Dr. Conca realizes that many journals and on-line publications need sensational headlines to attract readers. It seems necessary in these times of social media and 24-hour news cycles. But it becomes unethical to push bad science without doing at least a little due diligence. I understand anti-nuke ideology cares little about science and is never held to any technical standard, but in some cases reporting bad science hurts people who need good science to make personal decisions for themselves and their families. A recent textbook case of this malfeasance is the Fukushima-induced thyroid scare in Japanese children. There is no increase in thyroid health problems in Japanese children living in and around the Prefectures of Fukushima and it is unlikely there ever will be (UN Report, Nuclear News, J. of Am. Phys. and Surg., CBCnews, Hiroshima Syndrome, National Geographic, Asahi Shimbun).
However, many so-called researchers, activists and reporters claim thyroid cancers have exploded in Japan and Japanese children are dying by the thousands (Business Insider, Eco Childs Play). They intentionally compared the wrong data sets, data sets that were not comparable, that used different methods, looked at different characteristics, even different ages. These news entities are not particularly known for their treatment of scientific issues and might be forgiven for not recognizing bad research, but just a phone call to a real scientist would have gone a long way to preventing this scare. Unfortunately, these articles get picked up by other news outlets, lending them further legitimacy (Voice of Russia, CubaSi). And Eco Childs Play is supposed to care about children and parents, which they generally do. In this case, however, they have only caused grief and fear in thousands of parents in Japan.
The original URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/06/25/scaring-the-japanese-people-with-radiation-is-criminal/#2af2b93077c3
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
