A tale of two controversies

The March 2nd issues of Newsweek has story about the link between the MMR vaccine and autism entitled Anatomy of a Scare. It is worth reading as long as you keep in mind the fact that a full half of the story has been omitted and read it sideways to correct for the slant.

But that story is what it is. What I wanted to point out is another article written by the same author and appearing on a Newsweek blog at about the same time. This one is Bookshelf: 'Toxic Truth'. The book being reviewed is the story of lead which is "is a potent neurotoxin" and the fight to have it removed from the environment.

The closing paragraph of the second story is particularly appropriate:

Pick your poison—phthalates in toys, methylmercury in fish, pesticide residues in foods, carbon dioxide and climate change, the list goes on—and the pattern looks familiar. The amazing thing is that industry gets away with it time and again. As Santayana said, those who forget the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.

I couldn't agree more.