This is the story about unintended consequences, and
unleashing discoveries on the world without enough testing beforehand. The
frontal lobotomy, trans fats, eugenics, the synthesis of ammonium nitrate,
megavitamins, opioids, and the banning of DDT are the seven that Offit has
selected as big mistakes. Some, like lobotomies and trans fats, were a horrible
idea from the start. Others, like ammonium nitrate and opioids, have been used indiscriminately
and created problems.
Offit gives a good history of each of these problems, from
the discovery of the thing to today’s results. He gives a bibliography to back
up his thesis, and the last chapter is a warning: how to learn from the past,
and how to identify bad science. The book is well researched and well written,
and is interesting from beginning to end.
Do I agree with everything he says? Well, no. While I agree
that deaths from overdoses of opioids are a bad thing, I certainly don’t want them
not used any more. Too many people with chronic pain rely on them to get up and
do a day’s work; for acute pain, as in post-surgery use, there is nothing else
like them. A way needs to be found to keep them from being *over* used, rather
than banning them. Yes, banning DDT meant that a number of mosquito borne
diseases, which had become scarce in some area, came back with a vengeance, but
I don’t agree with him that no damage was ever done with DDT. We need to find a
better way, such as vaccines, to deal with those diseases, not bring back a
substance that is still in every single person in the world. I do love his
lessons on identifying bad science; if something seems to be the answer to all
kinds of questions, it’s probably bogus. Nothing cures everything. Nothing
cures without the possibility of side effects. As Heinlein said, there ain’t no
such thing as free lunch.
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I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for a fair review.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
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