On Conservative Distrust of Science

There’s a  ‘study’ which concludes that Conservatives increasingly distrust science, and this group has shown the greatest change from trust to distrust in the last three-plus  decades.    The author  attributes the intertwining of science and public policy as a possible reason.   Left out of the coverage is the issue of rampant dishonesty and fraud, which has become increasingly visible to those outside the research fields.

In the coverage at the Blaze, there is an interesting comment that people don’t really agree on what science is.   It’s a fact that most people, as a result of the dismal failures in education, have no idea that science is a methodology for studying the physical  phenomena.  Many of them erroneously  think that science is an aggregation of information honored as “fact” by consensus.

Retraction Watch   <—– See a blog which monitors science journal retractions. This exemplifies the main reason why there’s a growing distrust of science. People observe and hear of rampant fraud and abuse. An example of this, the Global Warming Hoax (cult religion), has become very expensive to us.

This former researcher, and present day pharmacist is often hard pressed to distinguish what appears in NEJM, JAMA and Lancet from what is written in the Journal of Irreproducible Results.

Among the false intellectuals who dominate academia, there is little sense of accountability. They scoff at the idea that a person has responsibility to others. This is passed on to their students.

The natural result is dishonesty and work product of low quality. Conservatives, who show a tendency to think in a more left brain fashion, would be the first to notice this and register the loss of confidence.

BOGUS Scientists Say Catholic Nuns Should Take Birth Control | TheBlaze.com

Scientists Say Catholic Nuns Should Take Birth Control | TheBlaze.com.

Your friendly pharmer got  a call from EWTN today regarding This  ‘Nonscience’,  by Kara Britt and Roger Short.

The quality of this Lancet article is comparable to the those  in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, a hilarious research PARODY journal, which entertains science nerds such as this one.  One does not expect parody or satire in the Lancet.  But, yes it sometimes contains garbage.

First of all, the increased incidence of breast cancer was highlighted uppermost in the illustrations of the article  in question, though the pill does not protect against this disease.

Second of all, according to the authors themselves, the nuns show less than or equal risk of ovarian and uterine cancer than the general population  until AFTER age 70.

Third, the lower doses hormone replacement therapy, which used to be given to reduce the risk of such disorders has been largely discontinued, except for short term use for menopausal symptoms, because it was not efficacious as a preventative.

Fourth,  the birth control pills are associated with thromboembolism and stroke to a much higher degree than the pharmaceutical regulatory bodies are apparently  aware, because such associations so often go unreported.

Pharmer  could go on past  number ninety nine  until the readers  are bored to tears.
There is extremely poor analysis of risk vs benefit in this article, and this has generated  one more  insane recommendation of preventative “medicine”.

 The detrimental advice in the Lancet  leads to a burning question:
Did these two authors get whacked with a ruler by nuns in grade school?

The Politics of Maternal Mortality

The Associated Press: Lancet: Sharp drop in maternal deaths worldwide.

Editor of the Lancet,  Richard Horton, despite pressure from advocacy groups seeking UN grants,  published a paper on Sunday  showing a marked drop in worldwide maternal mortality rates.

Advocacy can sometimes gets in the way of science,  Horton said, indicating his disappointment at the pressure.

Maternal deaths fell from a half million yearly in 1980 to about 343,ooo in 2008.

Delay of the story until after the UN meetings was sought, as it was felt that this good news would impede the ability of various groups to obtain funding for their various methods of preventing births, which includes, of course, abortions.

Lifenews notes that Ireland, a country with pro-life laws in place,  has the lowest maternal mortality rate, while Nepal,  a country with abortion on demand, has one of the highest rates.

Maternal mortality Increased by 42% in the United States between 1980 and 2008, according to the study.  During this period,  federal law permitted abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

The study by Christopher Murray and colleagues at Washington State was funded by……… believe it or not, Bill and Melinda Gates.