You might say that the patient is dead, but the carcass just keeps kicking. Last week, three different teams of scientists raised serious doubts about claims that the microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida is a toxic threat to humans.
Apparently stung by the news, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s “Water Keeper Alliance” fired back a whiny salvo this weekend, claiming in a press release that the goring of its sacred ox could only have occurred through “some distortion of the research process.” In order to try and make their case, Water Keeper attorneys are demanding that federal officials hand over documents associated with $12 million in research grants handed out to the scientists who debunked the environmental movement’s earlier Pfiesteria claims.
Raising the specter of fraud, Water Keeper director Rick Dove told the New Bern (NC) Sun Journal that “There’s enough smoke here to go looking for the fire. There might not be a fire, but it needs to be checked.” Dove also complained that last week’s announcement discrediting earlier warnings about Pfiesteria’s toxicity “is almost like an invitation to go back to the river and say there’s no problem.”
“No problem?” That’s exactly what we’ve been saying all along.
