Applications of knowledge, on the other hand, depend on the society that possesses that knowledge. Natural science is unable to answer questions of an ethical nature. With some amplification from the media and interest groups, anxious parents see a brave researcher holding out against the establishment. However the research establishment simply see unsubstantiated claims, and a lack of scientific rigour. No statistical scientist would ever claim with certainty to have ruled out a causative factor.
Uncertainty is an inevitable part of statistical science.
According to the science curriculum, uncertainty rules the day. But in reality it does not. Teaching pupils the rudiments of double-blind tests, clinical trial methods and general principles of factoring studies for other influences would clear these scientific confusions. MMR vaccination not being the cause of autism. But, according to the science curriculum, all this shows is uncertainty.