August 5, 2002

WEST NILE VIRUS

The two pieces that we’re running today on West Nile Virus are still very much relevant even though they are not completely up to date on the latest events, including the four deaths associated with West Nile in Louisiana. This is a state where there are 130 refineries, according to Jim West, author of one of the articles that pinpoints a product in gasoline as important to our understanding of what West Nile may be all about. The other article, which focuses on Jim West’s highly-detailed research, also provides a look at some of the shaky science on WNV.

The lack of any interest in possible environmental inputs into the deaths of individuals who are being called victims of West Nile Virus makes for another sad chapter in a scientific era that has become one-dimensional in its pursuits of causation.

NICHOLAS REGUSH