** PRIVATE **
I'm sending this privately because it may be too far from the
subject, but it sure bears on the debunking of public health
concerns! I have in my possession a publication from the CATO
institute called "Science without Sense" by one Steven Milloy. The
man attacks risk assessments, even those done by the EPA re ETA.
The introduction starts with implicating the character and motives of
those engaged in such efforts:
Want to get ahead in public health? Want to "discover" a health
risk that will make you famous? Tired of "science" and its
cumbersome "scientific method"? Frustrated with customary
practices and limitations of traditional public health
disciplines like epidemiology and biostatistics?
If you answer "yes" to these questions, then risk assessment is
for you. But not just any type of risk assessment. We're not
talking about science-driven, common sense risk assessment. That
type of risk assessment too often gets soft pedaled or even
ignored. Your good work - - and career - - end up in public
health oblivion.
What we're talking about is the kind of risk assessment that's
not confined by the restricting chains of real science. Risk
assessment that knows no shame, that will stoop to any level to
achieve its self-fulfilling prophecies. In other words , assess
for success!
And so on . . .
To hear him tell it, don't worry about that cancer cluster, it's just
the "Texas Sharpshooter Effect!" i.e., it really isn't real, and the
people who worry about it are just trying to further their careers;
they have a money conflict. He and pollution corporations don't, of
course.
But anybody trying to see public health issues clearly has to see
this clearly too . . .
