Ben Goldacre Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“If a scientist sidesteps their scientific peers, and chooses to take an apparently changeable, frightening and technical scientific case directly to the public, then that is a deliberate decision, and one that can't realistically go unnoticed.”

“In an ideal world, you might imagine that scientific papers were only cited by academics on the basis of their content. This might be true. But lots of other stuff can have an influence.”

“Science has authority, not because of white coats, or titles, but because of precision and transparency: you explain your theory, set out your evidence, and reference the studies that support your case.”

“When you prescribe a new drug, often you are prescribing something that has only been tested in a few thousand people for a very short period of time, perhaps only six months, and that's not long enough to know whether there are any medium- or long-term side effects.”

“The value of a scientific publication goes beyond this simple benefit, of all relevant information appearing, unambiguously, in one place. It's also a way to communicate your ideas to your scientific peers, and invite them to express an informed view.”

“Bad things happen when problems are protected by a force field of tediousness.”

“Doctors and patients need as much data as possible to make an informed decision about what treatment is best.”

“I agree, the world would be a better place if doctors were less enthusiastic about adopting very new drugs.”

“In general, drug companies are reasonably good at developing new treatments, and there's also a lot of good in the industry.”

“Alternative therapists don't kill many people, but they do make a great teaching tool for the basics of evidence-based medicine, because their efforts to distort science are so extreme.”