I don't see why they're weird examples. Every innovation may or may not cause health problems. Clearly cars do cause health problems, transistors largely do not unless you take a whole carbon footprint into account as well. How could you possibly know either outcome ahead of time?
The point is that we don't know the health consequences beforehand, and anticipating them is not easy. You say you want more of an effort made in this regard, but do you actually know how much effort is currently made towards this end?
Re:Cancer and mobile phones
by dvfjsdhgfv on Saturday July 14, 2018 @04:59PM
(#17532347)
Well, maybe even too much effort:
> Our findings add to the existing evidence that single-source sponsorship is associated with outcomes that favor the sponsors’ products
Again using asbestos and lead in various products as examples, there are real dangers to public health in new products/technologies, and while I don't want to see the technological progress we've made stopped I do want to see more effort made to anticipate, mitigate, and lessen the potential harm caused by new technologies (and the irresponsible behavior of many of the companies pushing them).