Table 2 Public health scenarios

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