science policy

Pop quiz: What do the New York Times, Jeffrey "the yogic flying instructor" Smith, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have in common?

Imagine wandering through the grocery store, and your eye catches a flashy label on a bottle of orange juice: "Does not contain CYANIDE." What would you think?

California is a trendsetter.  

In many ways, science is easier than public policy. The reason is because the former is simply a matter of uncovering facts, while the latter involves not just facts but legal, ethical, and financial considerations as well.

When I was a kid, there was no chickenpox vaccine. Getting chickenpox -- along with the requisite oatmeal bath -- was seen as a childhood rite of passage. It wasn't uncommon for kids who were uninfected to hang out with kids who were.

"Better safe than sorry." That's a great lesson for a child when a parent explains why she should wear a helmet when riding her bicycle. But "better safe than sorry" makes for terrible public health policy.

I'd like to propose a plan to put Americans on Jupiter by 2030. It goes like this:

Like Pig-Pen from Peanuts, a cloud of filth follows Andrew Wakefield wherever he goes.

Imagine if Dr. Oz, who peddles all sorts of pseudoscientific, nonsensical miracle cures on his daytime television show, proposed an environmental policy. That's the Green New Deal.

The AAAS, which stands for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is one of the foremost pro-science organizations in the world.