We in the media rarely lie to you.
But that leaves plenty of room to take things wildly out of context.
Thats where most big scare stories come from like recent headlines about GM foods. GM means genetically modified which means scientists add genes altering the plants DNA in this case to make the crop resistant to pests.
Last week Poland joined seven other European countries in banning cultivation of GM foods.
The politicians acted because headlines screamed about how GM foods caused huge tumors in rats. The pictures of the rats are scary. Some have tumors the size of tennis balls.
What the headlines dont tell you though is that the female Sprague-Dawley rats used in the test usually develop tumors -- 87 to 96 percent of the time.
Its a similar story with chemicals that the media constantly tell us to fear.
More often than not rats get tumors if given high enough doses of manmade chemicals. I shouldnt say manmade. Natures chemicals cause tumors at the same rate.
Reporters and environmental activists have incentives to leave out details that might make the story boring. Its useful if you think youre in danger.
Its a great way to get attention says Bjorn Lomborg statistician and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist but it focuses you on the wrong solutions. Instead of doing something that really fights cancer like quitting smoking people devote their energy to banning things like GM foods.
GM foods require less water need fewer pesticides and grow where other crops will not survive.
By forcing farmers to stick to the old-fashioned corn activists and regulators force customers to pay higher prices for food.
Reporters sleep with clear consciences because we (usually) dont say anything completely false. We tell ourselves that we may save lives and draw attention to important issues -- and so what if people err on the side of safety?
But the answer to so what? is that people waste time money and emotional energy and we are less safe because we worry about the wrong things.
Years ago the Natural Resources Defense Council claimed the chemical Alar which helps keep apples from rotting killed kids. When 60 Minutes ran the story I believed it. So did lots of people.
Schools across America banned apples. Moms poured out apple juice. Apple growers lost billions.
But the scare was bunk. Apples even apples with Alar are good for you. Since banning Alar meant apples decay more quickly apples become slightly more expensive and that meant some kids ate less healthy food.
Today we have new scares like the one over plastic water bottles. Some contain a chemical called BPA which activists say causes cancer hyperactivity all sorts of problems.
Chemicals called phthalates which keep school supplies like backpacks soft are accused of damaging kids livers and kidneys and causing asthma.
If these stories were true who could blame parents for being frightened? Who can blame reporters for telling the story?
Julie Gunlock from the Independent Womens Forum blames them. She points out that the activists scare mothers needlessly because over 1000 studies independent studies have said that BPA is perfectly safe.
She knows how the scare stories work: BPA is easily vilified. I mean its invisible. And people tend to say: Chemicals its scary. Ill just trust what some activist organization or consumer rights organization says and avoid it.
Theres no reason to get excited about chemicals -- unless youre an environmental activist eager to acquire money and power.
A lot of them make money on newsletters says Gunlock. Bad news sells. NRDC has raised $185 million by scaring people.
To keep scares in perspective remember all the good news that gets less attention. Coverage of horrors like the shooting in Newtown Conn. makes us think our kids are in more danger today but school violence is actually down.
And despite all the chemicals -- actually because of them -- we live longer than ever.
There is plenty of bad news thats real -- like the national debt and most of what politicians do. But in most ways most of the time the world slowly but surely gets better. To most of us thats good news.
John Stossel is host of Stossel on the Fox Business Network. Hes the author of No They Cant: Why Government Fails but Individuals Succeed. To find out more about John Stossel visit his site at >johnstossel.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. ©Creators Syndicate
We in the media rarely lie to you.
But that leaves plenty of room to take things wildly out of context.
Thats where most big scare stories come from like recent headlines about GM foods. GM means genetically modified which means scientists add genes altering the plants DNA in this case to make the crop resistant to pests.
Last week Poland joined seven other European countries in banning cultivation of GM foods.
The politicians acted because headlines screamed about how GM foods caused huge tumors in rats. The pictures of the rats are scary. Some have tumors the size of tennis balls.
What the headlines dont tell you though is that the female Sprague-Dawley rats used in the test usually develop tumors -- 87 to 96 percent of the time.
Its a similar story with chemicals that the media constantly tell us to fear.
More often than not rats get tumors if given high enough doses of manmade chemicals. I shouldnt say manmade. Natures chemicals cause tumors at the same rate.
Reporters and environmental activists have incentives to leave out details that might make the story boring. Its useful if you think youre in danger.
Its a great way to get attention says Bjorn Lomborg statistician and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist but it focuses you on the wrong solutions. Instead of doing something that really fights cancer like quitting smoking people devote their energy to banning things like GM foods.
GM foods require less water need fewer pesticides and grow where other crops will not survive.
By forcing farmers to stick to the old-fashioned corn activists and regulators force customers to pay higher prices for food.
Reporters sleep with clear consciences because we (usually) dont say anything completely false. We tell ourselves that we may save lives and draw attention to important issues -- and so what if people err on the side of safety?
But the answer to so what? is that people waste time money and emotional energy and we are less safe because we worry about the wrong things.
Years ago the Natural Resources Defense Council claimed the chemical Alar which helps keep apples from rotting killed kids. When 60 Minutes ran the story I believed it. So did lots of people.
Schools across America banned apples. Moms poured out apple juice. Apple growers lost billions.
But the scare was bunk. Apples even apples with Alar are good for you. Since banning Alar meant apples decay more quickly apples become slightly more expensive and that meant some kids ate less healthy food.
Today we have new scares like the one over plastic water bottles. Some contain a chemical called BPA which activists say causes cancer hyperactivity all sorts of problems.
Chemicals called phthalates which keep school supplies like backpacks soft are accused of damaging kids livers and kidneys and causing asthma.
If these stories were true who could blame parents for being frightened? Who can blame reporters for telling the story?
Julie Gunlock from the Independent Womens Forum blames them. She points out that the activists scare mothers needlessly because over 1000 studies independent studies have said that BPA is perfectly safe.
She knows how the scare stories work: BPA is easily vilified. I mean its invisible. And people tend to say: Chemicals its scary. Ill just trust what some activist organization or consumer rights organization says and avoid it.
Theres no reason to get excited about chemicals -- unless youre an environmental activist eager to acquire money and power.
A lot of them make money on newsletters says Gunlock. Bad news sells. NRDC has raised $185 million by scaring people.
To keep scares in perspective remember all the good news that gets less attention. Coverage of horrors like the shooting in Newtown Conn. makes us think our kids are in more danger today but school violence is actually down.
And despite all the chemicals -- actually because of them -- we live longer than ever.
There is plenty of bad news thats real -- like the national debt and most of what politicians do. But in most ways most of the time the world slowly but surely gets better. To most of us thats good news.
John Stossel is host of Stossel on the Fox Business Network. Hes the author of No They Cant: Why Government Fails but Individuals Succeed. To find out more about John Stossel visit his site at >johnstossel.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. ©Creators Syndicate
