Re: Deaths from fossil fuel burning air pollution

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

> I believe (Harvard notwithstanding) that such "prospective" studies simply
> have too many confounding factors to isolate the effect of a single,
> diffuse, rather vague factor like air pollution, or even particulate matter.

	--There have been many dozens of such studies -- the Harvard study
was cited as a good example -- all giving essentially the same result.
They do consider a wide range of potential confounding factors. There are
also "time series" studies of deaths in a single city vs time, correlating
results with air pollution levels; these studies eliminate the confounding
factors in those discussed above, although they do introduce other
confounding factors which are also treated extensively.
	If you don't believe that epidemiology studies are capable of
treating confounding factors, you are essentially saying that you don't
believe in any epidemiology studies. If you believe the results of some
but not in the results of air pollution studies, let me know some you do
believe in and I will cite any number of potential confounding factors
that could nullify the results.

> No this is not an argument either against nukes or "for" coal burning plants
> or "for" dirty air.  We just have to do better than competing scare stories
> about pollutants.

	--If people point out that nuclear power can kill people, what
better counter argument can there be than that the only alternatives to
nuclear power (including not using electricity) kill far more people. This
is not a scare tactic; it is plain clear logic.
	 What is your alternative argument for defending nuclear vs coal? If
nuclear killed several times more people, would you prefer it to coal?

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


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