Harm Reduction

#Reprinted with permission. Dr. Singer's original article can be found here.

Here are some possibilities. Maybe we’re looking at the wrong pollutants. 

 

So begins a letter from one of our readers. Turns out, there is a problem, and the applied solutions have not been especially helpful. Here’s what we found.

I bought my first electronic cigarette (e-cigarette, e-cig) in 2012. After a month of smoking and using an e-cig (vaping), I finished off my last pack of Camels and gave up tobacco forever.

Scientists studying cognition report that we are frequently overconfident when considering small possibilities – we think they are more significant than they are, at least mathematically.

The “pivotal regulatory science” used in setting air pollution standards are epidemiological studies measuring the effects of particulate matter (PM) on our health.

"Corporations are people." – Mitt Romney

"Social media sites like Facebook offer advertisers an easy and inexpensive channel to reach narrowly-defined audiences in a relatively unregulated setting."  

The beauty of the unfettered market is that through an "invisible hand," supply and demand match and value more frequently triumphs over "lemons." Of course, that market does not exist, not even when initially described by Adam Smith.