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Re: Snake Oil

Things are not as simple as we might think (or want). There was an article
in the Sunday New York Times Magazine titled PLACEBOS WORK. The title says
it all. Studies have shown that in many cases placebos work as well as the
approved remedy (including knee surgery), and in a few cases the placebos
worked better! Since they work, there is a school of thought which says
that they should be prescribed. Good reading.
Br. Robert W. Harris
Catholic Memorial High School
rwharris@cath-mem.org
http://www.cath-mem.org/physics/contents.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Bernard G. Cleyet & Nancy Ann Seese <georgeann@REDSHIFT.COM>
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Date: Monday, January 10, 2000 12:23 AM
Subject: Re: Snake Oil


Try this one: www.junkscience.com



bc


brian whatcott wrote:

At 22:34 1/9/00 -0500, you wrote:
At 10:52 1/9/00 -0800, Ray Rogoway wrote:
....
>I think it's our responsibility to deal with "JUNK SCIENCE" in the
>classroom. Does anyone have any data that supports magnetic therapy?
...
>Ray Rogoway

As far as I know - AC fields are routinely used to deal with
recalcitrant bone breaks that refuse to mend in the usual way.
The coils are energized with a 60 Hertz field, although some
implementations use asymmetric field intensity in successive
half cycles.

brian whatcott

And what does this accomplish aside from allowing the recipients of
the radiation to see their favorite TV shows with their teeth?
...
Hugh Haskell

Let's see: orthopedic surgeons use pulsed EMFs for recalcitrant
bone fractures. I imagine they expect a therapeutic effect,
wouldn't you?

But while we're on the topic of the ineffectiveness of
American medical practise in prolonguing life, it would be a
more useful expenditure of classroom time to skip mentioning
the quack remedies and instead caution students about the reasons
that drugs are placed on 'prescription-only' lists.

The only legitimate reason that drugs are on this list is because
they have unhealthy side effects.
(This doesn't mean the possibility of health deficits "avoidable by
skilled physician diagnosis and prescription" - it means they
can be expected to do bad things to the person who imbibes them).

On this basis - in my view teachers would be doing students a
great service, in general, by advocating innocuous (if unhelpful)
remedies such as (some) herbs, many homeopathic recipes, casting
chicken entrails, reading tea leaves etc., on condition they avoided
whenever possible any prescription drug.

The only worse option that quickly comes to mind is a hospital
admission. That is at any rate, my considered opinion.

So I concur: take action on "Junk Science." :-)

But if you *really* want to make a difference to mortality rates -
ban burgers, hot dogs, cola and soda drinks containing more than
4 tablespoons of sugar per can from the school eating rooms -
and push fruit and green and yellow vegetables.

Insist that all students get as much time exercising as the time
they spend watching TV each week.

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK