Are There Anomalous Lepton-Hadron Interactions?

It is remarked that the recently observed near constancy of σ(e⁺e^-→hadrons) over a large range of center-of-mass energy may reflect the presence of a new class of short-range lepton-hadron interactions. This can be tested by a comparison of e^-p versus e⁺p scatterings and a study of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation of the final product in annihilation as well as apparent deviations from scaling in e^±p and μ^±p scatterings.