9 ms·
Not very convincing. In the first two minutes, she has already committed the fallacy of touting a change in relative risk while glossing over the fact that it i
by ef4 11y ago
Not very convincing. In the first two minutes, she has already committed the fallacy of touting a change in relative risk while glossing over the fact that it is tiny in absolute terms.
She says -- correctly -- that a CT scan during pregnancy doubles the risk of leukemia. But another way to say the same thing is that it increases the lifetime risk from 0.0005% to 0.0011%. Compared with all of the other acceptable risks we choose to take every day, it is very far down the list of things that are worth worrying about.
And yet she chose to lead off with that particular fact. Which is proof to me that she's not actually sticking to the hard science, and more interested in telling scary stories.
- digikata 11y agoIf you can get the the same diagnosis without a CT, then wouldn't it be better to skip the known risk in the first place?
- ef4 11y agoOf course, just like if you could avoid ever driving in a car it would be better to skip that known -- and much bigger -- risk. Practical limitations apply.