New Yorker’s Attack on Science

“Turning Science into a Circus: The New Yorker, Rachel Aviv and Tyrone Hayes,” By Bruce Chassy, Ph.D.
Titled “A Valuable Reputation,” it purports to tell the story of Berkeley researcher Dr. Tyrone Hayes and how, after he supposedly revealed the harmful effects of a popular herbicide on frog development, the chemical’s maker attempted to discredit him. In subsequent statements by the author and other articles, this has morphed into allegations of a full-fledged corporate conspiracy one typically finds only in John Grisham novels, and Hayes’s paranoia (to use the New Yorker’s own term) and wild allegations have taken on the air of known “facts.” Beyond the sensationalism and distortions, however, lies a deeper agenda, which the New Yorker and its author seem now to be explicitly endorsing. At its core it is fundamentally anti-science. Wrapped up in a supposed concern for the environment and safety, it seeks to overturn the basic principles of how science is conducted and how regulatory decisions are made. Read more.