Once again the would-be world savers Janette Sherman (MD) and Joseph Mangano (something) are pushing for another round of scaremongering dressed in a scientific coat. They have got their nonsense about increased US infant mortality due to Fukushima published in a peer-reviewed journal. This time they have extended their faulty study and extrapolated the effect for the entire US. Lo’ and behold, 14 000 deaths so far, they claim! The article, published in the International Journal on Health Services, can be found here. For a bit more easy reading, the press release here will probably do.
We will not spend too much time on scrutinizing this study, and others are already on to it, for instance Michael Moyer in Scientific American, and Barbara Feder Ostrov in Reporting on Health. Furthermore, S&M have not made any amends for their first two faulty attempts (our comments here and here), and since the new article follows the same line of reasoning, we can only condemn them for trying to push the same lousy trick a third time. This is political activism from anti-nuclear icons, it is not science.
From the media releases about this, we find some interesting statements by Mangano in Medpage Today:
In a telephone press conference, Mangano said the finding is a “clarion call for more extensive research.”
But he told MedPage Today that the researchers can’t rule out factors other than the Fukushima radiation that might have accounted for the excess.
“There are probably a variety of factors that could be linked to this excess of 14,000 deaths,” he said. “But it does raise a red flag.”
This is indeed a clarion call. It is a call for celebrities like Alex Baldwin and Christie Brinkley to start contemplating what kind of nut-crack that they support financially. And it does raise a red flag, the umpire raises the red flag after three strikes. Sherman & Mangano, you’re OUT!
Other posts in various media on the same subject
- 2011-12-16: Eric McErlain on NEI Nuclear Notes, “Note to Reporters: Be Sure to Fact Check Joseph Mangano, Janette Sherman and Robert Alvarez”
- 2011-12-19: Eric McErlain on NEI Nuclear Notes “Joseph Mangano Contradicts His Own Press Release on Fukushima Research”
- 2011-12-20: Rod Adams on Atomic Insights, “Mangano and Sherman have released another bogus study seeking to scare people about radiation”
- 2011-12-20: Barbara Feder Ostrov in Reporting on Health “Fukushima: Alarmist Claim? Obscure Medical Journal? Proceed With Caution”
- 2011-12-20: Michael Moyer in Scientific American “Researchers Trumpet Another Flawed Fukushima Death Study”
- 2011-12-20: Will Davis on Atomic Power Review “Radiation deaths in US due to Fukushima Daiichi: Nope.”
- 2011-12-21: Barbara Feder Ostrov in Reporting on Health“Fukushima Fallout and Infant Deaths: International Journal of Health Services’ Vicente Navarro Responds”
- 2011-12-21: Linda Carroll on MSNBC Vitals blog “Experts dicount claims of U.S. deaths from Japan radiation”
- 2011-12-21: Nuit Blanche blog “Pre-publication Peer Review and Lazy Science Reporting”
- 2011-12-23: Eric McErlain on NEI Nuclear Notes, “Dr. Robert Emery Disputes Joe Mangano’s Findings on Radiation and Fukushima”
- 2011-12-23: Eric McErlain on NEI Nuclear Notes, “Dr. Robert Peter Gale’s Statement on the Mangano-Sherman Report on Fukushima Fallout”
- 2012-01-08: Alfred Körblein in Strahlentelex Nr. 600-601, scrutinizes the study and finds serious flaws, “14.000 Tote in den USA?” (in German)
- 2012-01-11: Josh Bloom writes in Forbes, “Garbage In, Anti-Nuclear Propaganda Out: The 14,000 Death Fukushima Lie”
