Lobbyist: Conclusion Those who claim that automobile exhaust emissions are a risk to public health are mistaken. ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████████████ ██████ ████ █████████████
The argument cites a positive correlation between car exhaust levels and public health to support its conclusion that car exhaust has no serious negative effect on health.
This is a cookie-cutter example of a correlation-causation flaw. Just because two phenomena are positively correlated does not mean that there is no negative causal relationship between them. It’s possible, and even likely, that public health has improved in spite of car exhaust levels increasing. Public health is probably improving for a variety of other reasons, so car exhaust may still very well have a negative effect on it.
The flaw in the lobbyist's █████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████
inspecting commercial airplanes ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████
smoking cigarettes is ███ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████████████ █████████
using a cell █████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
skydiving is not █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ █████
people with insurance ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██