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Old 2012-07-11, 04:25 AM   [Ignore Me] #42
MrTinkles
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Originally Posted by Vreki View Post
I will believe them when they start to agree, but as it is now we get a steady stream of conflicting opinions.
There is always something new out there waiting to kill us all, which must be fought at enormous cost to society.
Holes in the ozone layer, radon in our houses, mad cow disease etc.
And yet a couple decades later that threat will just be a footnote in history.

"Science" has cried wolf one time to many.
I know this is a bit old now (I actually read this thread backwards...might even have made it more interesting!) but I've just noticed this!

That's completely wrong!!!

There was a hole (well, two) in the ozone layer and it would have been a lot bigger if we hadn't cut down on the use of CFCs. Fortunately it (the southern one...which was the larger of the two) rarely reached a size to affect populated areas...some years reaching the southern region of Australia and South America. Any increase in cancer due to the higher UVB reaching the Earths surface looks to have been restricted to places such as the extreme tip of Chile...(I suspect those who live there have a different viewpoint on "crying wolf")
Radon DOES seep into houses...and is responsible for thousands of deaths through lung cancer. It's the second biggest cause of lung cancer behind smoking.
And mad cow disease? thankfully there were relatively few deaths from CJD...how many more would there have been if we had done nothing? But, whatever, the science was spot on!

These are NOT examples of a "steady stream of conflicting opinions" but of proper scientific work and of reaching a consensus. There was almost no dissent at all on these three issues...by your own standard of "I will believe them when they start to agree",you should be right behind them!

Or are we saying that we shouldn't have bothered responding to these dangers but just let them happen?

That's a political issue (not to mention a moral one).
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