A Similar Problem From The World Of Medicine

The previously discussed problem with circulating earthquake forecasting data is not just with this area of science. Many people have heard about a somewhat similar one that is now a major cause of concern in the area of medicine.

A number of years ago a medical researcher published a paper that I believe stated that he had good statistical evidence from actual test subject that mercury or some other chemicals in the inoculations for various diseases that young children in the U.S. are supposed to receive was causing a significant percentage of them to develop Autism, or some other illness.

That resulted in large numbers of people refusing to allow their children to get those childhood inoculations. And gradually, some of the diseases that they are intended to prevent started to appear once again in significant numbers of cases.

If I remember correctly, mercury or whatever preservative that was being used was eventually removed from the shots. However, large number of people still refused to have their children inoculated.

Finally, researchers took another look at the original data that the first medical research had used. And if I remember correctly, they determine that the data were either of no use or were actually fraudulent. And the original paper was internationally condemned as being a major mistake. However, also if I remember correctly, the original author still insists that his research conclusions were valid.

Even after all of that, large numbers of people still refuse to have their children inoculated. And that is reportedly causing major problems for health workers across the U.S. as some of those diseases are once again becoming more common.

I believe that it has reached a point where many cities in the U.S. will not allow parents to have their children attend elementary school unless they can show some type of certificate that proves that they have received all of their childhood inoculations.

The point is, unsubstantiated rumors or even publications can cause major problems for any number of areas of science and medicine. In this case I would expect that a number of children will die here in the U.S. and might have already died because of a single medical research publication. And even after the matter was corrected people continued to believe what I understand is widely accepted as being inaccurate information.

Once people's trust is lost in something even if that is for no good reason it can be difficult or impossible to get that trust back.

Ask Arnold (humor intended).

These are personal opinions.