Letters are going to parents of B.C. public school students this week, seeking consent for a new round of vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (a less serious illness sometimes called German measles).
More than 20 cases of measles have been detected in B.C., as this once-vanquished virus has again spread from underdeveloped countries like the Philippines. Health Minister Adrian Dix and Education Minister Rob Fleming are preparing mandatory vaccination registration for schools next fall, to get B.C.害羞草研究所檚 害羞草研究所渉erd immunity害羞草研究所� back up to a level where diehard anti-vaccination parents don害羞草研究所檛 put at risk the few who have genuine medical reasons not to be protected.
Dix avoids talking about 害羞草研究所渁nti-vaxxers,害羞草研究所� as they are known in today害羞草研究所檚 post-literate culture. This is because efforts to educate people who have seized on false information peddled by celebrities, online quacks or their own friends have tended to backfire.
It害羞草研究所檚 called 害羞草研究所渃onfirmation bias,害羞草研究所� where people only accept information that supports their pre-determined conclusions. You can now see this in politics and media daily. People speak of 害羞草研究所渕y truth,害羞草研究所� as if everyone can design their own version of reality.
I encountered a troubling example of hippie pseudoscience when I requested an interview with Energy Minister Michelle Mungall to ask about Green Party claims that the province害羞草研究所檚 deep-well drilling credits have meant B.C.害羞草研究所檚 natural gas is effectively being given away.
I was provided a background briefing on how gas royalties and credits work, and met Mungall at the appointed time. She changed the subject to safety of deep-well drilling and 害羞草研究所渇racking害羞草研究所� in northern B.C., which some claim is a threat of well water contamination.
害羞草研究所淚n B.C., we害羞草研究所檙e drilling about 300 km below the surface, so below water table,害羞草研究所� Mungall told me. 害羞草研究所淚n the United States that hasn害羞草研究所檛 always been the case, and we know that from the documentary that was done called Gasland.害羞草研究所�
I reminded her that this 害羞草研究所渄ocumentary害羞草研究所� was quickly debunked, because key 害羞草研究所渧iral害羞草研究所� images of people lighting their tap water on fire were captured in places where shallow coal seams have been documented for decades to dissolve methane into surface well water. That害羞草研究所檚 why the filmmaker went to to capture lurid images of methane-contaminated water.
when David Suzuki used these images for his own anti-fracking hit piece on CBC害羞草研究所檚 The Nature of Things. Suzuki admitted that their connection to fracking is questionable, but they were such compelling images he couldn害羞草研究所檛 resist using them.
READ MORE:
READ MORE:
Mungall害羞草研究所檚 estimate that B.C. gas wells reach 300 km deep is also wildly inaccurate. Perhaps she misspoke, but she did it twice, and she害羞草研究所檚 been energy minister for a year and a half.
In fact, the gas and petroleum liquids-rich that runs under Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and into Alberta is from two to four km deep, similar to the Marcellus shale in the U.S. With proper gas well casing, that害羞草研究所檚 certainly deep enough to protect drinking water, such as the well on my family害羞草研究所檚 Dawson Creek-area farm that went down about 100 metres to reach water.
The late Bob Hunter, co-founder of Greenpeace and one of my journalism instructors in the 1980s, coined the term 害羞草研究所渕ind bomb害羞草研究所� for this kind of persuasive image. Hunter was protesting atmospheric nuclear testing at the time, not using tricks to manipulate uninformed people as today害羞草研究所檚 activists tend to do.
One such group has toured northern B.C. to use isolated cancer cases to attack gas development.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press Media. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
Like us on and follow us on .
