[HN Gopher] They All Got Mysterious Brain Diseases. They're Figh...
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They All Got Mysterious Brain Diseases. They're Fighting to Learn
Why
Author : ctoth
Score : 25 points
Date : 2024-08-14 16:46 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| mistersquid wrote:
| tl;dr: "Ninety percent of Marrero's patients came back with
| elevated amounts of glyphosate in their blood, in one case as
| high as 15,000 times the test's lowest detectable concentration."
| BenjiWiebe wrote:
| Not saying glyphosate isn't the problem, but 15,000 times the
| lowest detectable amount doesn't really say how high it is.
|
| Maybe the test is really sensitive? Maybe farmers in non-
| cluster areas also have similar levels? What about the average?
| The highest was 15k times the minimum detectable, were the rest
| 5 on a scale of 100k? Were the rest higher than random people
| from elsewhere in the world?
|
| Seems to be reporter bias in that bit of the article.
| devmor wrote:
| Without a control group, this information is little more than a
| hunch - and the article clearly states so immediately after.
|
| While I'd like to see this angle investigated, pretending that
| this is a conclusion is not really useful. That area has also
| been used for testing multiple chemical agents with dubious
| health effects in the past.
| sterlind wrote:
| that means almost nothing. a Geiger counter can pick up
| radiation from a single banana. that just means the detector is
| sensitive, not that bushels of bananas are a health hazard. the
| detection threshold is completely irrelevant.
|
| I grew up in the Deep South. the water table is notoriously
| contaminated with herbicides and ag runoff. I'm sure it causes
| health hazards, but I haven't seen early-onset
| neurodegenerative disorders. if it's glyphosate, why don't we
| have that here?
| 11101010001100 wrote:
| What if you do, but no one is tracking them?
| dekhn wrote:
| That line struck me - as an example of innumeracy, or at least
| misunderstanding of tests. Or maybe it was willful ignorance
| intended to sound more shocking than it is.
| fii wrote:
| https://archive.is/v7fDW
| rapjr9 wrote:
| Some other possible sources of environmental contaminants in the
| Moncton area:
|
| https://www.globalresearch.ca/canadas-use-of-chemical-weapon...
|
| During the war in Vietnam, the US tested agents orange, blue, and
| purple at CFB Gagetown. A 1968 U.S. Army memorandum titled
| "defoliation tests in 1966 at base Gagetown, New Brunswick,
| Canada" explained: "The department of the army, Fort Detrick,
| Maryland, has been charged with finding effective chemical agents
| that will cause rapid defoliation of woody and Herbaceous
| vegetation. To further develop these objectives, large areas
| similar in density to those of interest in South East Asia were
| needed. In March 1965, the Canadian ministry of defense offered
| Crops Division large areas of densely forested land for
| experimental tests of defoliant chemicals. This land, located at
| Canadian forces base Gagetown, Oromocto, New Brunswick, was
| suitable in size and density and was free from hazards and
| adjacent cropland. The test site selected contained a mixture of
| conifers and deciduous broad leaf species in a dense undisturbed
| forest cover that would provide similar vegetation densities to
| those of temperate and tropical areas such as South East Asia."
|
| New Brunswick oil and natural gas history:
|
| https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Corporate/pdf/ShaleGas/e...
| calf wrote:
| Online comments / older articles also mention that New Brunswick
| is basically owned by the Irving family, which has lots of money
| and deep industrial connections, and unsurprisingly there is
| strong skepticism that they would be the ones who caused the
| sudden pivot from Federal to provincial and ensuing coverup.
|
| It's a glaring omission either way that the NYTimes doesn't
| mention this at all...
| Rastonbury wrote:
| In a piece like this, a decent journalist would not mention
| speculation like that without more concrete proof which I
| assume they do not have or did not look into
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(page generated 2024-08-14 23:02 UTC)