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.sa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒渉erd immunitysa国际传媒� back up to a level where diehard anti-vaccination parents donsa国际传媒檛 put at risk the few who have genuine medical reasons not to be protected.
Dix avoids talking about sa国际传媒渁nti-vaxxers,sa国际传媒� as they are known in todaysa国际传媒檚 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.
Itsa国际传媒檚 called sa国际传媒渃onfirmation bias,sa国际传媒� where people only accept information that supports their pre-determined conclusions. You can now see this in politics and media daily. People speak of sa国际传媒渕y truth,sa国际传媒� 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 provincesa国际传媒檚 deep-well drilling credits have meant B.C.sa国际传媒檚 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 sa国际传媒渇rackingsa国际传媒� in northern B.C., which some claim is a threat of well water contamination.
sa国际传媒淚n B.C., wesa国际传媒檙e drilling about 300 km below the surface, so below water table,sa国际传媒� Mungall told me. sa国际传媒淚n the United States that hasnsa国际传媒檛 always been the case, and we know that from the documentary that was done called Gasland.sa国际传媒�
I reminded her that this sa国际传媒渄ocumentarysa国际传媒� was quickly debunked, because key sa国际传媒渧iralsa国际传媒� 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. Thatsa国际传媒檚 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 CBCsa国际传媒檚 The Nature of Things. Suzuki admitted that their connection to fracking is questionable, but they were such compelling images he couldnsa国际传媒檛 resist using them.
READ MORE:
READ MORE:
Mungallsa国际传媒檚 estimate that B.C. gas wells reach 300 km deep is also wildly inaccurate. Perhaps she misspoke, but she did it twice, and shesa国际传媒檚 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, thatsa国际传媒檚 certainly deep enough to protect drinking water, such as the well on my familysa国际传媒檚 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 sa国际传媒渕ind bombsa国际传媒� for this kind of persuasive image. Hunter was protesting atmospheric nuclear testing at the time, not using tricks to manipulate uninformed people as todaysa国际传媒檚 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 .
