Sources

Spooked by environmental scaremongers? Then download the American Council on Science and Health's Facts Versus Fears. This clearly written, 52-page compendium of case studies documents two dozen heavily hyped but unfounded health panics of the last 38 years, from the cranberry scare of 1959 to the 1989 Alar scare--and how the public is becoming more skeptical of environmental hyperbole.

"'Junk science' is bad science used by: personal injury lawyers to shakedown deep pocket businesses; the "food police" and environmental Chicken Littles to fuel wacky social agendas; power-drunk regulators; cutthroat businesses to attack competitors; and slick politicians and overly ambitious scientists to gain personal fame and fortune."

—From the Junk Science Web site, which includes links to dozens of print and online stories (including several by former REASON Science Correspondent Michael Fumento) that take a critical look at how science reporting often distorts basic facts and findings.