I was kidding about the snuff btw..., :haha: You add more cancers with snuff than with smoking.
Despite all your protestations, science is backed by evidence collected through testing and observation. It isn't based on conjecture or wishful thinking. If you wish to ignore scientific facts, that is entirely up to you, but don't expect others to do so...
Well yes that's true in probably 90% of the cases, but if you EVER hear somebody utter the phrase "
The consensus is..." when speaking about science..., it is not science but conjecture at that point.
Alas, there is a problem and science is harmed, when folks take the science, and ignorantly or intentionally, skew what the science actually found. :shake: While the scientists finish a first hypothesis and experimentation, they of course come up with additional questions that need to be investigated and answered, and while doing that... some layman runs off half cocked spouting "findings" that weren't found.
Examples,
Remember how nitrates and nitrites in preserved meat will cause cancer??? Well those meat preservatives when mixed with digestive chemicals
in a laboratory setting do form carcinogens. No question. So the word spread and folks started reducing or eliminating their use at any level in many food applications. Among the follow-up questions was "Does this happen in an actual human stomach?" A study was done in Switzerland, very recently, and they didn't find those carcinogenic compounds forming in the stomach. :shocked2: They did find that residual nitrites in the stomach reduced the threat of food poisoning, and that food poisoning had increased sharply among school children from the reduction of the preservatives. Of course, this opens a door to a lot more questions that need answering by a lot more research.
Next come the agenda people. We have a local case, where a local range used for turkey shoots was closed because the shot flew over a small creek, and impacted the bank on the opposite shore, on the property. A local fellow had an independent testing company come in and test the water for lead, down stream from the range. Lead was found, ergo the range must be closed as it's contaminating the water.
Now, folks missed the fact the guy paying for the testing was connected with a company that was going to build houses nearby, and he didn't like the noise from the once a month turkey shoot. Folks missed the fact that the company was actually hired to test the water below the range, but not to determine the source for the lead contamination. The science was good..., the application of the science was bad, and any good scientist would have done more testing to determine the actual lead source....and to eliminate any possible tampering by the developer to achieve his goal. It may be from the range, but none of the proper science actually proved that.
More lead. There are no examples of California Condor deaths due to ingestion of lead bullet fragments nor lead shot.
There is evidence that lead is getting into the birds and is damaging their reproductive abilities, and added to that, the birds are endangered. So came the ban on lead projectiles in California. Maybe it will help, maybe not..., nobody actually knows, yet. In this case it was probably a good idea, but this reaction is overused (imho) in other cases..., such as the previous example.
Then you get the occasional erroneous conclusion by the scientists themselves. Archaeologists found a Native skull at the site of a battle where the Natives were up against Conquistadors with steel and firearms. That skull has a nice, neat, round hole in it. Under electron microscopic examination, that hole is rimmed with iron. Ergo, the archaeologists declared they had found the earliest known evidence of a bullet wound in North America. The iron musket ball struck the Native in the head they declared.
Except the Conquistadors did not use iron to make musket balls...nobody did. They used lead and then when those musket balls ran out, they used river stones. The more likely explanation is that the
round, spiked, butt end of a halberd (which the Conquistadors did carry) was used to pop a hole in the skull of the unfortunate and prostrate Native to ensure he was dead, during the aftermath of the battle.
Unfortunately my friend, we live in a world where
folks paint with a broad brush huge groups that fall under certain headings. One cop murders a person, ergo all cop shootings are murders. The occasional scientist makes a bad conclusion, OR some layman skews good science into a falsehood, and all folks see is "the science was wrong". It wasn't, just what was reported was wrong, BUT folks then think it can all be questioned.
This is a bit off the idea that tobacco isn't bad for you..., it is in any form.
LD