4 ms·
Too hard to figure out. I'm thinking of where I grew up. A local anti-establishment rag noted a cancer cluster in one part of town and wouldn't let go even wh
by LorenPechtel 5y ago
Too hard to figure out.
I'm thinking of where I grew up. A local anti-establishment rag noted a cancer cluster in one part of town and wouldn't let go even when shown the truth. The end result of the mess was it went from a cheap but decent area to somewhere I wouldn't want to venture even by day.
The only toxic stuff in the neighborhood was benzene from all the old cars about--the "cluster" was because it was the cheapest decent area in town, people who got sick and had medical bills and couldn't work ended up moving there. The rate of *diagnosis* of cancer there was below average, the cluster was purely due to immigration.
- readams 5y ago"Cancer clusters" by themselves are not really surprising, since statistically if you look at enough small subsets it's certain you'll see such seemingly-anomalous "clusters." It's interesting only as the first step in an investigation, and not at all interesting as evidence.
- refurb 5y agoBut the problem with estimated cancer risk is you end with the whole breast implant issue - it was “proven” silicone breast implants caused cancer until data proved they didn’t.