Why Scientist Don't Speak Up When Science is Distorted?

from Huffington Post by Elizabeth M. Whelan

For years, friends and colleagues have asked me: why don't scientists speak up when the media hypes the latest health scare? They ask why scientists sit mute when self-appointed environmental activists claim there is a cancer epidemic (there is not) or that "chemicals" in products ranging from lipstick to rubber duckies to plastic bottles cause cancer and reproductive abnormalities (they don't). I think I know the answer: it is simpler and safer to remain quiet and let the falsehoods prevail than it is to stand up and confront the hyperbole.

Let me give you a recent personal example.

So much for an educated electorate and a reasoned discourse.