If I seem to be linking to wormme’s blog a lot lately, it’s because he is a great source of practical information . . . and he hates sensationalist media reports even more than I do. Normally, the effect of junk science sensationalism is pretty small: people worry a bit more about stupid things, but generally get on with their lives.
Sensational — and badly mistaken — reporting on radiation is a big exception to that:
Hundreds of people evacuated from towns and villages close to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being turned away by medical institutions and emergency shelters as fears of radioactive contagion catch on.
Medical personnel turning them away.
Hospitals and temporary refuges are demanding that evacuees provide them with certificates confirming that they have not been exposed to radiation before they are admitted.
Do you readers see the error here? If not, this blog is failing you.
When trained, professional medical staff are confusing radiation with contamination, things are really, really bad.
The article goes on to quote some medical experts — i.e., non-insane people.
“If someone has been contaminated externally, such as on their shoes or clothes, then precautions can be taken, such as by removing those garments to stop the contamination from getting into a hospital,”
But what if it’s on the person?!
In my trade, we have a secret special decontamination technique. I’m violating all kinds of unwritten laws by sharing it, but this is an emergency, right? When a person needs general decontamination we always do this first, and it almost always works. Are you ready?
Soap and warm water.
I’ll probably be drummed out of the National Registry of Radiological Protection Technicians for revealing that.
That may have been the case 30 or 40 years ago when junk science was easier to spot: junk science usually featured photos of Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, crystal skulls, or Erich von Däniken pointing at a Mayan ruin. Sometimes it featured all four. It is much easier today to identify the junk: it often poses as official government policy or medical advice and practice. And the effects of modern junk science are far more sinister — people are not getting on with their lives after they latch on to the latest pseudoscience scare. You probably know people who are terrified of and have changed their lives in destructive ways over —
* climate change
* autism
* allergies
* non-organic foods
* RF radiation
— to name just a few.
In the new normal, the effect of junk science sensationalism is dangerous and destructive. For me, the reaction to the Fukushima accident is not the first demonstration of how the general public reacts to junk science, ill-informed reporting and ignorance-induced sensationalism. Anyone who has had a child sent home from school for saying that they ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch on the weekend has seen all of this before.
Comment by Lickmuffin — March 31, 2011 @ 14:07
Perhaps I was a bit too cavalier in saying that “people worry a bit more about stupid things, but generally get on with their lives”. The point I was trying to emphasize was that, thanks to modern journalism, even scientifically trained people are reacting to junk science scares.
That scares me.
As to your other points, wasn’t it established that climate change is being caused by organic farming? I’m sure I read that somewhere . . .
Comment by Nicholas — March 31, 2011 @ 14:17