Ecological Everything

Posts Tagged ‘free-thinking’

I always say “Give me a million dollar and I will craft you a study that concludes whatever you want” ! That is right, just having a scientific studies with result does not mean anything anymore. By who it is funded, how was the data collected and are the conclusions unbiased ?

Science has evolved so much that now we can even get the results we want out of a study. Science got to a point where it can be an art in marketing and not just pure unbiased research. We excel in careful selection of study length, in imaginative reasons to drop specific subjects that are not pointing at our desired conclusion, or simply choosing carefully the parameters that will make our point stand out. It is possible to get the conclusion you require, in exchange for a lump sum of money.

Famous now for its environmental faux-pas, the Concervative party of Stephan Harper didn’t like an European study on the environmental value of the tar-sand derived petroleum. So it decided to produce a study that would show otherwise and opened a public offering to produce an “independent” study on that matter. You don’t like someone else study.. no problemo, buy your own! (With taxpayer money if you can…)

<< Selon le journaliste scientifique Stéphane Foucart, du journal Le Monde, ceux-ci, confrontés aux faits, utilisent le discours scientifique comme un instrument de propagande pour instiller le doute. Ces mêmes procédés qui ont eu cours pour le tabac, l'amiante, le réchauffement climatique, le déclin des abeilles, le bisphénol A, les OGM. >>
— http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/384772/nouvelle-offensive-d-ottawa-pour-vendre-les-sables-bitumineux-a-l-europe

On other side of things, Monsanto got approved almost worldwide GM crops based on 3-months studies. We now know from a french study that health problems in laboratory rats fed GM crops begins after 3 months. Furthermore, it causes sterilization after 3 generations (from another study). The 3-months studies from Monsanto are a HUGE scam that got bought by top world leaders, which makes me realize that to be able to accept a scientific studies, you should be a scientific yourself, not a politician.

And this goes on even on the medical field where pharmaceutical companies produce lots of scientific studies. This is definitely causing some bias.

Well what should you remember from all this : even scientific studies can be flawed. That fact that science backs something doesn’t means it is true. It might be true, or might just not be. Don’t give your trust so easily.