Remember the Mars Lander crashing because someone used legacy units? This
is worse. Note particularly the penultimate paragraph.
http://www.vocativ.com/news/289002/cdc-laminate-cancer/
CDC Revises Health Risk Assessment Of Flooring After Math Error
CDC recently announced that laminate floors are safe, only to realize that
they forgot to convert from feet to metersand that the cancer risk is
three-fold higher.
By Joshua A. Krisch on Feb 23, 2016 at 10:25 AM
Laminate flooring, that synthetic tile that looks like finished wood, is
probably lurking beneath the carpet in your ratty Brooklyn apartment. And
recently, its been the subject of some controversy.
Certain models on laminate flooring contain formaldehyde, a chemical
linked to cancer, asthma attacks and upper airway irritation. Fortunately,
a CDC report recently confirmed that the amount of formaldehyde in
laminate flooring is infinitesimal. Unfortunately, the CDC appears to have
messed up the math.
From the CDCs revised report:
Health risks of people who have the laminate flooring are being revised to
reflect greater exposure to formaldehyde, which could cause eye, nose, and
throat irritation for anyone. The estimated risk of cancer associated with
exposure to the flooring increased. The CDC/ATSDR indoor air model used an
incorrect value for ceiling height. As a result, the health risks were
calculated using airborne concentration estimates about 3 times lower than
they should have been.
Skeptical health journalism won the day when a 60 minutes report found the
error upon performing their own calculations. It turns out CDC had
forgotten to convert to the metric system from feet to meters when
measuring the formaldehyde content in areas covered by laminate flooring.
Due to their math mistake, the estimated risk of cancer is likely to climb
from nine cases per 100,000 (an insignificant risk) to as many as 30 cases
per 100,000 (still not much of a risk, but one heck of a lot higher than
previously thought). Risk of asthma and other upper airway problems is
also expected to increase.
Stock in Lumber Liquidators, a company that sells the questionable
flooring, plummeted accordingly according to Bloomberg News, which notes
that the stock dropped 20 percent on Monday to $11.40. Lumber Liquidators
sells $120 million in laminate flooring each year, and recently lifted a
self-imposed ban on a class of Chinese laminates, imposed after a 2015
report suggested that the laminate may cause cancer. The company says that
it intends to continue selling the laminate flooring, and now offers a
free air test to worried customers. Despite the errors in CDCs
calculation, we note that they do not expect to change their
recommendations, the company told NBC.
But one, important question remains. How exactly does a panel of health
experts and scientists employed by the CDC make a grade school error in
calculations about something as important as cancer risk?
Thats got to hurt.
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