His broadcaster, Venevision, had been tangling so much with President Hugo Chavez that Cisneros had decided to avoid politics and focus instead on entertainment content, including hugely popular Latin American soap operas.

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Bradley's crew thought the device, called Dialpack, might be used to allow consumers to vary the flavor content of ice cream, or the amount of antibacterial agent in hand soap.

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Back then, the Soap and Detergent Association got an allowance for up to 8.7% phosphate content in dishwasher detergent in state legislation covering laundry detergent, based on its claim that phosphates were needed to clean dishes that had been used for starchy foods, like macaroni and cheese.

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