• village604@adultswim.fan
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    17 hours ago

    The link between tire and brake dust to ASD isn’t a concrete causation yet. The papers do show a correlation, yes, but that isn’t the same as definitive proof of causation.

    For example, areas with higher tire/brake dust will have higher vehicle traffic, so it might be some other pollutant vehicles produce.

    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Most public health policy (and hell, most of medicine) is based on correlation. Causation isn’t generally needed and sometimes it’s not even possible to prove.

      • humorlessrepost@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Sure. But they were responding to the claim that “we know tires and break dust is a cause of autism”. Not “there seems to be a correlation, so maybe we should err on the side of abundant caution and treat it as if it’s causal when drafting public policy.” The correction was warranted.