Guest post by Warren Kindzierski, Stan Young and John Dunn
Summary
We published a study which evaluated gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma epidemiology research. We observed that this research topic has many falsehoods and hidden biases. Most readers of scientific publications are hardly aware of researchers’ methodological biases we describe in our study unless they happen to be knowledgeable in method limitations of the research topic. But largely they are not. Evidence presented in our study disputes the legitimacy of a gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma causal claim. The public can consider the gas stove−childhood asthma causal claim unproven.
Background
Discussion has occurred recently on wuwt about the gas stove ban because they emit nitrogen dioxide (NO2). See New York Gas Stove Ban, Gas Stoves: The Beloved Blue Flame, Attacks on Gas Stoves Aren’t Really about Health.
We published a study which evaluated gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma epidemiology research. We posted an article, Part I, on the American Council of Science and Health website based on our study. In the article we discussed some falsehoods and hidden biases in gas stove−childhood asthma research. These include:
- Research on NO2 has not established that this combustion gas, composed of three non-carbonaceous atoms, is a carbonaceous allergen. As such, a biologically plausible explanation of a causal link with childhood asthma is tentative at best.
- Questionable statistical methods (excessive hypotheses testing) appear routine in NO2−childhood asthma epidemiology studies. These studies are compromised with unknown false-positive results. This may be, in fact, a characteristic of the NO2−childhood asthma epidemiology literature.
- A p-value plot for a gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma association that we constructed from a set of test statistics in the meta-analysis support randomness – this is not consistent with proof that gas stoves are associated with or cause asthma or respiratory harm to children.
An honest scientist or well-read person with common sense might ask the question… Why is there even discussion of a gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma causal claim if NO2 is not a biologically plausible explanation of a causal link with childhood asthma?
The answer is simple… Academic researchers continue to carry on as if it is fact that NO2 from gas stoves causes childhood asthma. In this article we point out two additional hidden biases of academics in gas stove−childhood asthma research… selective reporting and p-hacking.
Selective reporting
Academic researchers have flexibility to use different methods during a study. They also have flexibility to only report those methods that yield positive results and disregard those that yield unfavorable results. This reporting preference involves a selective bias to highlight statistically significant findings and to avoid nonsignificant (null) findings in research. What is reported can be challenging for policy makers to use because the significant findings may turn out to be nothing more than false positive (chance) results.
Our study gives three examples of selective reporting in published literature specific to the gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma causal claim. One notable example that we discuss is of a well-published, senior academic researcher from Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Bert Brunekreef) with more than 850 publications and 89,000 citations to date.
Brunekreef was at the same time involved in two epidemiology research studies back in 2013 – the ISAAC study and a gas stove meta-analysis.
ISAAC study – Brunekreef, along other researchers across the world, investigated the association between asthma and use of various cooking fuels, including gas stoves, as part of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). ISAAC researchers collected data on 512,707 primary and secondary school children from 108 cities in 47 countries between 1999 and 2004.
The ISAAC researchers examined and presented results for two statistical analysis models for analyzing their data for gas stove−childhood asthma associations. Also, they examined two asthma outcomes (‘current symptoms of severe asthma’ and ‘had asthma ever’) for two age groups (6–7-year-olds and 13–14 year-olds) in these statistical models.
The ISAAC study was published 31 May 2013. All their model results were non-significant. ISAAC researchers, including Brunekreef, stated in their Abstract: “we detected no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis”.
Gas stove meta-analysis – At the very same time of the ISAAC study, Brunekreef along two different researchers, conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the association of indoor NO2 and gas stove cooking with childhood asthma and wheeze.
For a gas cooking−current asthma association endpoint, they combined odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) from 11 epidemiology studies. They declared their result significant (OR = 1.42; 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.23–1.64).
The meta-analysis was published 20 August 2013, almost three months after the ISAAC study. The meta-analysis researchers, including Brunekreef, stated in their Abstract: “This meta-analysis provides quantitative evidence that, in children, gas cooking increases the risk of asthma and indoor NO2 increases the risk of current wheeze”.
This gas stove meta-analysis made no mention of the large, international ISAAC study and its null findings. Why?
p-hacking
p-hacking is a form of multiple hypothesis testing involving the search for significance during statistical analysis of a data set. A layman’s description of p-hacking would be statistical cheating to get the answer you want. A decent discussion of different p-hacking strategies that academic researchers use is provided in a recent open publication.
p-hacking is widespread in scientific literature. An advanced Google Scholar search of “p-hacking OR p-hack OR p-hacked” for the period 2013−2023 returns 12,600 results excluding citations. Statistical experts know about p-hacking, but they appear to be largely silent.
Of interest to the gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma causal claim is a p-hacking strategy involving re-analysis on subsets of a data set in a multiple testing environment. When a data set is subdivided into subgroups and if a particular subgroup is re-analyzed, it can easily find, via diligent searching, chance statistically significant results. If you roll a pair of dice enough times, snake eyes will show up.
As explained in our study, the very same 2013 gas stove meta-analysis discussed above showed evidence of p-hacking:
- The meta-analysis researchers initially examined eight different cause−effect associations (endpoints) in their meta-analysis related to gas stove/NO2 and asthma and wheeze endpoints using the data set they put together.
- The researchers then conducted additional statistical re-analysis on a subset of their data using the same methods. This re-analysis was only on six of the eight endpoints.
- They then undertook further statistical re-analysis on a different subset of their data using the same methods, this time focusing on just three of the eight endpoints.
Others have noted that in epidemiology investigations “there is an increased risk of false claims of effect modification when several subgroup analyses are explored” … and … “there is a need to exercise restraint, viewing subgroup findings as exploratory and hypothesis generating rather than definitive”.
Discussion
Collectively, evidence presented in our study disputes the legitimacy of a gas stove/NO2−childhood asthma causal claim. The public can consider the gas stove−childhood asthma causal claim unproven based on the following:
- Research has not established NO2 as a biologically plausible explanation of a causal link with childhood asthma.
- Questionable statistical methods (excessive hypotheses testing) were common in epidemiology studies combined a 2013 gas stove meta-analysis that we evaluated.
- A p-value plot for a gas stove−childhood asthma association in the 2013 gas stove meta-analysis supported randomness. A random finding is not consistent with proof that gas stoves cause asthma or and respiratory harm to children.
- p-hacking – specifically, re-analysis of data subsets (a questionable research practice) – is evident in the 2013 gas stove meta-analysis.
- Selective reporting (another questionable research practice) is evident in published studies and reviews of gas stove–childhood respiratory health studies.
The majority of published epidemiology research and reviews examined in our study were co-authored by academics. The role of academics in gas stove−childhood asthma research requires further commentary.
Most of the falsehoods and hidden biases in published academic research can be traced back to their methodological biases. Other have referred to these as researcher flexibility or researcher degrees of freedom. In essence, too many academics do what they want during research and then report what they want in a paper submitted for publication. All that is necessary is that they carefully write up a ‘tight scientific story’ to support their research finding to get it published.
Most readers of scientific publications are hardly aware of methodological biases we describe in our study unless they happen to be knowledgeable in method limitations of the research topic (i.e., gas stoves and childhood asthma). But largely they are not. Also concerning is the circumstances of policy makers and media recommending/supporting gas stove bans. They can hardly be expected to have any less knowledge deficit about method limitations and biases in gas stove−childhood asthma research.
As for academics, Ian Oxnevad of the National Association of Scholars describes perfectly the effect that they have on society… “People need to know that academia is not an innocuous place” … “[Academia] is the epicenter for just about everything bad that you’re seeing going on right now.”
Warren Kindzierski is a retired college professor in St Albert, Alberta. Stanley Young is CEO of CGStat in Raleigh, North Carolina and is Director of the National Association of Scholars’ Shifting Sands Project. John Dunn is a lawyer and emergency physician (retired) in Brownwood, Texas.
This is more of a rationale for banning gas as fuel than any real claim of asthma concern.
I would posit that every household in the test group also had …
Electric Lights…so electric lights cause asthma as wire insulation breaks down
W/W Carpeting…so wall to wall carpet causes asthma as the yarn decays (off gassing)
Flush Toilets…so the aerosols generated by flushing toilets causes asthma
Coil Spring Mattresses…so the breakdown of steel coils causes asthma
Color Televisions…so the radiation from color TVs cause asthma
Alarm Clocks…so the passage of time and daily exposure to alarming sounds causes asthma
A Mom and/or Dad…so exposure to parenting causes asthma
The most obvious one has been missed on your list: carbon dioxide as that has increased significantly since pre industrial times, therefore it must cause asthma.😊
Oooh, and Population Density as well. Living in vertical cities causes asthma
Cleaning products containing bleach would top your list. But then that (or the other items you mention) doesn’t provide an avenue for controlling energy use and thereby every aspect of human existence.
That is what their fake study is trying to do.
I believe, therefore it is so.
It stands to eliminate a FF source of household energy therefore it must be so
“I believe, therefore it is so.”
Isn’t that from the famous French philosopher, Discard-es?
I think so 😉
I went on line and did some quick research on asthma causes, of which there are several ‘triggers’ including heredity. Sources consulted included Mayo, NIH, National Asthma Association. None mention gas stoves/NO2. Besides, gas stoves are usually paired with good ventilation, which reduces triggers such as cockroach feces air emissions.
So yeah, the gas stove asthma literature is spurious from first principles. Nice to rigorously show, tho.
Of the 30 people in my family
Grand parents 6 ( mom’s, dad’s step dad’s)
Parents 3 (Mom Dad Step Dad)
Siblings 6 (self, brother, sister, 3 Step Brothers)
Children 1 (daughter)
Niece/Nephew 2 (sister’s kids)
Uncle 1
Aunts 4 (uncle married 4 times divorced 3 times and widowed)
Cousins 7
30 people that I have known over the last 60 years ALL with gas stoves and gas central heat
Zero (0) asthma cases over 60 years
Grand parents died from age (dads parents) 92, 89, (step dads parents) 88, 91, step grandma died of stroke at 88, (moms parents) 68, 84 (Grandpa 84 Alzheimer’s, Grandma 68 suicide (breast cancer))
Father died at 54 suicide (alcoholism)
Mother died at 81 stroke
1 step brother died at 48 suicide (pain induced depression)
Brother died at 60 Civic
Cousin died at 13 polio (of all things)
ZERO Asthma
Any academic worth their salt could show (with math & graph) that those 14 died because of using gas stoves & it’s only a mater of time that the other 16 demise as well.
OR
76% of deaths in the sample family were above age 60 because their food was cooked properly on gas stoves.
Whoever is paying gets the answer they pay for !!!
My middle son had asthma until his teens. Always worst May, FA Cup Final weekend, and September around my dad’s birthday on the 19th. Usually a few days in ICU.
Doctors never gave a reason but I put it down to an allergy or reaction to pollen or fungus spores. He has a nut allergy which as he’s a non-meater make food tricky, no nut cutlets. He spat meat out from weaning, so could have been lack of animal protein and fat, who knows?
Reminds me of an episode of that old TV show “Emergency”. (They tried to keep the medical stuff straight and I think they tried to use actual incidents.)
A young boy with asthma who’s mother wanted him to refrain from certain activities. He thought he’d be restricted his whole life. In the ER Dr. Bracket told him, basically, that the rest of his body was developing faster than his lungs. Given time his lungs would probably catch up and he could life life normally.
(I’m sure that an MD here can correct me …well, TV Dr. Bracket if there’s nothing to that.)
Apostrophe challenged.
The highest concentration of NO2 will be in the kitchen, well ventilated or not? The one place young children are kept out of as much as possible is the kitchchen.
Boiling water, Naked flames, hot oil, sharp knives and a multitude of other hidden dangers.
So the opportunity to inhale high concentrations of NO2 are limited, are they not?
Biden’s handlers now want to try to ban gas furnaces.
Gas water heaters can’t be far behind.
The NO2 as a childhood asthma cause must be the claim rather than the same for adults or even teens, otherwise the many thousands of restaurant employees toiling over gas ranges, ovens, griddles and fryers would be be coughing and wheezing themselves into paralysis.
Maybe all that hacking and caughing is what gives restaurant food that unique flavor
If those “researchers” aren’t considering all other potential causes of asthma and only focusing on gas stoves- then they’re a poor excuse for a researcher. I believe a major cause is cigarette smoke in the house. I have a nephew whose father smoked 3 packs a day until his heart attack at age 45. The nephew developed asthma at a very early age. I’ve heard about but haven’t read about other research showing a connection with dirty homes.
Here in Woke-achusetts, the forestry haters, in their battle to stop woody biomass for electric power claimed the particulate matter from burning wood in a power plant would cause asthma. They said that some cities in this state, especially the Springfield area where a biomass power plant was proposed, have some of the worst asthma in the nation. Well, Springfield does have rather polluted air and dirty homes. Maybe gas from stoves is a potential contributing factor but certainly not the main cause of asthma. It seems that the greens are using asthma as a means to stop everything they don’t like.
Cigarette smoke is one of the main asthma triggers according to the research I reviewed. Another was cockroach droppings. Those might be correlated to low income slum housing
Donno. I had asthma as a child mainly induced by allergy to ever present cats and horses. Had it occasionally as an adult associated with colds. Started smoking in high school and smoked pact-a-day+ for 45 years. Never associated asthma with smoking. Quit 4 years ago and main benefit was morning smoker’s cough cleared up. I’m 73 now and if I’m still kicking at 80 might start smoking again.
I smoked for 16 years, started when I was 11. Quit when I was 27. Guess what? I discovered Food has Flavor. Constant exposure to nicotine causes your taste buds to function at a significantly lower rate. Don’t understand why TV Chefs always smoke so much, how can they tell what their product tastes like?
I think you should smoke some weed and enjoy your final years. I’m 73 too! 🙂
Blair King at A Chemist in Langley debunked this trash “research” back in January.
https://achemistinlangley.net/
Random thoughts:
OK it will be nasty stuff and will appear/manifest as microscopic droplets of Nitric Acid, such is its affinity for water
Hang on, what about the stuff that’s put into gas so that it smells and you will recognise leak.
All those smelly things are based on Sulphur which will become Sulphur Dioxide/Trioxide in the gas flame and become, effectively Sulphuric Acid = an equally nasty substance to the NO₂
Why don’t we ever hear about that?
Being, both of those, very strong mineral acids, the very fabric of nearly all houses will soak it/them up like a sponge. Walls and ceilings will be done with Calcium based plaster, with potent alkali chemistry, so any acids will be very quickly neutralised. The house will be its own ‘scrubber’
Likewise the mortar that holds it all together and ant cement blocks, floors, beams & lintels whatever it also is made from will also soak up those strong acids.
Next: Working kitchens don’t often hold much attraction to kids, unless they’re mixing up ingredients containing sugar. Once the actual cooking starts they lose interest and if any serious cooking is going on, they’ll be told to ‘Keep out’ for fear of getting in the way or burnt/scalded.
Old houses won’t be very well insulated and draught-proofed so there’ll be plenty natural ventilation to clear this stuff.
Newer houses will have low levels of natural ventilation but by definition almost, will have ventilation for the kitchen- just like bath/shower rooms do.
The cooker/hob is bound to have an extractor hood and even its its not switched on, if there’s any breeze outside the Venturi Effect will be sucking fumes/noxious/smelly air out all the time anyway.
In some ways, Asthma appears/behaves like Psoriasis.
In that it’s an autoimmune failure that can be dormant for quite considerable periods of time and then ‘flare up’
In both cases, no-one seems to know what the original actual cause is or especially what initiates the ‘flares’
But those things are trivia and minutia – what really matters is the underlying autoimmune problem. whatever.
And that’s easy, just like ‘normal’ immune failures like when you catch a cold/flu/covid.
That all starts and progresses with:
Nutrient deficiencies in pregnant peopleCaesarian birthsLack of skin-on-skin maternal contact immediately after birthLack of ColostrumLack of breast-feedingVaccines loaded with Mercury/AluminiumBeing introduced to carbohydrates and sugar at very early ageNutrient deficiencies such as Vitamins A, B, C, D and E – also Zinc, Selenium, Copper, Iodine. Esp Vitamin C and Vitamin B to help it metabolise.Highly insulated (=low ventilation) houses filling up with mouldFibre in the diet sucking what nutrients are in the food straight out of youGlyphosate locking up nutrients, the metallic ones especiallyA diet leaning towards vegetarianism with an emphasis on ‘plant based protein’………IOW: far too much Sugar in the dietPlant proteins (Lectins), apart from being the scaffold that defines ‘The Plant’ are a significant part of any/all plants’ defence mechanism. They are put there to to make any consumer of whichever plant ill/poorly/sick if they eat whichever plant
This doesn’t help the plant that actually being consumed at that particular instant but hopefully the ‘consuming critter’ will get the message and not ever eat any more of that plant.
Surely Shirley, after millions/billions oy years of evolution, the plants we see around us now must have some pretty effective defences – else they’d not be here. All the nice tasty nutritions and non-toxic ones would have been eaten to extinction by now.
And the most hideous Lectins you will find most anywhere are in Soya and in Wheat.
By being = proteins, they go right to the very heart of our immune system and drive it crazy – so crazy in fact that, if it doesn’t have the nutrient resources it needs, it takes shortcuts and attacks itself
Well hello hello Asthma, Psoriasis, MS, Crohn’s, Parkinson’s and myriad myriad others.
And we know that pregnant people are nutrient deficient (IOW: Starving) because they produce, not least, Autistic Babies.
All that’s was missing there was Vitamin B, Iron and probably also Copper
Biggest bestest laugh of all: The food we should be eating = the food we evolved eating, doesn’t even need to be cooked.
That Gaia is A Real Bitch int she…..
Man evolved eating anything he could catch. Cooking it simply makes it taste better and not spoil so quickly
My daughter in law is a paediatrician specialising in allergy and her clinical list is full.
Peanut allergy has increased in the U.K. possibly because parents aren’t exposing their children to peanuts just in case they’re allergic, a self fulfilling prophecy. Parents are having to be told to expose their children to small amounts of peanuts as early as possible.
Then there’s the hygiene hypothesis, that children aren’t exposed to potential allergens because they don’t play outdoors or are told to keep away from soil. They have baths or showers daily (when I was growing up we had a bath once a week). An emphasis on keeping the house spotless using antibacterial wipes. Houses are double glazed, no draughts and definitely no dust.
Allergy is due to an overstimulation of the immune system, through a particular family of antibodies (IgE). A member of another family of antibodies (IgG4)actually reduces the inflammatory effects of the allergy antibodies after multiple exposure to the allergen.
Sounds like the reason vaccines (real ones) work. Your body has faced the “invader” before so it’s now primed to deal with it.
My GP doctor told me several years ago that he had begun reading a lot about the explosion in number of cases of asthma and had wondered why he hadn’t had any uptick in asthma patients. He said he had recently been to some medical conference in the US and had asked a number of doctors if they had noticed a rise in the number of cases. He said he couldn’t find one who noted a sign of this ‘epidemic’. That’s is the kind of infallible study that should be done and published. It used to be called the Delphi method – ask the ones who really know!!!)
Salute!
I bet the correlation is high between the increased asthma and the increased insulaiton of our homes and offices to conserve energy.
The old, drafty places may have required more energy to heat or cool, but there was less indoor polution.
Gums sends…
Could well be. There are always many confounding variables.
Back when I studied such things I read that Multiple Sclerosis had a strong association with the latitude at which people lived. Due to temperature, sunlight, or spending more time indoors due to the weather? Dunno.
Yet people who migrated to higher latitudes carried their MS risk with them from lower latitudes. Reasons? Once again, dunno is the best working answer.
Basing causation of an autoimmune affliction on any one factor is a fool’s game, but it brings some people continued funding.
Perhaps the rest of us are the real fools for not milking the cow we are presented with.
Warren,
Not really about gas stoves, but there is enough there that they will eventually go after them.
However, I have been going back and forth with some local Boards as they want to ban byCalifornia Air Resources Board (CARB) Ban on gas and space water heaters found on pages 100-103 in the State SIP Strategy for 2022.
I received this link that the Bay Aea Air quality district was looking to ban them. In the Press Release they mention Asthma.
Warren,
Not really
about gas stoves, but there is enough mention in the CARB rules that they will
eventually go after all Natural Gas hookups.
However, I
have been going back and forth with some local Boards to address this:
California Air Resources Board (CARB) Ban on gas and space water heaters found
on pages 100-103 in the State SIP Strategy for 2022.
I received
this link that the Bay Area Air quality district was looking to ban them. In
the Press Release they mention Asthma.
So I wrote to Dr. Fine as below.
Dear Dr. Fine,
I see there is an upcoming meeting on Rules
9.4 & 9.6. I noticed in this press release provided to me by the PCAPCD, where
there is this statement:
Exposure to NOx has been linked to coughing,
wheezing, difficulty breathing, asthma and increased susceptibility to
respiratory infections. Exposure to particulate matter has been linked to
asthma and other respiratory conditions, neurological disease, heart attack,
stroke, lung cancer and premature death.
I am curious as to the studies on
Asthma. I notice a similar claim by the EPA, but then I looked at
their study, well what was cited in the news article, and was embarrassed
for them, but concerned. I am sure that in the Home of Biotech, that
this statement is backed up by a real study/studies regarding NOx and asthma
and these other diseases. Can you help me find them?
He returned this:
Listed below are several studies referenced in
the support material for the model we applied to estimate the health benefits
of the amended rules (BenMAP model, developed by US EPA).
Asthma studies
· Asthma Symptoms:
Rabinovitch, N., Strand, M., & Gelfand, E.W. 2006. Particulate Levels Are
Associated with Early
Asthma Worsening in Children with Persistent Disease. Am J Respir
Crit Care Med, 173: 1098-1105.
· Asthma incidence:
Tetreault, L.F., Doucet, M., Gamache, P., Fournier, M., Brand, A., Kosatsky,
T., & Smargiassi, A. 2016. Childhood exposure to ambient air
pollutants and the onset of asthma: an administrative cohort study in Quebec.
Environ Health Perspect 124(8):1276-1282.
Premature mortality studies
· Woodruff, T.J.,
Darrow, L.A., & Parker, J.D. 2008. Air Pollution and Postneonatal Infant
Mortality in the United States, 1999-2002. Environ Health Perspect 116(1):
110-115.
· Di, Q., Wang Y.,
Zanobetti, A., Wang, Y., Koutrakis, P., Choirat, C., Dominici, F., Schwartz,
J.D. 2017. Air Pollution and Mortality in the Medicare Population. The New
England Journal of Medicine, 376(26), pp. 2513-2522.
· Jerrett, M., et al.
2013. Spatial Analysis of Air Pollution and Mortality in California. Am J
Respir Crit Care Med, 188(5), 593-599
· Vodonos A, Awad YA,
Schwartz J. The concentration-response between long-term PM2.5 exposure and
mortality; A meta-regression approach. Environ Res. 2018 Oct. 166:677-689.
doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.021. Epub 2018 Aug 1. PMID: 30077140.
NOx study
If you are interested in the health impacts
from NOx, the EPA’s Science Assessment is a useful reference:
Integrated
Science Assessment (ISA) for Oxides of Nitrogen – Health Criteria (Final
Report, Jan 2016) | ISA: Integrated Science Assessments | Environmental
Assessment | US EPA
(Table ES-1 in the above reference summarizes
health effects from exposure to NOx.)
BAAQMD Rule Development
When I look
at the first Asthma study it is about 37 children in Colorado that have asthma,
there are no controls for anything and the Air quality measurement tool is 2.7
miles away, nothing in homes or the school from what i can tell.
The second
Asthma study is a large population survey in Canada that they conclude proves a
link. I have not looked at the EPA study as it is 1800 pages long. This all
seems crazy to post a certain casual link and move us all to electric heaters,
which is or should be a big concern for homeowners in colder areas like the
Sierra’s
Thoughts?
The Canadian study does at least include consideration of strengths and weaknesses. I found the conclusion a bit odd:
“Although other risk factors such as SHS may present stronger risks, the pervasive and involuntary nature of exposure to ambient air pollutants may lead to substantial population impacts warranting preventive measures”
They talk about association not causation, but nevertheless invoke ‘preventative measures’. If modern air pollution is a cause, should not things have been a lot worse further back in time – a lot more people smoked when I was a kid in the 1960s/70s, a lot more people had open coal fires, fewer vehicles but with a lot worse exhaust emissions etc. etc..
So yeah, a lot of work went into this study, but does it really provide any strong evidence? I’m not convinced.
Agreed. It seems as if I wanted to find a connection between Goals scored and Home runs hit by the Canadians and Bluejays and asthma I could. Like the story posted on this site about Home Runs and climate change. These Boards have become very problematic.
All of the epi studies that Fine offered are observational and are cut from the same cloth – afflicted with multiple testing (multiplicity) and other hidden biases. They are irreproducible (junk science). EPA’s ISA for NOx (and all the other ISAs for combustion pollutants & O3) are carefully controlled “government” exercises in selective reporting. The ISAs make sure to play up chamber studies with nebulous/inconclusive findings and false-finding observational studies. They downplay/ignore reporting of negative (null) finding observational and other studies. Conveniently, the NOx ISA ignores the fact that tox studies still cannot confirm/reproduce a link between NO2 exposure & allergic asthma reactions. Lots of “academic” theories, but still lacking proof. Progressive governments all over the world literally fund 1000s of epi studies each year to distort truths and get the “weight of (false) evidence” they want to support their push for increasingly aggressive environmental policies and regulations (e.g., gas alliance bans). There is no rocket science here, the end game is to put out of business the fossil fuel/O&G industry in the name of saving the climate. Honest science in academia (and journal publishing) went out the window decades ago.
Thanks for the reply. I am getting frustrated going through these studies as they make no link (or sense) as mentioned, but they will force us to obey their rules. I have to laugh they are measuring inhaler use in the Colorado study, like nothing else impacts when you need your inhaler. OMG and the measurements of the air are over 2 miles away, not in the homes or the school. I will reply to him and the Board as well as continue to reach out to my local elected officials…. although I know my efforts will be futile.
So about 5.8% of children have asthma
However recent reports say: of those surveyed, nearly 60% reported that they felt either “very” or “extremely” worried about climate change, and more than half said climate change made them feel “afraid, sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and/or guilty.”
Sounds stressful to me and we know stress causes illnesses and premature death. So do we BAN Gas Stoves or Climate extremists? Humm
I guess we will have to revert back to using wood and cow dung to make our cup of tea.
Urban authorities have already come after wood-burners, citing particulates. Better keep quiet about the dung option or they’ll be looking to shut it down as well…
Ugh. Control-F’ed 17 instances of “meta”. Nobody wants to go get data anymore, that takes effort. Everybody wants to sit on their rump at a computer making charts with data someone else got, that’s the easy part.
We have used gas for heating and cooking ever since we moved into this house 38 years ago. My wife, who has been an asthma sufferer since childhood has noticed no worsenment of her condition. Is this another non-problem invented to try to persuade us to drop a cheaper, more-efficient fuel?
As I understand it none of the studies have actually done any work to verify whether the gas stove causes asthma or not but just assume that because some people in houses using gas stoves have asthma it is the stove wot done it! That is they never looked at other factors that might be important.
Coincidentally, we’re in a local power outage here and I was able to brew coffee and prepare breakfast on my gas range. ☕
Salute!
My God, Paul! How crass and uncaring for all “the children”.
A pox on you and your family! You shall be damned to suffer until the end of time…last I checked from Greta and AOC will be in another 6 years
/sarc
Gums sends…
Sounds like they’re beginning with their conclusion and working their way backwards to support it.
What I’d call “The Mikey Mann Technique.”