That鈥檚 just one tiny example of the widespread harm done by toxic conspiracy theories and imagined dangers, and the underlying distrust they breed.
A British doctor managed to publish a study that alleged the common measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism. Even after his faked data and under-the-table payoffs were exposed, after he was banned from practising medicine, he continues as a paid speaker spreading this lie.
The result is fewer vaccinations, and outbreaks of measles in Quebec, in Britain, and other places. Measles can kill small children.
We鈥檙e surrounded by hoaxes about fake dangers: 鈥渃hemtrails鈥� in the sky (governments supposedly spraying mind-control drugs on us from airplanes); flu vaccines; just about any aspect of medicine; and ordinary food. A French scientist named Seralini published a study alleging that genetically modified corn causes cancer. Though he refused to make his data public and major scientific organizations concluded his study is worthless (he used a strain of rats selectively bred to develop tumours spontaneously at high rates), his conclusion circulates on the Internet, where the level of oversight is no higher than on a bathroom wall.
We can鈥檛 fight every nutty theory individually. It takes too long, and conspiracy theorists instantly reply that any rational argument is part of the conspiracy. But our education system could take a lesson from medical schools, where a current theme is to practise evaluating ideas according to the best available evidence.
This country values its place in a knowledge-based economy. It鈥檚 nice to build Canadarms, but we won鈥檛 go far if we raise the next generation to believe in Maya doomsdays and secret plots to poison us with flu shots and corn flakes.
Ottawa Citizen
