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khafra comments on Even if you have a nail, not all hammers are the same - Less Wrong
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One can complain about empirical studies in dozens of ways. Yes, for any linear regression one can complain that they should have included higher order moments for all of the variables. But if readers can feel justified in ignoring any analysis for which one can make such a complaint, then readers can feel justified in ignoring pretty much any such data analysis. That is way too low a standard for ignoring data.
If you suspect that this lack has seriously skewed the results of some particular study, then you should get the data and do your own analysis the way you think it should be done, and then publish that. Then readers can at least compare the prestige of the two publications in deciding who is right.
I think the complaint here is less that higher order moments would've produced higher quality results, and more that when testing for adverse effects on health, they used mean dosages already known to be toxic, which is a pretty thorough screening out of any evidence collected.
It would be confidence-inspiring to see the raw data, and some better analyses of it, of course.