The Hidden Ways Manipulated Science Harms Our Health
canada goose factory sale more than a decade ago, was made possible in large part by a single black mark in the medical research literature a discredited 1998 study from Dr. Andrew Wakefield that purported to link the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. canada goose factory sale
The Lancet, the journal in which Wakefield’s study appeared, pulled the study after investigations by a British journalist and a medical panel uncovered cherry picked data and an array of financial conflicts of interest, among other trappings of fraudulent science. Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist, had gone as far as to pay children at his son’s birthday party to have their blood drawn for the research. He had also collected funds for his work from personal injury lawyers who represented parents seeking to sue vaccine makers. The public health repercussions are still being felt today, as evidenced by the ongoing measles outbreak, which has affected more than 121 people, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A separate outbreak of mumps, another illness protected against by the MMR vaccine, is also emerging in Idaho and Washington state.
canada goose clearance Wakefield isn’t the only scientist to leave a legacy of discredited work and serious health threats although his case may be the most famous and the least ambiguous. The results of fabricated data and other forms of research misconduct often make their way into canada goose store our policy and public discourse before they are identified and addressed within the scientific community. Food and Drug Administration commonly identifies problematic research from the fraudulent to the mistaken during its systematic reviews of relevant studies, but rarely reports its findings to the publications in which the studies appeared. Simple sloppiness can result in damaging canada goose coats misinformation and misinterpretations, as can scientists exaggerating their findings in the hopes of gaining publicity or securing future funding. Then, too, there are mainstream journalists who may over or under emphasize certain aspects of new research, or who may not fully understand the science they’re writing about. canada goose clearance
canada goose clearance sale Combine all of that with a population whose general grasp of science appears to be middling at best, and you have a recipe for an echo chamber of misinformation. „We don’t have a particularly scientifically astute society,“ said Dr. Margaret Moon, a pediatrician and bioethicist at Johns Hopkins University. „We need to do a better job helping people understand good versus bad data.“ canada goose clearance sale
The Internet seldom helps the situation. Type „vaccine autism“ into Google, and you’d think the jury was still out on the MMR vaccine. The first listed link, a paid advertisement, reads: „Vaccines cause autism.“ Other links concern an ongoing Canada Goose online „controversy.“ For the record: Among scientists, there is no controversy. Vaccines are safe.
cheap Canada Goose The case of the MMR vaccine and infectious disease is particularly clear cut. But other questionable studies and findings have caused more insidious forms of harm that reveal how vulnerable we are to scientific dishonesty. cheap Canada Goose
canada goose coats on sale Take, for example, a Canada Goose Parka widely covered review paper out of Stanford University that suggested organic canada goose foods don’t provide greater nutritional value, or pose fewer health risks, than their conventional counterparts. That research, as The Huffington Post reported after its publication in 2012, was quickly questioned by experts in the field. Critics noted that some nutrients found in previous research to be more plentiful in organics were missing altogether from the Stanford findings. A paper like this that is, a review of existing scientific literature can be especially problematic, since the way the various studies are chosen, divvied up and combined can significantly alter any conclusions. canada goose coats on sale
canada goose uk shop The Stanford study also reported that organic produce had a 30 percent lower risk of pesticide contamination compared to canada goose outlet conventional fruits and vegetables. Not included in the publicly available abstract or press release, however, was the fact that pesticide residues were found Canada Goose sale in 7 percent of organics and 38 percent of conventional foods. In relative terms, that’s a more impressive 81 percent difference. canada goose uk shop
Though academic dishonesty is Canada Goose Outlet relatively rare, there can be pressure on scientists and institutions to punch up findings in a bid for publicity.
„I think it’s important that researchers don’t overstate what they find,“ said Cynthia Curl, an environmental health scientist at Boise State University. She said she’d like researchers to „try to keep conclusions they make about buy canada goose jacket their research within the confines of what they actually found.“
Canada Goose Parka „For consumers, it is hard to navigate,“ she said. Canada Goose Parka
Canada Goose Coats On Sale Today, a canada goose coats on sale Google search for „organic food health“ may also be misleading, since the Stanford study’s press release appears near the top of the search results. „Little evidence of health benefits canada goose black friday sale from organic foods,“ it reads. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
„There’s still a lot of controversy about what the potential benefits may be of eating organic,“ said Curl. „It sort of puts the onus on the public.“
She added that the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables whether organic or not generally outweigh the risks.
„There’s a difference between the willful intent to deceive, and using data to persuade,“ she told HuffPost. Among the criticisms of the Stanford study was the fact that the school received funding from the agricultural giants Cargill and Monsanto. The research team on the controversial study has asserted that none of that money went directly to their research.
canada goose uk outlet Of course, whether a study offers specious information canada goose clearance on purpose, or whether it does so accidentally, the result is the same. „A great many canada goose clearance sale manipulations and even distortions are possible within Canada Goose Jackets the bounds hotcanadagoose.com of propriety.“ canada goose uk outlet
Canada Goose Jackets Perhaps no one understands this power better than corporations seeking financial gain. Canada Goose Jackets
canada goose uk black friday „Industry is about five light years ahead of the scientists in their ability to use data to manipulate,“ said Moon. „They spend a lot of time and money figuring out how to do it.“ canada goose uk black friday
cheap canada goose uk Steering public perception and policy by distorting data was a common tactic in Big Tobacco’s playbook, for example. That move has since been borrowed by some chemical manufacturers intent on prolonging their products‘ lives on the market. As industry leaders know, there’s a degree of complexity and creativity inherent in all research methods, and often it’s not difficult to come up with numbers that say what you want them to say. The impact of such misconduct can linger, even long after the tainted research has been debunked. cheap canada goose uk
Canada Goose Outlet One strategy often used to obscure inconvenient truths is to water down the data. The 16 Cities Study of secondhand cigarette smoke, a federal government project that began in 1996, is a classic case. Researchers who later re evaluated the study, however, came to a different conclusion. In their follow up, they noticed that the study’s definition of a „smoking workplace“ included buildings where smoking was restricted to designated areas, or where no canadian goose jacket smoking was actually observed. Canada Goose Outlet
Canada Goose online Once again, the same data can tell very different stories depending on how the statistics are presented. „We speak for them. We imbue them with meaning.“ Canada Goose online
Canada Goose sale Several buy canada goose jacket cheap studies, including surveys of research on food products and secondhand smoke, suggest that when a third party has a hand in funding scientific research, it tends to influence the ending of that story whether the scientists involved are conscious of it or not Canada Goose sale.