The US has been bringing a lot of ‘surprises’ these days, with politicians going against stricter gun law despite record numbers of deaths from mass shootings, racial and religious bigotry statements from presidential candidates, and now, they also have a town there, urging a moratorium on solar panels on the basis that the panels “suck up extra sunlight needed for plants’ photosyntheses”.

Really? Solar panels won’t allow plants to grow?

For a short introduction, photosynthesis is a process whereby a plant capable of ‘making food’ on its own synthesises glucose (as its food). This process requires sunlight, and carbon dioxide gas from the environment and produces breathable oxygen gas to the environment, aside from producing glucose.

It is clearly understood now that in order for plants to ‘make food’ on their own, give out breathable oxygen for us, and actually give us edible crops, they need sunlight to grow in the first place.

But it is so annoyingly trivial that a retired science teacher from Woodland, North Carolina, stated that the solar panels would suck up the sunlight as if the Sun favours the sunlight or that the panels ‘force’ the sunlight to be shone towards the panels instead.

The more annoying thing about it is that her conclusion, and the town’s council decision, is actually an insult towards science itself.

While cigarettes went through a long way with scientists doing a lot of researches on the harmful effect of tobacco and nicotine, and only like more than decades later the sales of cigarettes are regulated, a retired science teacher’s ‘observation’ and immature hypothesis brought about a ban of non-radioactive, greener alternative solar panels.

Well, if we are to use the logic of Jane Mann, the science teacher, people living in the middle of a farm are more likely to have osteoporosis than people living in the middle of a metropolis because more sunlight is absorbed by plants at farms. Hence, walking through the trail of logic, there is less sunlight for humans to synthesise active Vitamin D for healthy bone development.

And that is super ridiculous!

Solar panels and cancer (What?)

Now, our dearest Mrs Mann also claimed that people around the solar panels are more prone to having cancer than those not living around them. More ‘interestingly’, she also stated that “no one can tell her that solar panels can’t cause cancer”.

Again, this is a ‘fun’ trail of logic. Let’s make a survey now: out of all cancer patients, how many of them use a computer at least once in their lives? In this era of advanced technology, obviously more than half of them must have been using computers, more than once, in their lives. Therefore, do computers cause cancer, too?

This is rather a classical example of confusion between correlation and causation. If she was to provide a clear correlation, she could have at least provided independent statistics. But then, even statistics cannot directly prove or provide explanations for causes of diseases; it mostly explains social and environmental behaviour that results in certain trends.

Also, has Mrs Mann considered that processed meat, like sausages and fast food burgers - the ones Americans love so much - may cause a high risk of cancer, as high as cigarette smoking? If you are against the World Health Organisation (WHO), I can’t help you with that.

Evil corporations, maybe?

There, there. Let’s have your feast of ‘evil conspiracy of top corporations’ agenda that the netizens love so much they cannot get themselves enough of the feed.

Again, please dear people and policy makers especially, be objective with issues.

Solar panels don’t use any non-renewable source of energy; they don’t suck up the limited supply of petroleum and coal from the ground.

The solar panels don’t produce hazardous smokes from petroleum and coal burning that cause respiratory diseases towards human beings.

The solar panels don’t produce significant amount of radioactive wastes like nuclear reactors or rare earths mining that cause cancer and congenital anomalies that affect newborns.

And definitely, solar panels don’t suck up extra sunlight for energy in expense of plants’ requirementa for photosyntheses.

If you are afraid that it is going to be a greedy corporation’s agenda, make it a public-funded project instead of banning it altogether.

Please, don’t let your ignorance harm the innocent others.

WAN SALMAN WAN SALLAM is a member of the secretariat of civil society for Ikram Siswa Nasional.