I'm a pharmacist and Trump has replaced the scientific method with conspiracy and fear
In the early noughties, as Google rose to challenge Microsoft and Netscape’s dominance, statisticians noted and joked about a remarkable correlation: the market share of Internet Explorer, and its subsequent decline, almost perfectly matched the fall in homicides across the continental United States.
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While switching your browser can certainly improve your online experience, nobody seriously believes these phenomena are linked. As the adage goes, correlation does not equal causation. Nor does anecdote equate to fact.
Our scientific method, developed over centuries, rests on a simple premise: if a set of repeatable steps consistently produces the same result when conducted by multiple independent groups, that is a fact. Drop a pen from your desk and it will always accelerate towards the Earth’s core at 9.8 metres per second squared. On that foundation, we have built the modern world.
What Donald Trump did yesterday in the Oval Office was replace the scientific method with conspiracy, fear and opinion. As US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
On the facts, let us be clear: there is no proven link between women taking paracetamol (known in the US as acetaminophen) and a child developing autism.
Nor is there a proven link between childhood vaccines and autism. A single, now‑discredited study decades ago, amplified by tabloid headlines, has done immense damage to public trust, but however sensational, it is not true.
All drugs affect the body; that is their purpose. Pick up any over‑the‑counter medicine and you will find a list of possible side effects. The risk verses benefit must always be considered for the individual patient- that is the art and science of prescribing.
When genuine causal links are identified, we act. Thalidomide was banned when proven to cause birth defects. CFCs were phased out when confirmed to damage the ozone layer. That is science: repeatable, independent, and scrutinised by experts.
When people in positions of power and influence speak, it is understandable that people listen. But our nation’s health rests on the expertise of scientists, doctors, and government advisers — including NICE, which is charged by statute with safeguarding public health.
A Microsoft executive might once have joked, "Well, at least we lowered the murder rate," when confronted with a meaningless correlation. In our current climate, Donald Trump would be wise to hope his words do not further erode public trust in the very systems designed to protect us.
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Thorrun Govind is a pharmacist and healthcare lawyer.
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