EPA “Crisis” Science Racket

“How Natural Variations Became Environmental Crises: The Word Game,” by Frank Schnell.
In How Natural Variations Became Environmental Crises: The Numbers Racket, we looked at how officially “safe” levels of exposure gradually went from conservative, to ultra-conservative, to completely ridiculous. Even before the manipulation of numbers became commonplace, the manipulation of words was a major tool in promoting fear about science and keeping it alive. Simple words in common usage, like “risk”, “known”, “similar” and “equivalent” were given esoteric, colloquial meanings that bore little resemblance to their definitions in Webster’s Dictionary and of which the general public was completely unaware. Thus, unbeknownst to the average citizen, EPA’s so-called quantitative cancer risk assessments have never assessed the true risk of potentially carcinogenic exposures. In EPA’s 1986 Risk Assessment Guidelines, the following, uncharacteristically honest, and seldom quoted (except by me) statement was made: “The true risk is unknown and may be as low as zero.” Obviously, if the “true” risk is unknown, then the “risk” that is supposedly quantified in EPA risk assessments is not the “true” risk. Read more.