Description of public health scenario | |
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Arguments from authority: | |
1 | Pronouncements on BSE by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee |
2 | Use of chemicals in food production |
3 | Aspirin use and Reye’s syndrome in children |
4 | Cancer risks posed by a nuclear power facility |
5 | Safety of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine |
6 | Electromagnetic emissions from mobile phone masts |
7 | Pronouncements on BSE by the Southwood Working Party |
8 | Air-borne chemical emissions from a recycling facility |
Arguments from ignorance: | |
9 | Risk assessment of the transmissibility of scrapie to humans |
10 | Assessment of findings from clinical trials of a new asthma drug |
11 | Risk assessment of the transmissibility of BSE to humans |
12 | Health risks associated with chemicals in effluent from a pharmaceutical plant |
13 | Assessment of the safety of genetically modified foods |
14 | Assessment of the safety of a food additive in dairy products |
15 | Safety of swine flu immunization |
16 | Location of the source of an outbreak of severe food poisoning |
Analogical argument: | |
17 | The use of hepatitis B by the CDC in the US as a model for HIV/AIDS health advice |
18 | Investigation by epidemiologists of illness related to chemicals in drinking water |
19 | Use of scrapie by British scientists to assess the risk of BSE to human health |
20 | A study by epidemiologists of the health effects of a new arthritis drug |
Circular argument: | |
21 | Investigation of fever in patients following vaccination for pneumonia |
22 | Investigation of a disease outbreak in the Congo by scientists from WHO |
23 | Study of a purported link between electromagnetic radiation and birth defects |
24 | Discovery of a novel disease by medical anthropologists working in Peru |