Nuts for Science

Slate has a good post on food allergies, raising some questions behind the science/hysteria. I have some relatives with nut allergies, and their experiences are hardly imaginary. BUT we tend to react to those things that scare us the most (peanuts, terrorism) rather than those that harm us the most (accidents, bad diets).


Key quotes:

The authors may not have perceived a conflict of interest, but a close look suggests that a problem may, in fact, exist.

If you want to influence the answers in a survey, how you ask a question matters as much as what you ask.

The social scientist is me hears alarm bells ringing, but that could be the sand in my ears from the wipeouts during my week at the beach. Yet the connections between legislation and interest groups here seems very familiar (cue the music for suspicion).