Anti-science choices in November’s election
Suppose a local city council was considering dropping vaccination requirements for city elementary schools. What if the council provided a long forum for an anti-vax group to testify and then ignored advice from state health agencies and a federal agency (both subject to “best available science” mandates)? My response would probably range from unease to anger.
This is not at all hypothetical (even for vaccinations). Precisely this happened with the Westminster City Council, concerning the Rocky Mountain Greenway. Superior, and Lyons are all in a similar situation because of misinformation and political pressure from anti-nuclear groups; so was Broomfield with the now-suspended Jefferson Parkway project. No matter how you feel about these specific issues there is the expectation that local governments not depart too far from what is scientifically established truth.
I’m re-posting to Nextdoor most of Randy Stafford’s posting of June 30 2025 to the Rocky Flats Downwinders. You can see the entire posting on their Facebook page.
“Over the last six years several elected officials in local governments have become important allies in protecting public health from Rocky Flats contamination…Many of these allies are running for election again this November, and they need our support! Claire Carmelia is running for Westminster Mayor. She has been a staunch supporter of our concerns as a Westminster Councilor. Not only was she one of the majority who voted for Westminster to withdraw from the Rocky Mountain Greenway FLAP grant partnership, but she also attended a screening of Half Life of Memory at DU and gave a great answer to an audience question about how people could engage on Rocky Flats issues. Guyleen Castriotta is running for re-election as Broomfield Mayor. She was instrumental in leading Broomfield City Council’s unanimous vote to withdraw from the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority (JPPHA), and from the Rocky Mountain Greenway FLAP grant partnership. She is a fiercely loyal friend of our cause. Heidi Henkel is running for the Colorado House of Representatives from district 33, which includes Great Western Reservoir and the Skyestone neighborhood. Heidi was Broomfield City Council’s representative on the JPPHA Board at the time of Broomfield’s withdrawal.”
The Downwinders, and hence their supporters, (i) believe that there is no safe amount of exposure to plutonium, in violation of the basic principle of epidemiology, “The dose makes the poison”. Rejecting this principle is analogous to rejecting germ theory for infectious diseases. (ii) Fact: The risk of (say) cancer is conservatively described as linearly proportional to the dose. A teeny-tiny dose produces a teeny-tiny risk (unobservable if small enough). These beliefs make the ‘Downwinder’ audience (and their supporters) extremely vulnerable to misinformation, happily served up by anti-nuclear groups claiming danger in the complete absence of evidence or calculation of radiation doses from plutonium, which range from hundreds to tens of thousands of times smaller than natural background radiation or radon.
Yes, elections are about more than one issue. But those mentioned above have already departed from science and decisions based on evidence. When will they do so again? How will your municipality deal with ‘best available science’ laws when they apply for state or federal grants? If you want such people on your City Council, by all means follow Randy’s suggestions.