Epidemiology Quotes

• Epidemiology is like a bikini: what is revealed is interesting; what is concealed is crucial.

  Peter Duesberg

  Interesting, Bikinis, Concealed

  Peter Duesberg (1995). “Infectious AIDS: Have We Been Misled?”, p.122, North Atlantic Books

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• By any reasonable standard of proof, the combination of human epidemiology and track-analysis demonstrates that there is no threshold dose or dose-rate below which "repair" invariably prevents health harm.

  John Gofman

  Track, Analysis, Nuclear

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• Germ theory, which secularized infectious disease, had a side effect: it sacralized epidemiology.

  Jill Lepore

  Disease, Sides, Germs

  "It's Spreading" by Jill Lepore, www.newyorker.com. June 1, 2009.

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• I do think the Roman Catholic religion is a disease of the mind which has a particular epidemiology similar to that of a virus... Religion is a terrific meme. That's right. But that doesn't make it true and I care about what's true. Smallpox virus is a terrific virus. It does its job magnificently well. That doesn't mean that it's a good thing. It doesn't mean that I don't want to see it stamped out.

  Richard Dawkins

  Jobs, Mean, Thinking

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• The whole idea of what is evidence for causation in epidemiology cannot be separated from tTindustry understood that if they could raise doubt about how you could conclude something caused cancer, that they put so much effort into getting so many receptive public health authorities to say, "Well, causation requires that these five things be met." So that is, in fact, nonsense.

  Devra Davis

  Cancer, Ideas, Effort

  Source: www.salon.com

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• Or, if I take that same auditorium and I make it much bigger and put more space between seats, it'll be quieter because it's much harder when you're not in physical contact with people to spread a virus from person-to-person, right? There are all sorts of patterns that we see in epidemiology that help us understand why something spreads.

  Seth Godin

  Space, People, Viruses

  "What Makes An Idea Go Viral?". "TED Radio Hour" with Guy Raz, www.npr.org. March 4, 2016.

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• We're better in the rearview mirror than we are at predicting - 'cause you're never going to be right every time. You can handicap it. You can point to certain elements that make it work, and many of those elements come straight out of epidemiology, right?

  Seth Godin

  Mirrors, Elements, Causes

  "What Makes An Idea Go Viral?". Interview with Guy Raz, www.npr.org. March 4, 2016.

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• How do you react when your own government lies to you systematically about life-and-death questions? As I have noted earlier, the answer is political action in the state legislatures, and one weapon in the hands of the public is an understanding of the pseudo-science and pseudo-epidemiology represented by articles like this one.

  Harris L Coulter

  Lying, Hands, Government Lies

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• But we've all ended up giving body and soul to Africa, one way or another. Even Adah, who's becoming an expert in tropical epidemiology and strange new viruses. Each of us got our heart buried in six feet of African dirt; we are all co-conspirators here. I mean, all of us, not just my family. So what do you do now? You get to find your own way to dig out a heart and shake it off and hold it up to the light again.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Heart, Mean, Light

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