Friday, July 31, 2015

Research for Dummies

Bottled water
"I heard it on the internet, so it must be true!" Yeah, that's the punchline of a million jokes. Of course, information sources like Demand Media (parent company of eHow) like to pretend that they're paragons of perfection, but they aren't always... "accurate." For example, consider the bad research of eHowian Mark Fitzpatrick, which resulted in the erroneous information he passed along in "What Are the Dangers of Bottled Water in Your Car?

Mark's "answer" is, from the looks of it, spurred by an internet meme about plastic water bottles, driven by a chain email. Here at the Antisocial Network, we have a simple policy: assume that any statement made in a chain email is utter bull, and you won't be disappointed. Whatever the case, Mark's "research" discovered, or so he tells his readers, that
"Plastic bottles contain two chemicals, bisphenol A and orthophthalates. Both of these chemicals are linked to adverse health effects."
The problem with this information? The plastic used for water bottles doesn't contain BPA (bisphenol-A); that chemical is only present in certain rigid plastics, such as (some) sports bottles and coffee mugs. Neither does polyethylene – PET, the plastic used to make disposable water bottles – contain phthalates. So Mark got it wrong... but eHow printed it anyway.

We also have reason to suspect other statements contained in Mark's misinformation:

"The longer water has stayed in a plastic bottle, the higher the likelihood that chemicals may have entered into the water. It is recommended that you only use a water bottle once and recycle it immediately."
We're confused: how would refilling a plastic bottle increase the time the water stays in it? Is he trying to say that the chemicals somehow magically transport themselves to the newly added water?

For his blatant misinformation based on faulty research (Fitzpatrick's "references" are all blogs: I read it in a blog, it must be true!), Mark  is today's Dumbass of the Day.
    

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was    ehow.com/facts_7481396_dangers-bottled-water-car.html
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