Comments on "Politics vs Accuracy"

The ads wanted to portray risk factors. There have been studies showing that not breastfeeding can result in a higher risk of the child developing asthma and allergies, so the use of the inhaler would have been quite accurate.

I disagree that showing risks is "scare tactics." Do people want to know the potential problems that could arise or don't they? I want to know what behavior leads to higher risks. Public health ad campaigns do it all the time - the "this is your brain on drugs" commercials come to mind. Does that mean everyone who does drugs is going to think like they have a scrambled egg for a brain? No, it was trying to show that drug abuse *could* cause brain damage. We use "scare tactics" (aka risk factors) to tell people the dangers of drugs, smoking, alcohol overindulgence, overeating, and drunken driving... we don't try to sugar-coat these at all, but tell them for what they are. If you do x, y may result. If you smoke, you may get lung cancer... and maybe you won't, but we don't point this second part out. So what is the difference between saying, "If you formula-feed, your child is at higher risk of developing asthma?"

Sometimes the truth *is* scary. It doesn't mean we should avoid it.