You remind me of the incident where President Reagan asked some statistician to work up numbers on how much money could be saved (or some such) if more lead were put into gasoline. He did as he was told but then also looked at the converse: How much it would cost in terms of increased healthcare. Contrary to what Reagan wanted, lead was taken out of gasoline. The statistician basically had to leave the government job he had. I believe he got some kind of award (can't recall if it was a Nobel Prize) that helped him buy a house so he could work as a professor and continue doing research too controversial for government bureaucrats.