Remember a few years ago when the medical world consensus was that stomach ulcers were caused by stress? Then along came some new research that proved that it was in fact caused by a type of bacteria that could live in the acidic environment of the stomach; something that experts believed to be impossible. This is a good story to bring up when faced with people who believe a "consensus" on the cause of global warming is bound to be right. Here Roy Spencer brings this up as an argument in favour of scepticism when discussing an alarmist article in the New York Times.
The medical world has never believed that stomach ulcers were caused by one single factor. Even now, all stomach ulcers are not caused by H. pylori bacteria. Some other factors are long term excess use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Some are the result of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. And that's not where it ends. Certain factors and behaviours put people at greater risk of developing stomach ulcers e.g. smoking, steroids for asthma treatment, excessive alcohol consumption, age, hypercalcemia, etc. Roy Spencer is not a doctor of medicine nor an historian and it shows.
ReplyDeleteBut, George, my point is that the medical profession did not believe that a bacteria could exist in the acidic region of the stomach.
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