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the truly nutty part is the scientist is NOT comparing fracking to tobacco, asbestos, and thalidomide, he is using those as historical examples of the potential dangers of innovation.
I think I may be the only one who actually read the report
quote:
History presents plenty of examples of innovation
trajectories that later proved to be problematic ? for
instance involving asbestos, benzene, thalidomide, dioxins,
lead in petrol, tobacco, many pesticides (see case study),
mercury, chlorine and endocrine-disrupting compounds, as
well as CFCs, high-sulphur fuels and fossil fuels in general58,
59. In all these and many other cases, delayed recognition
of adverse effects incurred not only serious environmental
or health impacts, but massive expense and reductions
in competitiveness for firms and economies persisting in
the wrong path. As discussed in Chapter 1, innovations
reinforcing fossil fuel energy strategies43 ? such as hydraulic
fracturing59 ? arguably offer a contemporary prospective
example. And similar dilemmas are presented by the
exciting new possibilities of nanotechnology (see case study
later in this chapter)60 ? both internally within this field and
externally with respect to alternative ways to address the
same priority social needs61
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