Seven deadly sins of environmental epidemiology and the virtues of precaution

Abstract

The potentials for error in planning, conducting, reporting, and utilizing epidemiologic results can be considered in terms of the traditional 7 deadly sins. To counter these sins, epidemiologic virtues should be inspired by the precautionary principle. The remedies emphasize acknowledgment and exploration of the impact of uncertainties, weight-of-the-evidence assessments that consider what could be known given the opportunities for research, and epidemiologic strategies that facilitate the use of tentative, though innovative, studies in decision-making.

Fig. 1

Mount Purgatory for sinful epidemiologists, who must heed the precautionary virtues to reach Paradise, (substantially) revised from Dante.