Junk Science and Quack Medicine

[Colonel Sun]

WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 10 Dec 2010 Washington, DC

1. EMF EXPOSURE: DOES WAVING OF THE TREES MAKE THE WIND BLOW?
Identifying the cause of disease is the first step in its treatment.
Epidemiology, the branch of medicine concerned with causation, seeks to
establish correlation between exposure to a possible cause and actual
occurance of the disease. Data must be taken over a period of years to
allow for latency; if no effect is seen, a longer latency period is
assumed. Since there is no record of individual usage, people are asked to
recall what they did years earlier. Exposure to electromagnetic fields
(EMF) in modern society is ubiquitous, but with the exception of a few
crackpots it was not thought to be a problem until 1989 when the New Yorker
ran a series of hopelessly misinformed articles by Paul Brodeur linking EMF
to cancer. The articles were turned into a series of books with lurid
titles like Currents of Death. Brodeur had zero background in science but
he managed to arouse the anti-science monster that had been in hiding since
World War II. The media, trained to give both sides of the story, even if
one side is the babbling of an idiot, was no help. It did not end until
1996 when the National Academy of Sciences, persuaded that the public would
not accept an argument based on quantum mechanics, released a three-year
study that found no effect of EMF on the human body. Almost overnight power
lines stopped causing cancer. The anti-science monster had been chained,
but it was still alive.

2. EPIDEMIOLOGY: FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF NATURE TAKE PRECEDENCE.
With the abrupt emergence of cell-phone technology a decade ago, the anti-
science monster talked its way out of bondage. Devra Davis, who is not
quite a scientist, but has a PhD in something called Science Studies, has
donned the mantle of Paul Brodeur to write Disconnect: The Truth About Cell
Phone Radiation, What Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your
Family. What's missing is what was missing from Paul Brodeur: the universe
is governed by quantum physics. Einstein pointed out a century ago that
electromagnetic radiation behaves like units of energy called photons equal
to Planck's constant times the frequency. They don't cause any trouble
unless their energy matches some natural excitation. There isn't much to
excite until they reach the energy of molecular vibrations in the microwave
region. This is the part of the spectrum used in cell phones, so in
principle your cell phone might cook your goose, but it would take a very
long time. At even higher frequencies you reach the red end of the visible
spectrum, then yellow, green and finally blue. Not until you reach the
extreme blue end of the visible spectrum is there a problem. At that
energy, photons can eject photoelectrons, creating mutant strands of DNA
that can become a cancer. This is the lowest energy at which an incident
photon can induce cancer. Photons of this energy are about a million times
more energetic than a microwave photon, but cannot penetrate very deeply
and therefore induce only skin cancers. However, in the last few days there
have been reports that children exposed to cell phones radiation while in
the womb have an increased risk of behavior problems several years after
birth. At this point we can expect a wilder and wilder claims of effects
from cell phone radiation.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.

[Colonel Sun]

[Colonel Sun]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_by ... conference

[rednblacklumberjack]

At least the Wakefield Plot was foiled. I recall the PBS Frontline piece on this conflagration. An intensive care pediatrician was in a unique role to witness the increase of wholly avoidable diseases. She recounted (heroically) aspirating for hours upon hours mucous from an imperiled infant, and that this was becoming routine.

There are few things more ghoulish than this story. Its as if this sick Mr. Wakefield and his lawfare-wielding minions detected a sweet spot in naive American parents: choose between autism and your child's death, and that this impossible dilemma is the fault of those evil, black-box vaccine manufacturers.

When would the cadence of a firing squad, marching in full regalia on a sunlit spring day ring out more beautifully than in the pursuit of the ultimate reciprocity for the Wakefield plotters?

[Colonel Sun]

Unfortunately I suspect that no amount of reason and evidence will sway the minds of the credulous and gullible.

This episode also demonstrates how poor humans are at assessing relative risk especially when it comes to their precious snowflakes.

Unintentional injury is by far the leading cause of child disability and mortality in the industrialized world.

[Tinker]

Re: Wakefield. Never attribute to Malice what can be attributed to stupidity. Maybe he genuinely believed that what he was saying was true.

[Marcus]

[Tinker]

[~]

A good 5-minute rundown of the Wakefield affair from last May:



http://tallguywrites.livejournal.com/148012.html

[Colonel Sun]

[Colonel Sun]

WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 7 Jan 2011 Washington, DC

1. AUTISM: THERE IS NO VACCINATION AGAINST FRAUD.
In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist and researcher,
set off a worldwide panic with a Lancet article in which he identified the
common MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccinations as a cause of autism.
There was a precipitous drop in the number of parents electing to vaccinate
their children, and a corresponding rise in measles cases. Once considered
inevitable, measles is a serious disease. In 2009, however, Wakefield was
found to have altered patient’s records to support his claim. The Lancet
immediately retracted his 1998 publication. The British General Medical
Council ruled that Wakefield had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly."
Investigative reporter Brian Deer has tracked Wakefield for years, turning
up new "contributions" to support his "work." Lawyers, smelling a
possible "mass tort blitz” that could make them very wealthy, were
particularly generous. Class-action lawsuits in asbestos and tobacco,
while justified, eventually benefited the lawyers far more than the
victims. Wakefield was struck off the Medical Register and may no longer
practice medicine in the UK. No matter, Wakefield now operates an autism
clinic in Austin, Texas. Although he doesn't have a medical license in the
US, that won't much matter in Texas.

2. VACCINATION: PUBLIC HEALTH MAY NEVER FULLY RECOVER.
An editorial in the British Medical Journal expressed the hope that the
latest news will put an end to the anti-vaccine movement. We should be so
lucky. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert who wrote Autism's False
Prophets, and donated all royalties to autism research, is not optimistic.
Wakefield is clearly seeking to portray himself as a martyr, and even has
his own celebrity activist pleading his case to the public on programs such
as Oprah, former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy who has an autistic child.
The scientific community must learn to speak up publicly on issues of
integrity.acomplishment

[Tinker]

[Colonel Sun]

[Tinker]

Rhonda Byrne is just selling Magick. Nothing new there. That's the essence of Magick, that Will is supreme and one can draw by Will the objects of one's desire. At the risk of sounding like a New Age quack, I've seen some fairly uncanny coincidences in that regard.

[Colonel Sun]

[Tinker]

[Colonel Sun]

[~]

[Colonel Sun]

[~]

[Colonel Sun]

[Colonel Sun]

[Marcus]

[Colonel Sun]

[Marcus]