OTTAWA -- A newly released American study suggests the public often rejects the opinions of scientific experts. The public tends not to trust scientists, says research from California - but there's a twist. People are mainly reluctant to believe good news, it turns out - such as the message that a flu vaccine is safe. But the public is more likely to trust the researchers who frighten with bad news. Overall, the study, published in a research journal called Public Understanding of Science, concludes that "scientists' efforts to influence public opinion have a limited effect." The work is based on a public opinion survey of 1,475 Californians to assess whether people trust safety studies on offshore oil drilling. It predates this summer’s massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, but offshore oil drilling has been a hot political issue in California for years. The analysis from professors at the University of California at Santa Barbara found that people tended to disregard much of what the safety studies found. The limited amount they did believe tended to be the parts that showed dangers were worse than they had feared. The study suggests one reason why conspiracy theories spread so easily on the Internet: they’re often based on scary scenarios, such as the mind-control chemicals that governments are allegedly spraying from commercial airliners. Last winter, Ottawa’s public health leaders met an unexpected hurdle: many people refused to trust the H1N1 vaccine's safety despite reassurances from the medical establishment. "People were dubious. There was a healthy dose of people who were concerned about the vaccination and didn't have confidence in it," said City of Ottawa Coun. Diane Deans, who chairs Ottawa's protective services committee. That distrust kept many people away from vaccination clinics. "We had one of the highest rates of vaccination in the entire province but we certainly didn't vaccinate anywhere near everybody. We got 50 per cent, if I recall," Deans said. Scientists have worried for years about surveys that show the public doesn't always trust them. The public tends to be suspicious about the motives of science, thinking that industrial research leads to pollution, and government research may have hidden political motives. This study is the first to show evidence that the amount of suspicion depends on what the scientific message is saying.
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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Source: http://www.canada.com/health/study+says+people+hesitant+believe+good+news+from+scientists/3483984/story.html
U.S. study says people are hesitant to believe good news from scientists
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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