Geoffrey Sherrington
Corruption has been in the news more and more in recent years.
Corruption is in politics, corruption is in medicine, corruption is in finances. corruption seems to be growing fast, but it is hard to measure and define it because many people consider it a bad thing that polite people should mention. So, let us have a look.
Here is one general definition of corruption:
“Corruption is the act and effect of giving or receiving something of value so that someone will either do or not do something, sidestepping a formal or implicit rule about what that person should do, to the benefit of the person giving the object of value or of a third party”.
Source (1). 2017. Antonio Argandoña, in The Changing Face of Corruption in the Asia Pacific
Science is also being corrupted.
“The popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people. Misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience. In turn, the pseudoscience has become a scapegoat for a wide variety of other unrelated ills.”
Source (2): May 5, 2023. Dr John Clauser, Nobel Laureate in Physics:
‘In American laboratories and universities, the spirit of Trofim Lysenko has suddenly been woke.’
Source (3). July 12, 2020. Lawrence Krauss, Scientist and writer, in the Wall Street Journal.
‘When good science is suppressed by the medical-political complex, people die. Politicians and governments are suppressing science. They do so in the public interest, they say … the greatest deceptions are founded in a grain of truth. But the underlying behaviour is troubling”.
Source (4). November 13, 2020. An Editorial in the British Medical Journal discussed ‘Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science’.
“ … the very colleagues who propelled too high, too fast. In the article he comes across as somewhat non-plussed as though worrying about the quality of your data is not what stars do”.
Source (5). February 7, 2020. The corruption of scientists by fame and money. In Clothing the Emperor forum.
Overall, the scientists I have met do not like corruption, but few have done much to combat it.
Scientists like science free of corruption because corruption hinders advancements that help society as well as themselves. Some of these advancements involve new concepts, like the discovery of the chemical polymerase chain reaction PCR by Kary Mullis (6). Other advances can replace conventional wisdom in one stroke, like the discovery by Marshall and Warren that ulcers (7) are caused by bacteria, not by stress, so are treatable with antibiotics. Corruption of science slows such magnificent advances.
The LNT model and the Rockefeller Foundation.
There is a US corruption example (8) now becoming more public following decades of investigation by Professor Edward Calabrese (9) a toxicologist from Amherst University, Mass. This corruption started maybe around the 1950s. It is still with us. It has cost the world billions, maybe trillions of dollars by now.
This particular corruption starts with what seems a mild topic, the relation of the dose of a toxin to its harm. Continuing corruption has kept some questionable science in approved use, while alternative scientific studies have been suppressed by deliberate actions. (10).
The example is about the questionable LNT model, for Linear No Threshold. It implies that there is no lower limit to a toxin dose because harm can be caused by all doses down to “zero” dose, whatever that is.
The alternative Threshold Dose Response models TDR allow for have a lower dose threshold beyond which no harm can be shown. TDR came first in time history. It was replaced by corrupt actions in the 1950s Cold War era.
These dose/harm models are important in science. There was a burst of study after WWII because more people might be exposed to nuclear bomb test radiation. Continued use of the questionable LNT model has affected peaceful uses of nuclear radiation such as electricity generation and how often a person has medical X-ray scans.
The LNT model is applied in many every-day matters. For pharmaceuticals, it is of fundamental importance to the safety of design of medical drugs. For environment protection, the LNT model has allowed regulatory bodies like the US Environmental Protection Agency EPA to exert control over many diverse products and methods. Dose/harm relations are involved with every new product on offer when we spontaneously ask “Is it safe?”
In this LNT case, the corruption began with a display of power and wealth at US Presidential level. This was done by the Rockefeller Foundation, here “The RF”.
Cut to the chase, in the 1950s The RF stacked the deck with its own people and money to get authorization from President Eisenhower for government-approved research into harm from nuclear radiation doses.
Here is a time series of some main events: Apart from Eisenhower, all people were linked to The RF.
1949. Edward B Lewis, biologist, became a Fellow of The RF.
1950. Detlev Bronk from The RF was appointed President of US National Academy of Sciences, NAS.
1950. Dean Rusk became a trustee of The RF.
1951. Detlev Bronk joined Board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
1952. Dean Rusk became President of The RF.
1953. Detlev Bronk became President of the Rockefeller University.
1953. The RF Board discussed the strategy of study of nuclear radiation doses on humans.
1954. Warren Weaver became Vice President for Natural and Medical Sciences of The RF.
1955. Detlev Bronk became President of National Academy of Sciences.
1955. Dean Rusk, The RF President, wrote to US President Eisenhower, to authorise the National Academy of Sciences to conduct The RF research proposal. (Link to letter below).
1955. US President authorised National Academy of Sciences to be involved, as requested.
1955. Creation of the main NAS Committee on Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, BEAR.
1955. Warren Weaver, The RF President for natural and Medical Sciences, appointed to head the BEAR Genetics Committee.
1955. BEAR program appointed six committees: genetics, pathology, meteorology, oceanography and fisheries, agriculture and food supplies, and disposal and dispersal of radioactive wastes.
1955. The BEAR Genetics committee was instructed by geneticist Tracy Sonneborn (earlier grantee of The RF) to dismiss alternatives to the preferred new LNT model.
1956. First BEAR report.
1956. The NAS arranged for Scientific American staff to write the Genetics Panel Public Report under Weaver’s guidance.
1957. E B Lewis (Fellow of The RF, 1949) published an influential paper in Science “Leukemia and Ionizing Radiation” describing harm from low doses, supporting LNT.
1960. Second BEAR report.
1961 Dean Rusk left The RF to be US Secretary of State under President Kennedy.
Here is the letter from The RF to the US President. (11).
By these actions, The RF used power and money to capture the essence of the management of nuclear radiation risk, which is now excessive and costly. Power and money have been used to entrench the LNT model ever since. Its central role in regulation of industries and people has grown.
Incidentally, it is plausible that Australia’s post-1950s history of no nuclear electricity generation by law, is related to the LNT fearmongering by The RF and others. Elsewhere, the cost to build new nuclear power plants globally is now near an order of magnitude greater than the real cost.
Colleague Peter Lang has published nuclear cost estimates (12) affected by zealous regulation.
In this 2023 summary paper, (13) “EPA” in nuclear regulation shows 40 times by word search.
The central importance of LNT is the enablement of regulators to intervene in every activity of people and industries that involves harm of one type or another.
This 2018 paper (14) by Cardarelli & Ulsh amplifies the theme. LNT has transformed from a scientific model to a tool of regulation. Proof of this comes from observing that those who promote LNT today are mostly in regulatory positions, while those objecting to LNT are mostly from industries with hands-on experience.
This split between researchers is also evident in publications about the reality and benefits of hormesis, a process described in many publications by Dr Calabrese.
The Rockefeller Foundation, “The RF” and Woke.
The RF began by philanthropic grants of money to advance science, especially in medicine. Its first big, successful project helped to eradicate the Hook Worm as a threat to human health and longevity. Today, scientific support by The RF seems to have metamorphosed like a beautiful butterfly turning into a caterpillar. The RF is now selling its soul to regulators as seen, for example, this extract supporting guesswork by EPA. (15).
“Nevertheless, unless compelling evidence for a practical threshold can be obtained, it must be acknowledged that there is likely to be a risk even at the lowest doses of ionizing radiation. Denials only fuel distrust. It is better to acknowledge that the science, so far, is consistent with a non-zero risk at low doses, even if direct verification is lacking”.
There was erosion of hard science evident in The RF way back after WWII. Read these formative, chilling lines from The RF Annual Report for 1945. (16).
“We cannot escape the obligation, in this scientific age, to comprehend science; but in the supreme question which faces our generation, physics and chemistry and engineering have no answers for us.”
Today, The RF is not merely leading the woke inventory. It is a creator of woke ideas. Few people have yet studied and reported upon the woke movement – it is one that is savage in casting out those who criticise it. My personal preference for dealing with woke (17) aligns with descriptions in this March 2023 video by James Lindsay.
”Woke is supposed to advance equity … The definition of equity comes from the public administration literature – “an administered political economy in which shares are adjusted so that citizens are made equal”. They’re going to redistribute social and cultural capital in addition to economic and material capital. Woke is Maoism with American characteristics. Woke is Marxism.”
Recall that The RF started out in 1913 as a philanthropy to disburse money accumulated by John D Rockefeller (Snr.) from his business with Standard Oil and others. For a while, it stuck to its knitting as its Charter required. Today, much of its philanthropic funds is from investments in businesses. At the start, it did not pay income tax because there was no such tax. Today, it has tax benefits that to some might seem inconsistent with philanthropy. It is plausibly a scavenger of new ways to treat or to control Society. Some of the causes it is now funding are not in need of philanthropy. For example, it gives grants that promote the idea of climate change, which some regard as replete with corrupt science.
The RF is now giving to causes less poor and needy, illustrated by this extract about control of international banking. (18)
.“New York | June 20, 2023 ― Ahead of the New Financial Pact Summit, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and The Rockefeller Foundation announced USD 2,781,783 in funding from the $5.25 million Multilateral Development Banks Challenge Fund (“the Fund”): Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Caribbean Development Bank, FSD Africa, IDB Invest, Risk Control Limited, and University of Leeds. The six grantees, which were selected to help increase efficiency and innovation in the world’s development finance system, advance the Fund’s overarching goal of accelerating investment for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement”.
The RF is now flirting with arm wrestling the US Supreme Court (19) whose 2023 judgement on inclusion was questioned:
“The following is a statement by funders and philanthropic organizations in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.
“A full list of signatories follows. The Supreme Court’s decision impedes colleges and universities from selecting their own student bodies and fully addressing systemic racial inequalities that persist. The ruling threatens to return this nation to a time when education and opportunity were reserved for a privileged class. It endangers sixty years of multiracial movements to challenge our nation to live up to the ideals enshrined in our founding documents. The decision erects new barriers to building a society in which everyone has the opportunity to improve their lives, communities, health, and education”.
One might ask if The Rockefeller Foundation, once a friend of science, society and industry, is now a powerful enemy.
Remediation.
(These remediations are purposely written in loose science language so that more people can understand.)
Suggestion 1.
For remediation, the regulatory industry should abandon unsupported loose science in favour of hard science.
Science is diverging into traditional “hard” science and newer “loose” science. Hard science is validated by measures to estimate, to display and to minimise uncertainty. Loose science tends to be silent about or pay lip service to uncertainty; belief tends to dominate over observation and measurement.
In financial circles, auditors used to be proud, even required, to account for the very last cent. Today, many people care little if a figure is in millions or billions of dollars. Despite the 3 orders of magnitude between them they are just large numbers that numb the mind.
The split between hard and loose science started in my lifetime. Nuclear radiation harm was a topic that I studied from 1972 at age 29 after we discovered the Ranger uranium deposits, for a while the largest and richest the world had known.
Suggestion 2.
Scientific publications should advise authors that their place of employment should not impact on their pre-publication scientific studies.
Hard science authors are now mainly from industry and research bodies within and close to industry. Loose science is more associated with those who regulate science. Many of the regulatory science authors are now expressing desperation, cutting corners in the “publish or perish” academic atmosphere, desperate for salary to fund the next sex-change operation on their children in accord with ideals of woke about what a modern parent should do.
Suggestion 3.
Try to advance science with impartial methods.
Traditional science has advanced through better science replacing poorer science. Objection to existing science is integral to the scientific advance. But, there has been an increase in the rate of disappearance of papers ready for publication and in the cancellation of papers already accepted. An example of such rejection happened recently when a medical science pre-print paper by Hulscher et al about autopsy results from Covid-19 vaccinated people was visible in The Lancet for only a few hours. (20).
Suggestion 4.
Scientific authors should learn more about the science of measurement uncertainty.
Proper estimates of the uncertainty of numbers used in publications is essential for their integrity. While some papers show excellent understanding of uncertainty, others publish works with naïve estimates that can mislead. The quality of treatment of uncertainty is a measure of the quality of the research. There are many examples from climate change science, where past temperature measurements are reported badly. An article that I wrote for Watt’s Up With That blog a year ago expresses some measurement uncertainty problems. (21).
Suggestion 5.
Be aware that the use of power and money continues to corrupt science; try to speak against this privilege.
Suggestion 6.
Study the actions of “philanthropic” bodies to discern if they are any different to a commercial organization that might not enjoy taxation advantages.
Bodies such as The RF, the United nations UN, the World Health Organization WHO, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to name just a few, comprise unelected people who at times are working against the directions of Governments and people. A recent example from medical sciences is explained in this video by a British MP in the House of Commons, Andrew Bridgen with Dr John Campbell about the WHO. (22).
Suggestion 7.
Smaller publishing companies from many countries could be more aggressive in earning market share for scientific publication.
Scientific journal ownership is complicated and under frequent change. Several of the major scientific publications like “Nature” and “Scientific American” are/were owned partly or mostly by German companies. (23).The leading journal “Science” is owned by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS. Over the last 2 decades, Germany has been at the centre of climate change activism and government policies like Energiewende that have had downside financial implications that might imply that the German philosophy had got it wrong. Scientific publications, if indeed affected this way, could improve with wider national diversity of ownership and direction. From Wikipedia:
“In 2013, prior to the merger with Springer and the creation of Springer Nature, Nature Publishing Group’s owner, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, bought a controlling stake[3][4] in Frontiers.[5] Before Springer Nature was formed in 2015, Nature Research (as the Nature Publishing Group) was a part of Macmillan Science and Education, a fully owned subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.[6]”
References:
(1). The Changing Face of Corruption in the Asia Pacific | ScienceDirect
(3). The Ideological Corruption of Science – WSJ
(4). Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science | The BMJ
(5). https://www.jsmf.org/clothing-the-emperor/2020/02/07/the-corruption-of-scientists-by-fame-and-money/
(6). https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1993/mullis/facts/
(8). HPS.org
(9). Edward Calabrese : School of Public Health & Health Sciences : UMass Amherst
(11). https://www.geoffstuff.com/preslet.docx
(12). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2899971
(15). https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-05/documents/low-dose-284-291.pdf
(16). https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-1945-1.pdf
(17). https://youtu.be/OVZPYQS1dFA
(20). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4496137
(21). https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/24/uncertainty-estimates-for-routine-temperature-data-sets/
(22). New WHO International Health Regulations concerns – YouTube
(23). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Portfolio
(24). https://www.geoffstuff.com/sicorruption.docx
………
The source material for this article is drawn from a number of longer extracts from the literature. Summarised in Supplementary Information. (24).
Much of the quoted material in this article is Copyright 2003 by The RF. The author of this article has reproduced material under the US fair use doctrine, summarised as: Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports.
The author.
Geoffrey Sherrington is a scientist in Melbourne, Australia. A self-composed c.v. is here.
https://www.geoffstuff.com/curriculum.docx
Editor’s Note: I noticed when I read this article that Geoff had missed the sponsorship of the notoriously alarmist Climate Nexus
Climate Nexus is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors,
https://climatenexus.org/mission-role/
a 501(c)3 organization.
For more on this topic, go to ClimateTV and select the topic Climate Corruption
I forget who claimed that any organization that is not deliberately conservative becomes leftist.
The Rockefeller Foundation is a marvellous organisation that does amazing work for Russia and China. sarc
Interesting idea. It seems like a corollary to the Iron Law of Oligarchy or Jerry Pournell’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
The upshot of both versions is that the people you absolutely don’t want to take over a democratic organization, do so. The purpose of the organization then becomes the survival of the organization. Whatever they have to do to preserve and grow the organization is exactly what they will do, no matter how fraudulent, venal, and corrupt it is.
In his magnum opus, The Matter With Things, Iain McGilchrist documents the problem in a chapter on Institutional Science and the Truth.
John Campbell tries to document the corruption of medicine, with regard to covid, but has to be very careful because YouTube has threatened to take his channel down. He can’t even mention Ivermectin. He can wonder why we have continuing excess deaths in the wake of covid. Although he doesn’t make a direct comparison, he presents a huge amount of data showing that vitamin D is way more effective than booster shots.
John O’Sullivan when he was editor of National Review said it.
Corruption of the medical community by the government & pharma has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people – this is evil,in addition to corrupt
Millions have died – you forgot that abortion is an early part of the woke corruption of medicine.
The new default position among leftists seems to be abortion up to the moment of birth, for any reason.
A small but growing number are even willing to accept abortion after birth.
But it’s good for promotions along the way…
story tip
Stanford president to resign after investigation of research – STAT (statnews.com)
William Howard,
Thank you for this sad story.
Unfortunately, it has become commonplace. When I started in science, there were few such incidents made known.
I do not have any magic formula to combat it, because it seems to me – and I might be quite wrong – that the fundamental ethics and morals of those earlier times have lately been degraded. The meaning of simple concepts like truth, honesty, guilt have changed to be less important. Now, you try what you think you can get away with.
This trend is evident among our young, sadly. As I write, I hear a news item where 3 youths were stabbed when two groups met. One youngster phoned words quite like “Steve’s chucking his guts up, Mum, call the fu###ng cops”.
The caller was said to be about 11 years old.
It is hard to imagine the adult this caller becomes, being amenable to education about ethics and morals of societal conduct.
Geoff S
Corruption of the peer review process in climate “science” is rearing its ugly head again.
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/think-of-the-implications-of-publishing
The following excellent comment is from Pielke’s substack (see above) and is directly relevant to this article.
https://substack.com/profile/4283325-joseph-j-zuckerman-md
Scissor,
Roger published some excellent material just after I finished my article, so I could not include it.
It was hard to select examples of corruption of science because globally, it is so widespread. Sadly, an embarrassment of riches for the writer! Geoff S
Great job, keep up the good fight.
Also Geoff, It is hard to find examples if rejected papers never see the light of day. Furthermore, the ‘work’ of peer reviewers is protected by copyright laws.
Getting a paper over the line from outside the tent is an exhaustive process. Failed repeatedly … which is why my colleague and I started http://www.bomwatch.com.au
All the best,
Dr Bill Johnston
Yes, Bill, I concur.
It is hard to understand why people doing the wrong thing fail to understand their wrongs and fail to proceed to self-improvement or even apology. Geoff S
The LNT model is the rationale for the graft and rent-seeking in brown-fields and radon remediation. It’s now impossible to finance building renovations unless banks hire engineering firms to investigate contamination at the building owner’s expense and hire the firms that do the work. The word “radon” has never appeared on a death certificate.
You get more of what you subsidize.
* Parents subsidize children who never learn the value of work and look forward to college as four more years of not working.
* Student loans subsidize students who have no real aptitude for learning and have to fish around for studies which require no intellect.
* Federal research grants subsidizes researchers who have no real aptitude for research and fish around for fields which require no intellect.
This perfect combination of ineptitude is why academia is full of Marxists and wokists.
This is a very good and important guest post. I can speak from personal experience in two areas, ‘medicine’ and ‘climate’.
A personal medicine example. My significant other was knocked down by an out of control skier while on a slope with her instructor. After PT rehab, she developed excruciating neck pain. I got her to see the top orthopedic at U Miami Med school. He recommended a 4 vertebra neck fusion, for which he just happened to be the top South Florida surgeon. I was horrified, so used my previous Mayo connections to get a second opinion at Mayo Jacksonville from the recommended top person there. Handed the Mayo doc the entire stack of Miami paperwork. The neurologist shoved it aside, then gently placed a hand on her head, slightly compressed and gently turned her head. No pain. The neurologist said, “I don’t yet know what is wrong, but it isn’t your neck.” Miami paperwork went into the round file. Turns out it was a frayed shoulder nerve under the left scapula, surgically minimally invasive repaired at Mayo. No problems since.
A personal climate example. I called out Marcott’s 2013 hockey stick in Science at the time—clear cut academic misconduct. (See essay ‘A High Stick Foul’ in ebook Blowing Smoke for details.) Sent the smoking gun evidence to Marsha McNutt, then editor in chief of Science. Her Admin acknowledged receipt, then nothing. Marcott got rewarded with a tenure track Assistant Professorship at U Wisconsin Madison, and McNutt got rewarded by promotion to head the NSF. Scientific Corruption personified.
Rud,
You write comments on WUWT that I value because of your experience and skills. Thank you. Geoff S
I knew a guy who had a limp- his doctor said he needed neck sugery- on his neck vertebrae- he got the surgery- it didn’t solve the problem- it turned out he has MS. To get to that vertebrae they had to go in from the front of his neck. Sounds horrible to me. I don’t trust any doctors. Nurses are much better.
By coincidence, in 1994 I had a graft of 2 neck vertebra via an incision at the back of the throat. The bone graft was cut from my hip and that was the painful after-effect. It happened from a small slip down a mountainside in far west China. Weeks later, my concerned hosts in China, without warning, kindly sent me 4 glass vials of unlabelled white powder traditional medicine, one of which broke and made a mess that Aussie customs detected and stamped in purple ink. The location was close to the Golden Triangle drug source in North Burma, so I am left forever wondering what my Customs file contains. Geoff S
This may be a coincidence, but with a couple of exceptions the doctors I have known are all Hard Left in political orientation.
Graeme,
The trend that I see among medico in Australia is obedience to the normal medical treatment. Not much sign of wanting to investigate departures from the norm. Not much interest in Covid vaccine side effects. We simply followed the de rigeur vaccination recommendation and had 3 jabs. Deepening regret.
Geoff S
Don’t sugar-coat this pill. It is out and out LYING.
Also, for the LNT graph, the word should not be ‘SAFE’, but ‘BENEFICIAL’.
cuddywhiffer,
I do not think that it is yet established that there is a hormesis benefit for all toxins or radiation, but I would be pleased to see your evidence if you disagree. I was tempted to include hormesis in this article, but it was already long and would have taken many background words to outline the controversy caused by corruption. Geoff S
Don’t low levels of radiation help drive evolution, small mutations?
Geoff,
Thanks for the great article. Always love to hear your input on topics.
Thank you Geoff. So much of this is overlooked to our detriment and the prospect of unwinding it often seems daunting. I look forward to a renaissance… living in hope.
The problem is with the universities, if we could fix them the problem would be 85% solved.
Bob, the problem starts with the home and parents. Children must be taught to be responsible and share in all the household chores. Gifts must be a surprise and not entitlement. They must accept that if they complete a tertiary training it must be to do a real productive job and finance this themselves. Universities are not to help students explore their hobbies – they can do this in their own time on their own dime – but to help them become productive and self supporting citizens. If Universities were to scrap the worthless degrees they could reallocate the funds to train the people we need for a strong and economically stable community.
RE: Professor Edward Calabrese (9) a toxicologist from Amherst University, Mass.
The University of Massachussettes at Amherst shares the town of Amherst with the college of that name. To keep their impression of “balanced views”, Amherst College may still keep a conservative thinker like Hadley Arkes on staff (would be interesting to know who if anyone). Calabrese is at U. Mass.
RE: RF and their animosity to real climate science: your overview suggests ESG became Rockefeller Junior’s raison d’etre some time ago, maybe as a way of keeping the wealth that he inherited but rejecting the image that goes with it.
Who are the biggest climate philanthropists? (This the “short list” on Google.)
I found that a really short Google list was “Which are the biggest climate skeptic philanthropies?”
It would seem that moneyed left-wingers cannot resist the appeal of a bandwagon playing virtue-signalling anthems. Science swims in a sea of noble cause corruption.
Lately PFO and PFAs have been in the national news as well as here in Colorado as these “forever chemicals” have been found in the drinking water and in most people’s blood at some level. Our local reservoir has been cited but claims it’s within EPA threshholds for safety. Your reference to the linear no threshhold (LNT) studies resonates with me right now because it seems to be the pertinent factor in assessing what makes for safe drinking water. Government is about to step in with fixed standards. Consumers meanwhile must learn more than we ever wanted to about chemicals we can’t pronounce and the relative value of the carbon filters that we (apparently) must buy to keep them out of our bodies. We’re at the mercy of too much information, and too little verifiable science.
Corruption often comes under a disguise of being legal but in fact is legalized theft.
We use a word like lobbying. This sound respectable but is legal bribery i.e. theft.
“corruption seems to be growing fast”
Nah, it’s been with the human race ever since we left living in tribes. There always was and always will be scumbag humans wanting to better themselves at the expense of others. Including aristocracies, churches, political parties, scientists- along with low life corruption of bullies, obnoxious neighbors, ad infinitum. Though a minority of the human race, they ruin it for everyone.
“There is a US corruption example (8) now becoming more public following decades of investigation by Professor Edward Calabrese (9) a toxicologist from Amherst University, Mass.”
Amazing he’s allowed to do this work- must have tenure. Otherwise, Mass. is of course one of the most woke places on the planet and so is U. Mass. That’s where I spent 5.5 years being a professional student in the late 60s and early 70s. It was and still is a party campus. In hindesite I should have gone to a college in some small, quite town in the heartland. If I had done that I probably would have been a better student and now retired with a nice pension. My excuse is that it was the only place I could afford. It was only – something $600/semester. Now I think it’s $15,000/semester or maybe more. Cheap compared to elite colleges but out of reach for blue collar families. As for blue collar families, not many of those left here in Woke-achusetts- best to export those jobs to China and Mexico so it can now brag how it has the lowest carbon emissions of any state per capita.
JZ,
There is a link in the article to Prof Calabrese that shows his voluminous contributions to advancement of science on several topics. One of the other links is to a paper of his that has more than 300 references to the LNT topic. Such diligent scholarship has to be respected. Geoff S
Australia has a new National Anti-corruption commission. I would like to report the corruption of climate science through the activities of the BoM and CSIRO.
However it is not easy to build a case when these players are essentially useful idiots pandering to the government wishes and just making a living from their soft corruption.
One of the major sticking points is “settle science”. The day that is woke again to be a skeptic and recognise that no science is settled will be when things might be heading in the right direction.
Unfortunately, the American and probably entire western world of Academia has been largely capitulated to leftists. The few universities that still have a clue like Hillsdale College in Michigan have found it necessary to forgo federal funding to avoid capitulating to leftist ideology. Science ma still has a place in many public universities but the student body and faculty are now dominated by Asians who are taking the best of scientific discoveries back to their homelands and putting it to work eating our lunch economically. America is definitely entering a period of decline…Like an aging matron who can’t lay off the chocolates….