It was the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan who popularized the phrase “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and originated the closely related concept of scientific skepticism.
In the case discussed here, skeptics we should be.
Last week we saw a flurry of media articles with headlines suggesting that exposure to the common chemical bisphenol A (BPA) increases the risk of miscarriage. Considering how much research has been conducted on BPA already, in particular extensive research on laboratory animals that examined the potential for BPA to cause any effect on reproduction, that’s a rather extraordinary claim that has not been corroborated or replicated.
Never mind that the source of the headlines was a study that has not been peer-reviewed and published in the scientific literature. And never mind that this is a very small scale study that is not suitable for establishing cause-effect relationships. Journalists love a good scare story and headline writers excel at scaring the dickens out of unsuspecting readers.
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