14 



Science and Poll 



icy 



How DOES THE INDIVIDUAL SCIENTIST BECOME INVOLVED 



with value problems in practice? In the first place, Uke 

 any citizen, he is likely to take part in discussions of public 

 policy which depend on the weighing of scientific evidence. 

 Many communities have recently had very active debates 

 on whether or not to fiuoridize water supplies. In these 

 discussions scientific evidence on the reduction of dental 

 caries and the possible hazards to be expected when various 

 concentrations of fluorine are added to drinking water 

 comes into conflict with certain somewhat mystical values 

 surrounding the concept of purity and more concretely 

 with the freedom of parents to decide for themselves 

 whether their children should have cavities or not. Al- 

 though there may be a good deal of sound and fury in 

 such discussions, in the long run they lead to a clearer 

 understanding of the objective issues and perhaps to a 

 better appreciation of some of the subjective values in- 

 volved. 



In recent years, scientists have increasingly found them- 

 selves writing about both the practical hardware and the 

 moral questions concerned with the testing and use of 

 the atomic bomb. Some of these essays appear in specialist 

 journals Uke the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, but 

 others are pubHshed in magazines of wide popular circula- 



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