Junkfood Science: The power of fears

March 22, 2008

The power of fears

A sad article by Dale Dougherty at O’Reilly Radar described the emotional pleas made by people in a small California town who have come to fear that something they can’t see or feel is making them sick. Fourteen people went to a City Council meeting, saying they believed that wireless internet service was causing them health problems, and, rather than examine the scientific evidence, the city rescinded a permit to a local internet provider and left the community without wireless service.

“One can see the fear spreading,” wrote Dougherty. “Science should be a way to dispel such fears but it is clear with this group of people that science cannot be trusted.” Since science cannot prove a negative and prove that there is no risk and eliminate any possibility of harm, they believe technology should not move forward, he said.

He shared some of the comments written on the petition, such as one person describing headaches and feeling sick whenever she goes to the store because of the wifi there and another who believes that the electromagnetic frequencies from compact fluorescent light bulbs is harmful.

As the petitioners noted, these fears were born from studies reported to show a correlation between EMF and health symptoms. While fear-driven anxiety isn’t often soothed by science, in case it might help some, the worries and evidence were reviewed in The Tragedy of Overwhelming Fear and W is for Wifi Woo.

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