DO GREENIE ACTIVISTS EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF "INTEGRITY"?

Science "integrity" award a laugh again:

"I was much amused last year at this time when the junk science-fueled Center for Science in the Public Interest announced that the University of Pittsburgh's Herbert Needleman would be honored with CSPI's inaugural "Rachel Carson Award for Integrity in Science." The recently-announced honoree of the second annual "Integrity in Science" award is no less comical - Theo Colburn, co-author of the infamous 1996 book, "Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival." Her book's theme is that man-made chemicals are causing a myriad of diseases and conditions ranging from cancer to infertility to attention deficit disorder....

Colburn wrote that 80 percent of Florida's bald eagles were sterile in the mid-1950s, implying that man-made chemicals were to blame. What was her source for the estimate? How about a banker whose science credential was his claim to be an amateur bird watcher? Now that's authority.

Based on nothing more than bold-faced assertion, Colburn linked the decline of a particular otter population with a pesticide. Far more probable causes for the decline - overhunting or disease - were ignored.

The mid-1960s crash of a captive mink population near Lake Michigan was attributed by Colburn to the minks' diet, which included fish containing chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. But Colburn never scientifically linked the PCBs with the population crash while, once again, overlooking other possible explanations. In a subsequent unrelated passage in the book, however, she noted that it is, in fact, normal for animal populations, particularly those in captivity, to peak and then crash.

She wrote about observations of seagulls living in "lesbian relationships," which were attributed to chemicals without the slightest bit of credible evidence. Colburn also tried to promote the notion that man-made chemicals caused a decline in human sperm counts - a myth that has since been discredited by research questioning whether sperm counts have even declined.....

In the more than eight years since the publication of "Our Stolen Future" and untold millions, if not billions, of dollars spent researching Colburn's ideas, no credible science supports any of her allegations. In 1999, an expert panel of the National Academy of Science's National Research Council found no persuasive evidence that the trace levels of chemicals typically in the environment are disrupting hormonal processes in humans or wildlife.

*****************************************

Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

Comments? Email me or here. My Home Page is here or here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site (viewable even in China!) here

*****************************************