263 sats \ 5 replies \ @south_korea_ln 7 Jun \ on: What has been the worst or most harmful scientific discovery of all time? science
I can think of a few materials that started with good intentions but ended up being quite bad for us:
- lead-based paint (development delays in children)
- asbestos (cancer, etc)
- CFCs (depletion of the ozone layer)
- Thalidomide to treat morning sickness in pregnant women (birth defects in children)
- Bisphenol A used in plastics (endocrine disruptor)
Makes me think that maybe one of the worst discoveries will turn out to be plastic. We only start to scratch the surface of the damaging effect microplastics are having on us and our children. It's a tricky one, as plastic is obviously also one of our best, or at least, most useful, inventions.
Makes me think that maybe one of the worst discoveries will turn out to be plastic.
Nah. Without plastics there's no way we'd have modern civilization.
A much better example is your example of asbestos, which we have been able to find alternates to for pretty much all usage. OTOH, maybe without asbestos, we wouldn't have been able to get an industrial civilization advanced enough to find those alternatives.
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Asbestos prevents fires from spreading
People ignore the benefits of asbestos
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Asbestos prevents fires from spreading
Actually that is true. There was recently fire on a country side for relatives at some older building around 3am in night, and it still had asbestos roof from Soviet era and people woke up then and be able to act only because of sound of it's blasting. Otherwise likely fire would have spread to even more buildings, some of which contained natural gas balons, then there were parked cars full of gasoline nearby, etc.
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If it didn't kill you it'd be a miracle material.
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The dangers of lead and asbestos have been exaggerated.
What’s worse than asbestos are the frivolous asbestos lawsuits in America that have no end date or statute of limitations
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