According to a 2011 Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll, about 18 percent of Americans believe vaccinations can cause autism. Yet the British doctor's work on which this theory is based has been retracted. The doctor has been barred from practicing medicine and fraud allegations have been raised.
Parents who don't get their children vaccinated have the same likelihood of having autistic children as those who do not. The difference is that people who chose not to get vaccinations are more likely to die from preventable illnesses.
Thinking of this, I read Lisa Barron's letter ("Fracking defies common sense," Jan. 23) with consternation. She claims: "Fracking has polluted wells and destroyed farms in other states, killing farm animals and sickening people who live nearby with noxious gases and poisoned, even flammable, water supplies."
Real scientific evidence does not exist. Yet people believe it.
In fact, plenty of evidence exists that the storage of gasoline and diesel fuel create thousands of cases of serious groundwater pollution every year. In our region alone, the federal Environmental Protection Agency reports, "cleanups have been initiated at 36,569 of the leaking underground storage tank sites." I smell gasses when I fill up my car with gasoline.
On the same day, Warren Senders ("Fracking and climate change," Jan. 23) claims that fracking contributes to climate change. In fact, natural gas results in 44 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than coal and 22 percent less than oil, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
If we want to reduce climate change, we should promote natural gas exploration. Would you rather fill your car for $6.40 with clean natural gas or $50 with toxic liquid fuels? Would you rather pay a New York landowner or a terrorist?
DAVID HAUBER
Troy