[p2p-research] Inflamed passions -- Why do vaccines trigger such passionate debate?

[Edward Miller]

Paul,

The anti-vaccine movement, led by noted experts Jenny McCarthy and Jim
Carrey, seems to have a PR problem at the very least, but the
anti-fluoridation movement has been a longstanding right wing cause promoted
by organizations such as the John Birch Society. Now, reverse stupidity
isn't intelligence, so the facts are what matter in both cases.
Nevertheless, I think the facts are against you in both, not that I wouldn't
be all for more research regarding the safety of both.

Fluoride is especially high in green tea, though not as high as that article
claims. Yet, green tea is now almost universally accepted as one of the
healthiest drinks on the planet. Fluoride has been studied for quite some
time. Wikipedia has many great links to primary sources. Even though the
site you linked to seemed to be merely a "health" site, it just recycled a
lot of the demonstrably false anti-fluoridation propaganda from the birchers
and similar groups.

I know some people are trying to build left-right anti-authoritarian
coalitions, but there is just no hope for the "teabaggers" and it would be
worse than futile to attempt any such thing.

The anti-vaccine movement is a bit more complex, and the idea about a
possible connection between measles and autism is interesting. Though the
hysteria surrounding all vaccines is overgeneralizing even if one totally
accepts the measles hypothesis. The stuff about lead which is repeated a lot
is just nonsense. The cost-benefit arguments you make are the most
convincing, and I would stick to that angle.

I think you are absolutely right that there can be more effective policy
options. As a utilitarian, I'd argue it is our moral duty to seek them. I
know many others would feel the same way if presented with that evidence.
True, tugging on heartstrings or even wallet-strings doesnt seem to work as
potently as fearmongering, but are you sure you want to go that route? What
kind of prefigurative politics is that?

I know both industries, the vaccines and fluoride, have a sort of systemic
conflict of interest, but there are safeguards and peer review to prevent
abuse. While I too would like to see profit taken out of the equation via
open source, public options, etc, I don't think fearmongering is going to
help that cause. Promoting it will undoubtedly just create a frankenstein's
monster.
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