The abuse of science is so common, hardly anyone notices. It’s not the abuse of science itself, but more the appropriation of the language of science. This is always done as an effort to fool people into believing things that are not based in fact. People tend to trust science, so if you couch an idea in the language of science, they will tend to accept it, even if it is a little nutty. As a result, junk science turns up all over the place. The latest example is in this story about the NFL concussion settlement.
The awards would vary based on an ex-player’s age and diagnosis. A younger retiree with Lou Gehrig’s disease would get $5 million, those with serious dementia cases would get $3 million, and an 80-year-old with early dementia would get $25,000. Retirees without symptoms would get baseline screening and follow-up care if needed.
The science supporting concussion is not strong. It has been known for a century, at least, that repeated blows to the head can be damaging to the brain. Boxers have been called “punchy” for at least a century. The degree of causality has never been established, as most boxers start out rather slow witted. There’s really no way to know if taking blows to the head cases dementia, using statistics, because you cannot have a control group that mirrors the experimental group. You need more than correlations.
The CTE hysteria of today is based entirely on the worst sort of observational science, along with endless media hype. That is, the people trying to ban football claim they see a higher incidence of brain related disease among football players than the general public. Well, there’s also a higher incidence of college diplomas and advanced degrees. That’s right, football players are awarded advanced degrees at higher rates than non-football players. No one is claiming football causes pursuit of college credentials.
That’s the difference between correlation and causation. Correlation can be a clue to causalities that are unknown. They can also be meaningless. While it seems reasonable that there are long term costs to playing a sporty that is as physically damaging as football, controlling for all of the environmental and genetic factors is impossible, at least with regards to this issue. Maybe people prone to dementia are also risk takers, and thus engage in high risk hobbies like playing football or boxing.
To now claim that ALS is caused by football is bordering on insanity. ALS is most certainly a genetic disorder. There’s some evidence of inheritance, but that’s only clear in about 10% of the cases. The nature of the disease, however, strongly suggests a genetic defect. There’s no evidence that environmental factors are the cause. It’s not just that it clouds the research into head trauma, but i pollutes the research into ALS. It’s a fraud on the public that can have real costs to real people in medical danger.
