-Caveat Lector-
JUNK SCIENCE," THE MEDIA AND POLITICS
Political activists and authors of "scientific" junk were roundly
condemned at a conference sponsored by the Independent Women's
Forum. Prominent figures in the scientific community acted as
panelists and took aim at such health scares as electromagnetic
fields, radon, pesticides, chlorination, PCBs, olestra and Alar.
Among the points discussed:
o "Many reports are trivial, many more are just plain
wrong... and a lot of what we're told is inconsistent,"
said Dr. Marcia Angell, executive editor of the New
England Journal of Medicine.
o "Fear is a prelude to the sale of snake oil, and it's
widespread," noted Paul Gross, professor emeritus of life
sciences at the University of Virginia -- who added that
what is new is "the participation of academic
intellectuals in the subversion of science, all of whom
come from a particular political point of view."
o Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on
Science and Health, scorned "some self-appointed feminists
who are now discouraging women from using estrogen-
replacement therapy" because of concerns it might cause
breast cancer -- adding that post-menopausal women "need
to balance" what she described as a "small risk of cancer
against the serious risk of osteoporosis."
o "We're naive if we don't think the government is
vulnerable to politics" in formulating health policy, Dr.
Angell warned.
As examples, she cited the National Institute of Health's
creation of an office of alternative medicine at the urging of
Sen. Tom Harken (D-Iowa), who claims he was cured of allergies by
taking capsules of bee pollen; the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's decision to pull silicone breast implants off
the market despite the lack of scientific evidence that they are
harmful; and the federal law that exempts diet supplements from
FDA purview, passed after a massive letter-writing campaign.
Source: Joyce Howard Price, "Politicized Science Found Bad for
Health," Washington Times, February 18, 1999.
For more on the Environment go to
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/enviro/envdex1.html
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