A Gresham's Law effect of junk science?
The pernicious impact of advocates' use of junk science is to undermine public confidence in all science, argues an articulate letter in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. William Heller of Greenwood, Indiana, quotes an earlier WSJ op ed piece by Richard Grinker on claims that vaccinations cause autism. Grinker opines: "The antivaccine movement may be evidence that public confidence in science is eroding. . . ." Heller continues:
Proponents of the view that vaccines cause autism provide anecdotal trial "evidence" while the other side cites scientific study after scientific study that shows no such connection. A Gresham's Law effect of junk science and opinion debasing real science seems in evidence. The same factors are at work in the climate change debate. There are reams of scientific data that debunk the carbon dioxide theory of global warming, but the only data that seem to get media play is the junk science of the global warming alarmists.
Useful perspective. Bad science driving out good.
