Flashback – Coke and Pepsi Warnings

Much as the news media tries to upset us at every turn and on every subject, we don’t have time or the energy to be afraid of everything. That’s where perspective and critical thinking come in.

 

The following entry from 2012 gives a couple of examples of how the news media plays to our emotions, not only to enhance their profits, but often hoping we will take the bait and panic. It’s a power play, pure and simple, to push the public in a desired direction. If enough people back a belief, whether it's true or false, the government steps in with more regulations.

[One day I overheard discussion of a news item about using radiation to kill bacteria on vegetables. A colleague asked the rhetorical question, “Who would buy that?” I told her that I had done some reading on the subject recently and the irradiated vegetables were perfectly safe to eat. In fact, those vegetables had been exposed to radiation for at least half of the time they were growing and couldn’t have grown without it. It’s called sunlight. But people don’t think of sunlight as radiation. They don’t consider cellphone signals as radiation (except when falsely warned about cancer dangers). Radiation is thought to be always bad and dangerous – no distinction is made between harmless and dangerous. That would take some critical thinking.

People also fear carcinogens. If it might cause cancer, regardless of the conditions or dosage level, it’s bad. But so many things have been shown to cause cancer (including good-old sunlight, by the way) that comedians joke about it. There are even substances that were once considered dangerous but have earned a reprieve. It seems you can hardly move without bumping into something that at one time or another wasn’t considered deadly.

Now we get a recent news article about a substance in Coke and Pepsi coloring being banned in California because it caused cancer in lab animals. Later in the article it states that humans would have to drink over one thousand cans per day to reach the dosage level given to the rodents. Of course, if you tried to drink that much in a day the amount of water would kill you long before you reached the danger point for developing cancer. (Yes, you can overdose on water!) 

Perspective is about moderation, understanding that you can keep trying to make your food, your beverages and your environment purer but you reach a point where an extra dollar of effort yields pennies in benefit, and finally a point where an extra dollar of effort yields no benefit at all. Yet there are still those with so little perspective and no understanding of science who insist that the water and the air are never clean enough (and the soda never pure enough). Then it’s left to politicians and judges, not scientists, to sort it out.  And who pays any additional costs? – you guessed it!]

Science Optional

An ordinance requiring cellphone retailers to post an advisory about potential radiation danger goes into effect next month in Berkeley, California.  It is called a “Right to Know” measure, but some people feel it will do more harm than good.

New York Times science columnist John Tierney believes it will needlessly increase the stress as well as “detract from more serious warnings like those related to cigarette smoking.”  With so many warnings, people have a tendency to mentally throw up their hands in frustration and begin to ignore them all, or worse, pick and choose which ones they want to believe.

What is the real danger that consumers have a right to know about?  According to the American Cancer Society, the radio frequency waves emitted by cell phones are not enough to raise body temperature and do not cause DNA damage.  There is no evidence in health records or reports; in fact, “since cellphones were introduced, there has not been an increase in brain cancer.”  Several independent, large studies in Denmark and Norway have confirmed that no such harm comes from using cellphones.

Where people go wrong is not distinguishing between the types of radiation.  Cell phones produce non-ionizing radiation which does not affect DNA.  The National Cancer Institute states:  “many studies have examined the potential health effects of non-ionizing radiation from radar, microwave ovens, and other sources, there is currently no consistent evidence that non-ionizing radiation increases cancer risk."

When there is more of a risk from forgetting to put on sunscreen, it seems a little crazy to be worrying about cellphone dangers, a rumor that most of us thought was squelched many years ago.  Some scare tactics never quite die, but they cause problems only when some governing body buys into them and starts making rules.

Coke and Pepsi Warnings

One day I overheard a news item on the radio about using radiation to kill bacteria on vegetables.  A colleague asked the rhetorical question, “Who would buy that?”  I told her that I had done some reading on the subject recently and the irradiated vegetables were perfectly safe to eat.  In fact those vegetables had been exposed to radiation for at least half of the time they were growing and couldn’t have grown without it.  It’s called sunlight.  But people don’t think of sunlight as radiation.  They don’t consider radio and cellphone signals as radiation.  Radiation is thought to be always bad and dangerous – no distinction is made between harmless and dangerous.  That would take some critical thinking.

People also fear carcinogens.  If it might cause cancer, regardless of the conditions or dosage level, it’s bad.  But so many things have been shown to cause cancer (including good-old sunlight, by the way) that comedians joke about it.  There are even substances that were once considered dangerous but have earned a reprieve.  It seems you can hardly move without bumping into something that at one time or another wasn’t considered deadly.

Now we get a recent news article about a substance in Coke and Pepsi coloring being banned in California because it caused cancer in lab animals.  Later in the article it states that humans would have to drink over one thousand cans per day to reach the dosage level given to the rodents.  Of course, if you tried to drink that much in a day the amount of water would kill you long before you reached the danger point for developing cancer.  (Yes, you can overdose on water!) 

Perspective is about moderation, understanding that you can keep trying to make your food, your drink, your environment purer but you reach a point where an extra dollar of effort yields pennies in benefit, and finally a point where an extra dollar of effort yields no benefit at all.  Yet there are still those with so little perspective and no understanding of science who insist that the water and the air are never clean enough.  Then it’s left to politicians and judges, not scientists, to sort it out.  And where do all these additional dollars come from? – you guessed it!