Save the Bottlenose Dauphins!
Apr. 21st, 2011 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueExhibit googlety million in our national pregnancy hysteria (crossover with bad science reporting edition):
The actual study: Mostly low-income minority children who were prenatally exposed to a pesticide used (and probably overused) for bug-control in some low-rent urban apartments prior to being prohibited for interior use in 2001 now have IQ levels 2.7 to 5 points lower than a control population. A similar result was found among women in agricultural communities where the pesticide is still sprayed. No such effect was found on those with post-natal exposure.
The study as widely reported, notably on ABC stations: OH MY GOD IF YOU EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WHILE PREGNANT YOUR CHILD WILL BE INCREDIBLY STUPID. Never mind that the studies weren't looking at diet, but at inhaling something deliberately sprayed all over the area where you live, and also showed a quite small IQ drop that is undoubtedly much less significant than the other developmental deficits almost certain to be experienced by low-income youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly those in bug-infested apartments.
But shit, we don't need to worry about poor kids. We need to freak out about factory farming again and terrify women into not buying any vegetables that cost less than $5* because they might be dangerous. People are dying of hunger, but that's cool with me as long as my rich white baby is completely pure and never touches anything which has not been personally and lovingly hand-raised by a doula specifically for its individual pleasure and edification.
* Embedded in the "so only buy organic" reaction is an assumption that organic is pesticide free. Nope, although it doesn't use organophosphates - it uses other dangerous stuff. One of the tools we have to reduce pesticide use without endangering food supply? You guessed it - GM crops, aka "frankenfood." Because when it comes to nature (brutish, short) versus science (vaccines, punnett squares), science rules. Other man-made technology which I think is a big step forward: shoes, telephony.
The actual study: Mostly low-income minority children who were prenatally exposed to a pesticide used (and probably overused) for bug-control in some low-rent urban apartments prior to being prohibited for interior use in 2001 now have IQ levels 2.7 to 5 points lower than a control population. A similar result was found among women in agricultural communities where the pesticide is still sprayed. No such effect was found on those with post-natal exposure.
The study as widely reported, notably on ABC stations: OH MY GOD IF YOU EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WHILE PREGNANT YOUR CHILD WILL BE INCREDIBLY STUPID. Never mind that the studies weren't looking at diet, but at inhaling something deliberately sprayed all over the area where you live, and also showed a quite small IQ drop that is undoubtedly much less significant than the other developmental deficits almost certain to be experienced by low-income youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly those in bug-infested apartments.
But shit, we don't need to worry about poor kids. We need to freak out about factory farming again and terrify women into not buying any vegetables that cost less than $5* because they might be dangerous. People are dying of hunger, but that's cool with me as long as my rich white baby is completely pure and never touches anything which has not been personally and lovingly hand-raised by a doula specifically for its individual pleasure and edification.
* Embedded in the "so only buy organic" reaction is an assumption that organic is pesticide free. Nope, although it doesn't use organophosphates - it uses other dangerous stuff. One of the tools we have to reduce pesticide use without endangering food supply? You guessed it - GM crops, aka "frankenfood." Because when it comes to nature (brutish, short) versus science (vaccines, punnett squares), science rules. Other man-made technology which I think is a big step forward: shoes, telephony.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-22 12:50 am (UTC)"Bottlenose Dauphin" is hysterical.
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Ciro