feet Under." He has also reviewed new television shows as well as Broadway and off-Broadway theater.

Before that, Peyser was a general editor in the Nation and Arts sections and penned the popular Newsmakers page from 1997 through 1999. He joined Newsweek in September 1989 as a letters correspondent and later served as editorial and senior editorial assistant of arts and associate editor of Nation, Society and Arts & Entertainment.

Peyser was a reporter for The Register newspaper in Red Bank, N.J. from 1987 to 1989.  While at The Register, Peyser won two New Jersey Press Association Awards for feature stories.

He received his B.A. in English from Stanford University and his M.A. in Journalism from Columbia University.  He resides in Manhattan.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

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