Scientific studies
encourage us
to worry about
deadly toxins
in baby bottles,
foods, and
cosmetics;
radiation from
power lines
and cell phones;
harm from vaccines,
genetically modified
foods, etc.
Many scares
are based on weak
or erroneous findings.
Study authors
frequently make
leaps way beyond
the actual data.
They “sound” true
because the media
treats them as truth.
A scientific consensus
of no health risk
can be outweighed
in the public mind
by a few vocal activists.
Complex relationships
between environmental
pollutants and clinical
variables make it
almost impossible
to focus on one risk
at a time.
Studies showing
associations
with cancer
can be found
for most foods
in a cookbook.
Threats not
under our control,
like global warming,
in progress for
over 300 years,
evoke a
much stronger
reaction
than smoking
and obesity,
which we
can control
When a topic,
like climate change,
is popularized
by the media,
scientists are
more likely
to keep
studying it.
Research money
is diverted to that topic,
and is less available
for topics more likely
to be productive.
What gets attention,
and gets published,
creates biases.
CO2 is harmless
= who cares ?
A study that says
adding CO2 to the air
has been harmless
for hundreds of years,
will get no attention,
even though it's true.
CO2 is a coming crisis
= everyone cares !
A study that claims
12 more years of adding
CO2 to the air will lead to
the end of the planet,
will get attention,
even though
it is only
computer game
nonsense.
We all need
a defensive
common sense
armor to resist
alarmist headlines,
based on
scientific studies
that are often
completely wrong.