Daily Mail claims that cycle commuting is one of biggest triggers for heart attacks

Everyone loves to hate the Daily Mail

Good old Daily Mail. Yet another outstanding piece of journalism. It's always baffled me how they maintain such consistently high standards. Almost as informative as the Beano. I'm off to get my copy (of the Daily Mail)now. I find it gives me a bit of light relief from my usual quality paper, the Daily Sport. Usually I wrap the Mail inside the Sport before I walk home in case anyone sees it. Got to maintain some standards.

Update:

For a safe, healthy ride to work;

1) Do not attempt a home blood transfusion before setting off. If
you absolutely must do so, do not use Italian blood.

2) Avoid Spanish steaks before setting off.

3) The biggest danger you face on your daily commute?
Crazed Daily Mail reading cabbies, furious that (a) you are
riding a bike at all, and (b) that your bike has some funny
foreign looking name on it's frame.

Lazy slack churnalism,but it's only to be expected from the DM, for more of this read Flat Earth News by Nick Davis.

A fairly typical Daily Mail story. Find a study, and write a story so it fits what you wanted to write about anyway.
That paper is full of stories either misrepresenting some good research, or taking a survey with a very small sample and expanding it's findings to the whole population.

The DfT study I've quoted from before had very different finding on air pollution levels for cyclists as opposed to car occupants:
Cycling and Health. - What's the evidence?
http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cyc...
(I have put the reference next to the quote for each)

"It is often assumed that cyclists (and pedestrians) are exposed to higher air pollution levels than motor vehicle occupants because they are physically unprotected, and because they may be breathing more deeply than passive car occupants. However, in slow moving traffic, typical of rush-hour traffic, car occupants can be exposed to higher pollutant levels."
(van Wijnen, J. Verhoeff, A., Jans, H. and van Bruggen, M. (1995). The exposure of cyclists, car drivers and pedestrians to traffic-related air pollutants, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 67, pp. 187-190)

"A review of the literature has concluded that: “Cars offer little or no protection against the pollutants generated by vehicle traffic. Road users can be exposed to significantly elevated levels of pollutants as they are, in effect, travelling in a ‘tunnel’ of pollution. Those road users travelling closest to the centre of this tunnel tend to experience higher concentrations of pollutants than those nearer to the roadside."
(Institute for European Environmental Policy/Environmental Transport Association (1997). Road user exposure to air pollution: Literature review, Weybridge: Environmental Transport Association)

"Car drivers also suffer up to two to three times greater exposure to pollution than pedestrians in slow moving traffic."
(Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (1998). A New Deal for Transport. Better for Everyone. London, The Stationery Office.)

I do wonder how many of the Daily Mail journalists use cocaine on a regular basis and I expect it's quite a few, which might explain why the drug being a major cause of heart disease is skipped over in the article. Umm, I did use to know a Daily Mail journalist (she was at uni with my wife) and she was a regular cocaine user.

I'm sure far more people die sitting on the toilet reading the Daily Mail than have heart attacks whilst riding a bike. Don't read it whilst taking a dump.

Ah yes, the Daily Mail: "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" and all that.

What a crock of shit.

NHS Choices take on it:

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/02February/Pages/air-pollution-cycling-heart...

The Mail?
Best laugh I've had all week. Thank goodness for a free press.

This is truly awful reporting, and worryingly there are comments on the article's website from people who have suffered heart attacks saying they are now considering cutting out cycling due to the risks!

Here's a link to the journalist's email address (Jenny Hope) for anyone else who wants to complain directly:
http://journalisted.com/jenny-hope#tab-contact

Occasionally the Daily Mail produces an article that is correct, unfortunately this is not one of them!

generate your own Daily Hate headlines with this handy generator:

http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/

Is it appropriate to throw a Victor Meldrew here??? Anyway, same study, different paper and jounalist and absolutely no mention of cycling!! http://ind.pn/hgIEsc i just hope the link works I, actually being the fool that I am, read some of the comments... quite scarey some of them and cannot believe that over 200 people 'liked' the article

@ dullard, the DM cyclists will be those who ride on pavements with high spec mountain bikes giving us a bad name

... and some more poor reportage from around the world - seems some papers are happy just to pass other people's cr*ppy stories on

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Cycl...

I do!

Look on the bright side, at least it'll keep DM readers off bikes and out of our way. And on the even brighter side, they'll all be sat in their cars in queues, getting worse hit by pollution than we do on bikes (you process the crap better if you're moving and breathing harder) so they're actually far more likely to be struck by myocardial infarction than we are! Bonus!

No surprise. The Mail wouldn't recognise honest science reporting if it bit them on the bum.

"Cycle commuting is one of the biggest triggers for heart attacks" - probably not, although 10 pints of beer, 40 fags and a diet of lard each day should do it.

And the Mail presents yet another opportunity for morons across the UK to call for cyclists to pay road tax as we're nothing more than lycra louts. The death penalty or public stoning are what us cyclists all really deserve. Now to get a real job and start saving for that car...

but ... but ... but .... oh bother, I appear to have
lost the ability to ..... anyone sean some words
floating around here ?

Good 'ole Daily Fail, almost as comical as that fat
knacker Clarkson !

Daily Fail. Have they published their "Cycling gives you cancer" or "Cycling cures cancer" articles yet?

I seem to remember that car drivers sat in city traffic are exposed to more pollution than cyclists.

The daily "hate & fear" mail is always good value for a laugh. I always wonder if their journalists actually believe the unbalanced drivel they spout or whether they're just trying to egg on their readership. I suspect it's a bit of both.

BTW - if anyone is interested on the subject of how the media misrepresents the reporting of science & medicine, there is a good book called Bad Science that I recently read.

I'm worried those people I know read The Mail will be asking me questions on it - Mail, dodgy conclusions etc. - now THAT's a real cause of heart attacks

Simon reports that reading the Daily Mail is one of the biggest triggers of high blood pressure.