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Environnement, Risques & Santé

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Environmental health, information or fake news? Between sciences and political decisions, expertise and media Volume 19, issue 3, May-June 2020

Author
Journaliste indépendant
9, rue du Rhin
75019 Paris
France
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Will glyphosate-based herbicides kill millions of people? Is radioactive contamination due to nuclear accidents responsible for the spectacular increase in thyroid cancers? How can we measure the health impact of the various electricity sources? Should we vaccinate our children? Is breast cancer caused by pesticides?

These questions are not theoretical or academic. They are matters of public concern, subjects in which the irruption of technology in society is experienced through the prism of human health and where policy decision-making combines the need to use science and the need to manage the complicated relationship that many citizens have with science. In theory the social role of the press in a democratic society should constantly improve this attitude, but this is not really the case.