Defending Good Science

January, 2005

The Junk Science Awards

Many of you are just getting back to the office from a two-week break and still coming to grips with the realities of 2005.  With that in mind, it is often fun to sit back and review the insanities of the previous year. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to look at the wild, the wacky and the simply incredible junk science highlights of 2004. 

Coming in at fifth place, simply because it was so stupid it had to be mentioned again, was the 'Iraqi Seed Farmers' study highlighted in last months issue.  Activist groups attempted to claim that Iraqi farmers would be forced to buy their seed for future planting projects only from Monsanto - a claim based neither on fact, legislation or even plausible reality.  I am still chuckling over the response from a Monsanto contact, which was, "Do we even have a biotech business in Iraq?"  Proving that facts never got in the way of a good scare-mongering, the claims can still be found on the Internet...

Our fourth place winner goes to one of our favorite dead horses... the Kyoto protocol, climate change and 'The Day after Tomorrow' movie. It was a movie that many environmental activist groups thought would spark serious discussion about the immediate peril that earth was in... and some activist groups wisely ran away from because it was so ridiculous.  The critics were right - "The Day After Tomorrow' wears its lobotomy scars like a badge of honor."

2004 being an Olympic year, our third place Bronze medallist must be pharmaceutical paranoia.  Vioxx was recalled, Aleve was thrown under the bus, and based on a series of reports, which were often conflicting, the US Food and Drug administration felt compelled to consider issuing warnings on Pfizer's 'Celebrex.'  In a case of risk versus reward, giving up medication for a pseudo-risk is an especially tough pill to swallow.  Pfizer agreed to stop promoting Celebrex until further studies can be conducted - and as a reward they lost $20 billion dollars in value as stock price plummeted 5% in two days. 

The silver medal is awarded to our friends at Canstats, the Canadian Statistical Assessment Service, for blowing the lid off headlines reporting accuracy in the media.  In April, the Globe and Mail (a leading Canadian national newspaper) claimed, "the reporting of scientific research in daily papers is actually pretty accurate, according to a new study." It was Canstats who pointed out that the study in question actually showed that 11% of newspaper articles had moderate or highly exaggerated claims, and an additional 26%of newspaper articles had mildly exaggerated claims.  I guess getting one out of three articles wrong is considered "actually pretty accurate."

Last but not least is our Gold medal finalist - a unique award given only in cases of grotesque junk science that causes harm to an otherwise good industry - is awarded to the novelists cum 'scientists' who claim that PCB levels in farmed salmon were bad for you.

Media headlines across North America reported the news of a study released in 'Science' magazine about a study claiming PCB levels in farmed salmon were higher than fresh salmon.  The author, a noted environmental activist, used the platform to warn people not to eat farmed salmon, and sure enough - farmed salmon sales fell dramatically.  Yet, when the study was roundly debunked as propaganda (the same author tried to release an identical study a year earlier and was laughed out of the scientific media), or when further studies also proved otherwise, the media were silent.  The farmed salmon industry has taken a huge hit to both its credibility and its bottom line.

With stories such as these, as well as elections in the USA, Canada and the Ukraine, mad cows, sick chickens and other junk science scares, I think we can say that 2004 was a memorable year.  So with the start of a new year, it pays to prepare for the next crisis before it hits.  The choice is up to you.

Link of the Month

Protest Warriors...

If you've ever watched environmental activists picket outside a corporate headquarters and thought "I wonder what it's like to join a protest line," there may be an answer for you.

I stumbled across the Protest Warriors website this month... they're decidedly partisan, and appear to focus primarily on the war effort in Iraq, but I thought the concept was humorous enough to mention here.

It's a group of people who picket the picketers, or infiltrate other protests.  One example posted prominently on their site:  a large protest banner saying "War has Never Solved Anything (except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism.)

http://www.protestwarrior.com

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