I’ve long wondered when/if some really serious and widespread contamination/pollution problem would be uncovered — something in what we’ve been consuming for years and years.

My fear is based on human nature. If something sufficiently horrible is discovered, it will be buried, hidden. “We can’t talk about this. We can’t let this information get out. People would freak out.”

There was an element of this going on in climate research done 30 years ago. The scientists fudged the climate change numbers down. “People will never believe this, and if they did, they’d freak out. We have to fudge it down.” This minimization of the problem doesn’t actually change reality, of course. What it does is it makes it worse when the effects physically hit.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/20/new-mexico-contamination-dairy-industry-pollution