Genotype or Geno-hype?
Winnipeg, Manitoba, May 19, 2004

And the last word...

There's nothing new about the debate of the state of science journalism. In 1959, British novelist and physicist Sir Charles Percy Snow published The Two Cultures and The Scientific Revolution. It is a lament for the widening gap between literary intellectuals and scientists. These two solitudes are apparent in the Canadian media at a time when the public needs to be informed and engaged in very complex issues.

Timothy Caulfield says the communication gap between the worlds of media and science leads to ignorance that we, as a society, really can't afford. The questions are complex. The answers aren't simple. "Will they ever find a single IQ gene? No, they're never going to find it. But still you see these kinds of representations in the media. It frustrates me because I see policy makers picking up on this on this idea. Increasingly, health policy questions are being informed by this type of representation of genetics."