Portland, OR: Anti-Science Leader (2015, city hall, buying)

[karlsch]

“From vaccinations to fluoride to GMOs, one biologist argues that Portland needs to get back to the lab.”

Are Portlanders Anti-Science? | Portland Monthly

The article doesn't even mention the (false) almost religious belief in the benefits of organic foods:

Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods, Stanford study finds | News Center | Stanford Medicine

Then there's the Progressive version of the Creation Museum:

Whole Foods: America

[urbanlife78]

Okay....and your point with this thread?

[ianp82]

I'm guessing his/her point with the thread is similar to most of the other posts, including the recent "Are Native Portlander's Conservative" and "Is there a Significant Crossdresser Population." To spark a discussion that provides further insight into the city in which people live or are considering moving to. A discussion of the "anti-science" label, and whether it's accurate or not, might help identify a characteristic of the city that affects day-to-day living and future policy decisions. Plus, it's just kind of an interesting topic. Not sure whether I agree with the label or not, but I'm going to check out the article.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by karlsch

The article doesn't even mention the (false) almost religious belief in the benefits of organic foods:

Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods, Stanford study finds | News Center | Stanford Medicine

Notice the actual results of the meta-analysis (it isn't a study, they did no original research) are muddled, except they are fairly sure that there isn't a significant nutrition benefit to organic foods over conventional. They also say that the research methods in the studies they looked at varied so much that it was difficult to draw a single conclusion.

Then they go on to say that pesticide levels in food can be significantly lower in organic foods, plus there may well be taste benefits to organic. Compare local Oregon organic strawberries to conventional strawberries (the ones that taste like wood pulp) from wherever.

And Whole Foods is a Texas company, lol.

But, hey, go ahead and add it to the specious list of studies to make a very questionable point.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Then there's the Progressive version of the Creation Museum:

Whole Foods: America

Whole Foods selling pro-biotics or chlorophyll concentrate or goji berries and promoting them for their health benefits(like a lot of health food stores or groceries do) might be based on weak scientific evidence that may or may not prove them to have tangible health benefits. However that's completely different than a Creation Museum--which is basically just a shrine to Christian mythology. Nothing wrong with mythology, it can be fun and entertaining but it's not even pseudoscience. It can be debated only by those who have faith in the myths to begin with.

Also, Whole Foods is all over the US(and other countries), based in Texas, and isn't the sole company that sells products like these, so I'm not sure how it's a specifically a Portland thing. Fred Meyer and Safeway have organic and health supplement isles that carry the same things these days(you can buy pro-biotics in plenty of grocery stores).

The anti-fluoridation and anti-vaccination folks just strike me as a little silly though.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Okay....and your point with this thread?

This is going to anger you, but Portland isn't perfect. It's ok to post adequately supported and respectfully expressed criticisms of a city for others to get a comprehensive view of what it's like to live here.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

This is going to anger you, but Portland isn't perfect. It's ok to post adequately supported and respectfully expressed criticisms of a city for others to get a comprehensive view of what it's like to live here.

Perhaps I'm putting words in urban's mouth, but I don't think s/he was concerned that the thread is critical of Portland. As an aside, that article is dated yesterday, but I swear I read the same article months ago.

Couple thoughts:

1) There is not one "uniform" Portland. On the vaccination issue, WW ran an article last month showing exemption rates by school district, and there are pockets where exemptions are high, but also large swaths of the city where the vaccination rate is near 100%. Anti-vaccination ideas flourish at Portland private and charter schools.

So it's a bit oversimplistic to paint with this broad a brush and say "Portland is liberal or antiscience or whatever." Though it is interesting that several of the areas we often suggest to newcomers are places where exemptions are the highest. Food for thought.

2) While the author ascribes the defeat of the fluoridation measure to "anti-science" views, I think that too is also quite oversimplified. There's no question fluoridation paranoia was part of its defeat, but a lot of us voted against it for many other reasons: budget concerns, concerns about City Hall's dishonest approach and cost projections, etc.

I actually support fluoridation, but the way that particular measure was floated killed it for me. Right idea, but wrong execution.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

This is going to anger you, but Portland isn't perfect. It's ok to post adequately supported and respectfully expressed criticisms of a city for others to get a comprehensive view of what it's like to live here.

Hardly, I was curious what the point of the thread was because it does oversimplify things. I personally think vaccinations are a good thing, as does a majority of people in Portland, but we also think one shouldn't be forced to do something they don't want.

As for organic food, for starters, organic tastes much better, often times costs about the same or not much more unless you are buying something not in season, and why would I want to eat food loaded with growth hormones?

As for the fluoride, I don't see any benefit to it being in the water and making water taste different. A number of toothpastes that are dentist recommended are also bad for your teeth. A little research goes a long way.

[CanuckInPortland]

Also, doesn't the decision to not fluoridate the water in Portland go back to the 1950s? Rather than being a new trend recently, hasn't it been rejected like 4 times or something in public votes since then?

I voted for that measure, but at the same time I could care less, since I brush my teeth regularly.

[PDXNative2Houston]

The cultural vibe is a little ironic in Portland. They are all about evidence and science when it comes to defending their atheism and agnosticism but one will find the same folks have near religious beliefs about GMO's, organic food and vaccinations despite overwhelming evidence that GMO's aren't harmful, chemicals used on foods will not harm you if ingested at the amounts one would get from food, and vaccinations are so well supported by physicians that they agree on their effectiveness and safety at near 100% rates.

What a world.