You might be interested in the saga of Surgisphere, recounted by Catherine Offord at The Scientist or how a small company with a web site drove global policy and created a scandal that has repercussions right down to the present.
I think this story has a number of morals. First, politicians and public figures, generally, should not be promoting drugs. I don’t even think that prescription drugs should be advertised on television but that’s another subject. Second and more importantly, the bitter divide in our politics is hurting people. I don’t believe that electing Joe Biden to the presidency will make the divide less bitter. I think the only way to lower the temperature is to change the incentives but too many people are making too much money the way things are for that to happen so it will only get worse.
If you do fraud well it shard to catch but it did get caught, and pretty quickly. I would like to think that if there had not been the time pressures associated with Covid that it would not have been published. The people who want to skip studies or just accept small retrospective studies because they affirm their beliefs are wrong. If something really works we know pretty quickly. When it sent so clear then it probably has a small effect and we can wait for study results.
“First, politicians and public figures, generally, should not be promoting drugs. ”
Thoroughly agree. Think of all the people harmed by following Suzanne Sommers advice or the people who get chelation for autism because of another Hollywood female idiot.
Steve
Interesting article on dogs and the police. Sounds like serious training issues.
Steve
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/02/when-police-violence-is-a-dog-bite
There are legitimate uses for dogs in police work. Their abilities in nosework are extraordinary. Attacking people is not one of those uses. IMO the dog should be euthanized.
That is indicative of bad training and bad handling. The dog should be euthanized and the handler terminated at the very least.
There are some breeds of dogs that are naturally very aggressive to both humans and other dogs. German shepherds, Tervurens, and Malinois are not among them although I’ve come across some squirrelly Malinois. My views of such breeds and the people who breed them are better left unsaid.
However, nearly any dog will defend itself when attacked and the article to which you linked is missing context.
Is it really possible to train a dog, reliably, to stop biting someone once they start? I am thinking that once bitten most people dont hold perfectly still and probably struggle. That seems likely to set off prey instinct responses, or can those be trained out of a dog? Color me dubious.
Steve
If you can’t call a dog off, you aren’t a good handler. If the dog’s prey instinct is so strong that you can’t call the dog off, that dog is too unreliable to be a good partner. Yes, there are dogs that can’t be trained. Those dogs aren’t acceptable partners.
Update
You might find this post on Schutzhund training interesting. Yes, biting dogs can be called off.
Thanks. My guess would be it takes good initial training and then maintenance. I suspect a number of police dogs are not getting those.
Steve