Writer Responds to Misleading Media Coverage of Mattress Materials Safety Issues

Recent media coverage that employs junk science to question the safety of materials used today to meet the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s new mattress flammability standard has attracted the attention of Trevor Butterworth, a writer with a non-profit, non-partisan group called the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), which is affiliated with George Mason University in Northern Virginia. 

Founded in 1994, STATS has become a much-valued resource on the use and abuse of science and statistics in the media.   STATS’ goals are to correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge, and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies.

Below is a selection of stories by Mr. Butterworth that criticizes the misleading approach that some media have taken in their coverage of this complex subject:

• Panic in the Bedroom: Activist Group Warns of Night-time Catastrophe (Nov. 7, 2007) 
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trevor-butterworth/panic-in-the-bedroom-act_b_71654.html
• If You Vomit While Talking to a CBS Reporter Are You Allergic to CBS? (Feb. 12 2008):
  http://thestatsblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/if-you-vomit-while-talking-to-a-cbs-reporter-are-you-allergic-to-cbs/
• Local TV’s Never-Ending Scary Bedtime Story (Feb. 28, 2008)   
  http://www.stats.org/stories/2008/local_tv_bedtime_feb20_08.html
• Does The Washington Post Want You to Burn? (Apr. 15, 2008)   
  http://www.stats.org/stories/2008/does_wp_burn_apr15_08.html

STATS' work has been featured on NBC's "Nightly News," "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and ABC's "20/20" - and in print by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, US News and World Report, New Scientist, New England Journal of Medicine, and many other publications.