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by maga_2020 754 days ago
We live in the time when there is sharp decline in trust of public institutions and academia.

What is considered 'safe' to use, or 'unsafe' -- is debated at the level of a layman (a person without specialized knowledge in chemistry, biology, immunology, etc).

We cannot all be specialists in human biology, finance, internet security / etc. And that's being exploited by powerful organizations.

When the above happens, and we feel taken-advantage-of we tend to 'default' to our 'localized' experiences and instincts.

For me, and I am sure many others I do 2 things

a) I trust the NIH positions and articles before 1994 or so, much more than the most recent ones (on the topics that rely on observational statics)

b) I tend to do research on these topic across countries (especially if I can translate, of non-English speaking countries).

Forums like this one, may amplify just one side of the view (recently publish observational stats, English-speaking ).

My suggestion, if I may offer one -- continue to be cautious and use information sources that are 'balanced'.