Scott Adams of Dilbert fame writes on his blog that science's biggest fail of all time is 'everything about diet and fitness':
I used to think fatty food made you fat. Now it seems the opposite is true. Eating lots of peanuts, avocados, and cheese, for example, probably decreases your appetite and keeps you thin. I used to think vitamins had been thoroughly studied for their health trade-offs. They haven’t. The reason you take one multivitamin pill a day is marketing, not science. I used to think the U.S. food pyramid was good science. In the past it was not, and I assume it is not now. I used to think drinking one glass of alcohol a day is good for health, but now I think that idea is probably just a correlation found in studies.
According to Adams, the direct problem of science is that it has been collectively steering an entire generation toward obesity, diabetes, and coronary problems. But the indirect problem might be worse: It is hard to trust science because it has a credibility issue that it earned. "I think science has earned its lack of credibility with the public. If you kick me in the balls for 20-years, how do you expect me to close my eyes and trust you?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 04 2015, @06:08PM
I must say, I'm a fan of having a guarantee that the foods I purchase will for 99.9%-sure be free of anything that could make me sick or kill me. Sure, a few stuff covered with e-coli or mad cow prions or whatnot gets through every now and then, but without some kind of oversight you'd be playing russian roulette every time you went to the store. Without that oversight, all those "tainted" meats and vegetables could be sold by anyone at any time.
As for the rest of your complaints, as I said, just capitalism working as designed, which underscores the need for oversight, laws, and regulations.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday February 04 2015, @07:12PM
but without some kind of oversight
The problem is, back on topic, they're not doing any of that. I can buy a flat of "WTF Organic Farms Inc" radishes in season at the local health food store for $4 or at the farmers market for $5, same farm, same packaging, same cardboard crate, same food (assuming one isn't getting fraudulent radishes?) if and only if the mayors office approves your application for one of the limited number of farmers mkt stalls, which I'm sure a little campaign donation will fix. I'm not really seeing any public health benefit to making sure the mayor gets his campaign contributions.
Likewise the reason the .gov charges an insane fee to park a farm truck in that spot on saturday mornings vs any other time, is because the local food stores (and not so local food stores) paid the mayor to make the farm mkt more expensive than their stores, you need election money and we happen to have some, meanwhile maybe you should boost the stall rental fee a little, like from $0 to thousands.
(Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday February 04 2015, @09:13PM
That isn't what the city is doing. The city is just charging for stall space and that's no guarantee of quality.
(Score: 2) by pnkwarhall on Wednesday February 04 2015, @09:49PM
You only need "government oversight" to protect you from tainted food if you
a) Don't know where your food really comes from
b) Don't communicate with your neighbors/community about quality of food stuffs/sources
....of course, most Americans fall into both of these categories, so it looks like the oversight/protection is necessary.
I'd suggest researching the history of pasturization, which runs perfectly in lockstep with the history of the (US) Industrial Revolution. Nobody was worried about or severely affected by bad -- read "diseased" -- milk until it started to be mass-produced, with all the negatives that come along with that.
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday February 05 2015, @04:50PM
capitalism working as designed
Yes. Your intelligent designer at his best.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...