The media often has difficulty deciding what counts as obvious disinformation or falsehoods. But supposed disinformation about climate change is a problematical question, which hasn’t stopped numerous efforts such as a suit by Delaware to punish oil companies for their alleged disinformation campaign surrounding climate change and its effects. It’s rather like the common attitude, ‘I’m in favor of free speech, but this case is different….’
An informed observer might wonder what makes alleged climate change disinformation different from so many other examples that go unremarked on?
Genetically modified organisms (GMO) in agriculture are still subject to disinformation, with claims that they produce ‘toxic’ food and can change human DNA. In fact, they have been intensively studied and the warnings have been widely debunked, with the scientific community demanding that such claims be withdrawn.
Nearly identical opposition to vaccines has been common historically, with modern opposition predating the current pandemic, although that added a political element to the opposition.
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Failure to adopt GMO foods in many countries has reduced food production and increased malnutrition and even starvation, as well as increasing habitat loss and reducing biodiversity. Untold thousands, even millions, have died because of disinformation about vaccines while reliance on coal instead of nuclear power has meant possibly millions of additional deaths from pollutants and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
