Science and democracy

[purchasemonkey]

   I am currently reading Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science, which is, as one might be able to guess from the subtle connotations of the title, somewhat partisan in its analysis of governmental censorship and/or influence upon science in the last thirty years.

It has gotten me thinking about how science is and is not democratic. One of

Comments

Re: Autism and mercury

[sgeorge1701]

What people tend to forget is, that Mercury was added to SAVE lives while vaccinating (see snipet below). The threat of contamination or bacteria growth IN a vaccine that has travelled far in a truck in the 1930s was REAL - to add a little mercury to prevent the serious illnesses was (and is) a great idea.

Does it cause Autism... I don't see it, doctors don't see it, the European medical researchers don't see it. BUT desperate parents do - and they yell and scream to cover the terror of their sick child.

And it doesn't help that the definition of Autism is much larger than it was 50 years ago. Aspbergers, ADHD, Chronic Autism, and more are much larger in number than the classic rocking Autistic child from the 1940/1950s.

I loved the argument in Marin a few years ago where they seriously debated removing Chlorine from the Water supply - because of the 1 in 10x10^6 chance of getting cancer. And then the Water Quality expert got up to speak and said. If we remove the Choline we will have: Cholera, Diarhea, tuberculosis, and on and on and then he said.. 1 in 10x10^6 chance of cancer in 20 years vs. 1 in 3 people sick or dead in 6 weeks.

You decide.

Marin County still has chlorined water in their pipes.

Steve


The mercury compound, thimerosal, was used as a vaccine preservative since the 1930s, and was viewed as a safe, reliable, and somewhat drab defender against bacterial and fungal contamination. Thimerosal was sometimes added to vaccines during manufacturing to offset production-related contamination. It was thought to have its greatest value in the field, where it acted as a fail-safe against imperfect aseptic handling, especially for multi-dose vaccines, in which the re-entry of needles increases the risk of bacterial contamination. Thimerosal's only competitor, 2-phenoxyethanol, was less effective in suppressing potential contaminants like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, and Staph. Aureus.1 Thimerosal contains 49.6% mercury by weight.