That doesn't sound like it gets quite as many clicks, and people tend to fund more exciting research. I'm thinking that this problem wouldn't exist, except for

That doesn't sound like it gets quite as many clicks, and people tend to fund more exciting research. I'm thinking that this problem wouldn't exist, except for the perverse incentives. This is probably particularly true of the substance-hysteria research. If you do research to show that tea tree oil is completely safe, that leaves less room for follow up studies.