Johnson’s writings in publications other than the Times have cogently analyzed dubious claims of cancer clusters in Toms River, N.J. and Love Canal, N.Y. Times science reporter Gina Kolata was a pioneer in questioning claimed incidence patterns, and a Times editorial helped in dispelling one of the most famous cancer cluster theories, that of breast cancer on Long Island.

Dozens of refuted cancer cluster scares later, are we more cautious when new ones are put forward? Or has nothing changed?

On Jan. 2 the Times published, to predictably sensational reaction, a piece by Hiroko Tabuchi profiling a claimed childhood cancer cluster in Johnson County, Indiana. Local campaigners have collected cases of childhood cancers — diverse kinds of it, not all one type — associated with the county since 2008, which would imply a rate of six cases per year. The piece, unfortunately, omits to mention the county’s population; it’s 139,654. It does concede, somewhat backhandedly, that the county is within a broadly normal range on its numbers, by noting that it has an incidence of childhood cancer slightly above the average for American counties, placing it in the 80th percentile of all such counties, which in this kind of statistical distribution means not really any great outlier at all.

Cluster alarms call for a culprit, and the local campaigners have settled on a now-shuttered industrial plant that used TCE (trichloroethylene), a solvent familiar from dry cleaning and used at many thousands of sites. They suspect it may have spread through the water and subsequent evaporation, which would explain — or would it? — which some sick children lived in homes distant from the plant and why current water testing is at best inconclusive.

I’ve written a fair bit about cluster controversies in the past, including the one in Hinkley, Calif. made famous by Erin Brockovich, and the Woburn, Mass. story captured in the book and movie “A Civil Action.”

An Indiana cancer cluster in the NYT is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Feb. 15: Pitt Law School Federalist Society chapter, with Duquesne Law Prof. Will Huhn.

Mar. 20: Indiana University Maurer School of Law Federalist Society chapter.

If you’re a longtime reader and would like to see if we could grab coffee, email editor at overlawyered dot com.

Relatedly, I’m pleased to report that my piece on politicians, voters, and gerrymandering is the lead essay in the latest Cato Policy Report, and that it’s now online.

Upcoming speeches: Pitt Law, IU-Bloomington is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The harm one prolific litigant can do is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Culture War tomorrow, comity tonight: when one state boycotts another is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

On the social media pile-on against a small-town Indiana pizzeria, see also the thought-provoking column by Conor Friedersdorf (more, Matt Welch). Also recommended on the general controversy: Roger Pilon, Mike Munger/Bleeding Heart Libertarians, and David Henderson on freedom of association, David Brooks on getting along, and Peter Steinfels on liberal pluralism and religious freedom.

Relatedly, Cato has now posted a podcast with my critical views (earlier) of the “Utah compromise” adding sexual orientation as a protected class while also giving employees new rights to sue employers over curbs on discussion of religion and morality in the workplace (h/t: interviewer Caleb Brown). For a view of that compromise more favorable than mine, see this Brookings panel.

Business, gay rights, and the law: what comes next is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Free speech roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Inspired by man who filed more than 120 lawsuits, Indiana Supreme Court sets pro se limits” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Indiana: “Lawyer charged with felony intimidation over message to client’s ex-husband” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Related: Richard Epstein at Hoover on Obama Administration plans to prohibit selling your family’s vintage piano or moving it across a state line. And aside from ivory chess sets, the nascent War on Antiques might take a toll of replica firearms [Washington Times]

FBI raids Indiana antiquities collector is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system