Comments on: Example of Bad Science News Deployment: Caffeine – Leukemia Link

By: Katkinkate

Katkinkate — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:31:53 +0000

Science by media release. They’ve been doing it for years in the “obesity causes every disease under the sun” cause for years and the ‘diet breakthroughs’. Usually the actual research, if it is ever done, don’t support the sensationalist claims, but the negative results never make it into the news.

By: Joshua Zelinsky

Joshua Zelinsky — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:56:52 +0000

There’s an additional problem created by these sorts of stories. People pay less attention to science news in general or messages about what they should or should not eat. When junk like this gets through the response is to just tune everything out.

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:00:33 +0000

And I bet you anything the headline and photo will sink into public consciousness and in a little while everyone will “know” that there is a link between pregnant women drinking coffee and increased risk of leukemia in the children. Now if only we could harness this for good and produce a headline like: “Although nobody has studied this yet, we know that there is life expectancy and there is racism and it is certainly plausible that eliminating racism could increase life expectancy by five to ten years.”

By: Sigmund

Sigmund — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:57:54 +0000

Greg, its clearly a problematic and far from ideal situation.
On the other hand I don’t think these sort of press reports by themselves contribute much to the lack of understanding by the public of scientific methodology. They are symptomatic of a widespread ignorance of things like statistics and evidence but I sincerely doubt that simply changing the few research headlines the public is likely to hear to more scientifically accurate ones will do much considering the ocean of nonsense they have to contend with every day.

By: Irene Delse

Irene Delse — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:47:54 +0000

Oh, the irony! A few months ago, there was a lot of media noise about some exciting new study connecting coffee drinking and protection from dementia, especially in women… http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6930114.stm

By: Romeo Vitelli

Romeo Vitelli — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:46:06 +0000

“Starbucks should sue someone.(whoever is responsible for using that picture)”

Forget Starbucks, Juan Valdez’s mule should be paying them a visit. One well-placed kick from a back hoof should solve the problem. That’s what mules are for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Valdez

By: zombie_bot

zombie_bot — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:44:33 +0000

maybe this headline is rubbish, but people shouldn’t consume caffeine as it makes them moody morons, prone to annoyingly happy and over the top whining outbursts.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:27:54 +0000

Starbucks should sue someone.(whoever is responsible for using that picture)

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:11:38 +0000

Sigmund, I think a major contributor to the general public not getting science, and not understanding the nature of scientific research in the broader social, political, and funding structure, is this sort of bs. There is not really less of it in the US than in Britian (and a lot of our research is publicly funded) so I’m not sure the difference is that important (though it may be).

The fact that there is a funding mechanism that relies on keeping news consumers stupid is a bit of a problem. Not an explanation for problem. An actual problem in and of itself, don’t you think?

By: ThirtyFiveUp

ThirtyFiveUp — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:59:19 +0000

Year one, “Do not drink coffee because the caffeine is bad for you. Decaf is OK if you like the taste of coffee.”

Year two, ” Oooops, do not drink decaf because the method of removing caffeine introduces harmful chemicals.”

Year three, “Do not drink cow’s milk, use soy milk.”

Year four, “Ooops, only drink rice milk, soy has problems.”

Get the picture? Danger, danger!! Do not eat, do not drink, do not breathe; that way you will live forever. Not much fun, but hey, you can’t have everything.