In a year when Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein made the bogeyman look like
the Tooth Fairy, the 'environmaniacs' kept telling anyone who would listen
the Earth was doomed and everything you ate, drank or breathed would kill you.
Here's my 12th annual review of "The Most Dubious News Stories of the Year"
on behalf of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about scare campaigns that I founded in 1990.
The Obesity "Epidemic." In a campaign similar to that leveled against the
tobacco industry, the drumbeat of news about an "obesity" epidemic stayed in
the news much of the year. This attack on the fast-food industry was greeted
with joy by trial lawyers, the only people to actually benefit from idiotic
lawsuits. In July, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine
warned against trans-fatty acids thus putting vegetable shortening, dairy
products, pastries, crackers, and fried foods off limits. That same month, a
New York City lawyer filed a suit against four fast-food corporations on
behalf of an obese client.
Beware of Chocolate. In May, a California group, the American Environmental
Safety Institute, launched a lawsuit against major chocolate makers for
failing to warn consumers against the alleged danger of infinitesimal amounts
of lead and cadmium. Trace amounts of minerals, including arsenic, exist in
everything we eat without any demonstration of harm.
EPA says toxic sludge is good for fish. In June, the Environmental Protection
Agency and Army Corps of Engineers defended the dumping of toxic sludge into
the Potomac River saying that it may "actually protect the fish." Despite the
Clean Water and Endangered Species Act, the EPA continues to ignore the
threat its toxic sludge policy poses to both animals and humans.
Attacking Plastic. Despite four decades of safe use, the Food and Drug
Administration issued a warning in July about plastic intravenous (IV) bags
and tubes based totally on a hypothetical harm. Environmentalists have been
attacking the use of plastic for decades, claiming a "carcinogenic" threat
that even the World Health Organization has refused to confirm.
Declaring the oceans to be "wilderness." An environmental group, the Ocean
Conservancy, in July, launched a campaign claiming that recreational
fisherman were threatening the "biodiversity" of fish, seeking to put major
portions of the ocean off limits to sport fishing in Alaska, Hawaii and
Florida.
End of the world claims. The British, who thrive on claims the Earth will be
destroyed at any moment, were treated to yet another in July when the BBC
warned that a space rock that could hit the Earth on February 1, 2019.
Hot or cold? Which is it? In October, Dr. Robert Gagosian, president of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, predicted that "The
earth's climate could switch gears and jump very rapidly", thus plunging
everyone into a new Ice Age instead of the predicted global warming.
Predictions are fun, they get headlines, and they scare anyone silly enough
to pay attention.
"Light" and "noise" pollution. In July, the International Dark-Sky
Association launched an effort in a Washington, DC suburb to reduce nighttime
lighting to "save the night skies." In August, a group called Noise Free
America announced that "noise pollution" was a growing epidemic that would
lead to "social deterioration and chaos."
Cities under water. Greenpeace, one of the most absurd of the many
environmental organizations, claimed in August that Manhattan and Shanghai,
among other coastal cities could be underwater and worldwide starvation would
occur because of the rise in water levels. Scientists have long known the
oceans rise about three inches or less every hundred years.
All this is going on, despite the fact that life expectancy in America is the
highest it has ever been and the ample evidence that life on Earth continues
to improve for people throughout the world. The Earth is not running out of
food or natural resources. The claims of environmentalists and others have
nothing to do with scientific and economic data that clearly demonstrates the
improvement of life for people everywhere.
Alan Caruba is the founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse
for information about scare campaigns designed to influence public opinion
and policy. In February, Merril Press will publish "Warning Signs", a
collection of his weekly commentaries. The Center maintains an Internet site
atwww.anxietycenter.com.
