Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
What you would do for love?
From: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_coffee_table.htm
Just when you think you have seen it all, there's always one more nut that didn't make it in the basket.
Jeff Green is a 32 year old American, in Arizona, whose wife passed away. Due to the great pain he suffered after her death, he did something totally out of character for a normal and sane person. He said, " I could no longer take the pain that my wife's death has caused me so I brought her back home." This is where Jeff's story takes a twisted turn. His wife, Lucy, was born with a heart condition that ended her life at the young age of 29.
Lucy's last words to Jeff were, " We will meet again in heaven." These words served of no consolation to Jeff's despair. At the funeral, in an act of desperation, Jeff decided that he would not let Lucy leave him. "I called the cemetery caretaker and explained my feelings."
"I spoke with the authorities and got special permission to take my wife home with me. They thought it strange, but I was allowed to take her with me. I'd rather have her at home than seven feet under ground. Lucy had a great sense of humor and I'm sure she would appreciate being my coffee table." Jeff ordered a special glass casing that eliminates the decomposition of a dead body. "It cost me about $6,000.00, but it was worth it." Some of his friends and relatives, filled with fear, stop visiting Jeff. His true friends respected his decision and continue visiting him. Some even comment that it is a nice piece of furniture.
Comments: False. Leaving aside the issue of why anyone would want to do such a thing in the first place, there are practical reasons why keeping the remains of one's dead spouse in a glass coffee table in one's living room is beyond the bounds of reality:
1. It's probably illegal. State and local laws generally require the burial or cremation of human remains within a specified time period after death occurs. Home burial is an option in many states -- including Arizona, where the "Jeff Green" of our email tale allegedly resides -- though subject to local zoning and sanitation laws. In any case, "burial" means burial, either under the ground or in a mausoleum.
2. The body would decompose. Even if the remains were embalmed, and even if, as the email claims was done in this case, they were placed in a "special glass casing" somehow designed to prevent decomposition, it will occur. If you're thinking all the air could be pumped out, creating a vacuum inside the case to prevent bacterial growth, think again. This would simply retard decomposition, not eliminate it (for comparison, vacuum-packed meats only have a shelf life of three years, and that's under refrigeration). Embalming, too, is only a temporary measure, meant to slow the decomposition process for the short period of time between death and entombment. Short of cryogenic preservation or plastination -- both very rare and expensive procedures -- nothing can be done to stop a dead body from eventually decomposing.
3. You would live a lonely life. Trust me, nobody wants to hang out with a corpse in the room. That's just human nature.
Just when you think you have seen it all, there's always one more nut that didn't make it in the basket.
Jeff Green is a 32 year old American, in Arizona, whose wife passed away. Due to the great pain he suffered after her death, he did something totally out of character for a normal and sane person. He said, " I could no longer take the pain that my wife's death has caused me so I brought her back home." This is where Jeff's story takes a twisted turn. His wife, Lucy, was born with a heart condition that ended her life at the young age of 29.
Lucy's last words to Jeff were, " We will meet again in heaven." These words served of no consolation to Jeff's despair. At the funeral, in an act of desperation, Jeff decided that he would not let Lucy leave him. "I called the cemetery caretaker and explained my feelings."
"I spoke with the authorities and got special permission to take my wife home with me. They thought it strange, but I was allowed to take her with me. I'd rather have her at home than seven feet under ground. Lucy had a great sense of humor and I'm sure she would appreciate being my coffee table." Jeff ordered a special glass casing that eliminates the decomposition of a dead body. "It cost me about $6,000.00, but it was worth it." Some of his friends and relatives, filled with fear, stop visiting Jeff. His true friends respected his decision and continue visiting him. Some even comment that it is a nice piece of furniture.
Comments: False. Leaving aside the issue of why anyone would want to do such a thing in the first place, there are practical reasons why keeping the remains of one's dead spouse in a glass coffee table in one's living room is beyond the bounds of reality:
1. It's probably illegal. State and local laws generally require the burial or cremation of human remains within a specified time period after death occurs. Home burial is an option in many states -- including Arizona, where the "Jeff Green" of our email tale allegedly resides -- though subject to local zoning and sanitation laws. In any case, "burial" means burial, either under the ground or in a mausoleum.
2. The body would decompose. Even if the remains were embalmed, and even if, as the email claims was done in this case, they were placed in a "special glass casing" somehow designed to prevent decomposition, it will occur. If you're thinking all the air could be pumped out, creating a vacuum inside the case to prevent bacterial growth, think again. This would simply retard decomposition, not eliminate it (for comparison, vacuum-packed meats only have a shelf life of three years, and that's under refrigeration). Embalming, too, is only a temporary measure, meant to slow the decomposition process for the short period of time between death and entombment. Short of cryogenic preservation or plastination -- both very rare and expensive procedures -- nothing can be done to stop a dead body from eventually decomposing.
3. You would live a lonely life. Trust me, nobody wants to hang out with a corpse in the room. That's just human nature.
Crocodile Eats Golfer
From: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcroc.htm
You must read this and see the picture at the end. It is just crazy.... This is a true story from Palm Beach, Florida (the proof is at the end, but read the story first).
The first foursome of the day played together to the 5th hole where one impatient golfer went ahead of the group. The remaining three finished their round and headed for the nineteenth hole to meet their less-patient friend. However, he wasn't there...and was no where to be found. Since his car was still in the parking lot, the threesome waited two hours.
Thinking the impatient golfer might still be somewhere out on the course, they notified the clubhouse and the search was on. Of course, the impatient golfer was not located, but his clubs were found on the hole. Three days later, Ole Mose was spotted on the seventh hole and was an immediate suspect.
Ole Mose was an American crocodile that was an infrequent course visitor for over 20 years. Not too much concern was ever given Ole Mose, as he had always made a hasty retreat whenever he saw anyone coming. To make a long story even longer, after the course officials, SPCA, lawyers, citizens groups, the mayor, Palm Beach PD, and the American Crocodile Association of Southern Florida agreed, it was decided that, in order to put everyone's mind at ease, Ole Mose should be unzipped.
Take notice to what the man standing over Ole Moses is holding.
Zoologist and crocodile expert Adam "He Oughta Know" Britton tells us the email tale is fake but the photo is real. According to Britton, the incident captured on film couldn't have happened in Florida.
How does he know?
Because the particular species of crocodile in the image, Crocodylus porosus, is native to Indonesia. Plus, says Britton, there has never been a crocodile-caused fatality in Florida (alligator attacks are a different story).
The photograph was taken in Kalimantan (Borneo) in 1997. Nothing else is known about it. The email story was attached anonymously in July 1998 and the two have circulated together ever since.
For a clue as to how such a tasteless joke might have come about, look no further than the fact that alligators are not only plentiful in Florida, but are frequently sighted on golf courses. Tourists have even been bitten on occasion. Our email author was evidently aware of this, but made the mistake of confusing alligators with their cousins, the crocodiles -- of which there are only a few hundred left in Florida and none at all north of the Everglades.
Even so, the story rings true for enough many readers that a West Palm Beach hotel and golf course called the Breakers, whose name is mentioned in one popular version of the email, complains of receiving a steady stream of credulous phone calls from the day the story first appeared. "I compare this prank to tabloid journalism," a spokesperson for the resort complained to reporters. "When you're at the top of the heap, someone wants to knock you down."
The reputation of the endangered American crocodile hasn't exactly benefited from the hoax, either.
You must read this and see the picture at the end. It is just crazy.... This is a true story from Palm Beach, Florida (the proof is at the end, but read the story first).
The first foursome of the day played together to the 5th hole where one impatient golfer went ahead of the group. The remaining three finished their round and headed for the nineteenth hole to meet their less-patient friend. However, he wasn't there...and was no where to be found. Since his car was still in the parking lot, the threesome waited two hours.
Thinking the impatient golfer might still be somewhere out on the course, they notified the clubhouse and the search was on. Of course, the impatient golfer was not located, but his clubs were found on the hole. Three days later, Ole Mose was spotted on the seventh hole and was an immediate suspect.
Ole Mose was an American crocodile that was an infrequent course visitor for over 20 years. Not too much concern was ever given Ole Mose, as he had always made a hasty retreat whenever he saw anyone coming. To make a long story even longer, after the course officials, SPCA, lawyers, citizens groups, the mayor, Palm Beach PD, and the American Crocodile Association of Southern Florida agreed, it was decided that, in order to put everyone's mind at ease, Ole Mose should be unzipped.
Take notice to what the man standing over Ole Moses is holding.
Zoologist and crocodile expert Adam "He Oughta Know" Britton tells us the email tale is fake but the photo is real. According to Britton, the incident captured on film couldn't have happened in Florida.
How does he know?
Because the particular species of crocodile in the image, Crocodylus porosus, is native to Indonesia. Plus, says Britton, there has never been a crocodile-caused fatality in Florida (alligator attacks are a different story).
The photograph was taken in Kalimantan (Borneo) in 1997. Nothing else is known about it. The email story was attached anonymously in July 1998 and the two have circulated together ever since.
For a clue as to how such a tasteless joke might have come about, look no further than the fact that alligators are not only plentiful in Florida, but are frequently sighted on golf courses. Tourists have even been bitten on occasion. Our email author was evidently aware of this, but made the mistake of confusing alligators with their cousins, the crocodiles -- of which there are only a few hundred left in Florida and none at all north of the Everglades.
Even so, the story rings true for enough many readers that a West Palm Beach hotel and golf course called the Breakers, whose name is mentioned in one popular version of the email, complains of receiving a steady stream of credulous phone calls from the day the story first appeared. "I compare this prank to tabloid journalism," a spokesperson for the resort complained to reporters. "When you're at the top of the heap, someone wants to knock you down."
The reputation of the endangered American crocodile hasn't exactly benefited from the hoax, either.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Electrosmog
My war on electrosmog: Julia Stephenson sets out to clear the airwaves
How one woman fought back after being diagnosed by her naturopath with overexposure to Wi-Fi and mobile phone frequencies
A few months ago I noticed I was feeling dog-tired and drained all the time. Usually a good sleeper, I’d suddenly begun waking up early in the morning and finding myself unable to go back to sleep.
It wasn’t only me that was drooping. My once-lush plants had lost their lustre too. Ridiculous, considering how well I look after myself - and my plants.
I am well-doctored, to put it mildly. I probably consult more doctors than Woody Allen, who has separate screenings of his movies for his doctors. Everyone is entitled to a hobby; mine just happens to be my health, and what a fascinating hobby it is.
When at a loss to explain my new malaise, I visited my naturopath. It may sound unorthodox, but if it works, who cares?
She insisted that my exhaustion was caused by electromagnetic “smog” in my flat. The problem, she explained, is that our dependence on office and communications equipment (especially mobile phones and the masts needed to power them, as well as microwaves, computers and electrical equipment), exposes us to frequencies that can have a detrimental effect on our wellbeing, especially if we are run-down, or if our immune system is compromised in some way.
This made sense, as my symptoms had begun soon after installing wireless technology in my sitting room. Wireless (Wi-Fi) technology allows you to access emails and the internet anywhere in your living space. It’s convenient but I could live without it if meant having more physical energy. So I immediately turned off my wireless network and replaced it with broadband.
My naturopath is not alone in her concern. There is growing evidence that Wi-Fi technology is harmful. When the Swedish town of Götene activated their new Wi-Fi system in May 2006, within hours the local hospital emergency services were receiving calls from residents complaining of a number of symptoms: difficulty breathing, blurry vision, headaches and even cases of heart arrhythmia. On 23 May 2006, Sweden’s STV followed up the story on their current affairs programme “Debatt”.
The worldwide centre of the mobile phone industry, Sweden is where much of the research on environmental illness has been carried out. It was the first country to recognise electromagnetic hypersensitivity as a valid medical condition, and has set up a federal body to assist sufferers of those affected (www.feb.se). There have been calls for the Swedish government to close down the nation’s Wi-Fi networks, pending further investigation.
Those concerned about possible side-effects believe that our unprecedented exposure to electrical equipment, mobile phones and Wi-Fi mean that we are surrounded by a soup of electromagnetic smog at all times. In effect, we live in an electro-dictatorship: even if you haven’t voted for this technology by say, owning a mobile phone, you may still suffer the same effects as those who have. For example, although I’ve turned off my wireless access I can still tap in to my neighbour’s Wi-Fi downstairs.
Research being carried out by industry, the Government and academics has so far failed to find a persuasive link between mobile phone masts and health problems. The Department of Health and the Mobile Operators Association insist that British masts conform to international safety standards. A research group commissioned by the government-funded Health Protection Agency reported: “Exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low and the overall evidence indicates they are unlikely to pose a risk to health.” But it continued: “Research has limitations and the possibility remains open that there could be health effects from exposure - hence continued research is needed.”
Many doctors are now convinced that this powerful technology is storing up huge problems for our future health. To date, 1,200 physicians in Germany, and 2,000 worldwide, have signed the Freiburger Appeal, a petition for severe restrictions on wireless technology. The doctors say they are seeing a dramatic increase in certain diseases and symptoms in their patients.
“Any imbalance in our electromagnetic field creates a disturbance in cell structure and function, which can lead to illness in sensitive individuals,” says London-based complementary health practitioner Dr Nicole de Canha.
Even cordless hands-free home telephones - such a boon to multitaskers, enabling one to patiently listen to friends and family for hours while cleaning cupboards, re-potting house plants and reorganising the CD collection - are now off-limits. Their electrical force-field is nearly as powerful as that of a mobile phone. Since I’m now chained to a phone on a lead, my cupboards are filthy and my friends are neglected. But at least I’m less radioactive.
It’s much harder to avoid mobile phone masts, however. Over the past 10 years they have sprouted all over the country to power the mobile phones owned by over 95 per cent of the population. To find out how close you live to a mast go to www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk. The results may shock you: there are now 35,000 mobile phone masts in the UK, and chances are that several are in your immediate vicinity. It’s supposed that you are never more than 10 feet away from a rat in London; you may find yourself even closer to a phone mast.
Despite being implicated in a number of health problems - something that alarms parents of the one in 10 schools located close to masts - these masts need no planning permission and are often disguised in trees, petrol stations, shop signs, even church steeples. For instance, the support pole for the golden angel weathervane on Guildford Cathedral is actually a mobile mast, supporting several antennas. In return for access to the coveted hilltop site, the golden angel was regilded. It seems that even God cannot offer protection from this insidious pollution.
Fortunately there are steps that concerned individuals can take to reduce the amount of “electro-smog” to which they are subject. Like many people, I’m mobile-dependent, but I now use a headset that delivers sound through an air-filled wireless tube similar to a doctor’s stethoscope (but much smaller, so you don’t look like you’re on call). Conventional headsets transmit sound to the earpiece through a wire, but as wire is an electrical conductor it may also deliver radiation directly to your head. Since I’ve started using the tube I no longer experience headaches or a slight ringing in my ears.
You could also try the Q-Link pendant, which employs “sympathetic resonance technology,” something that the makers declare “repairs and tunes your biofield”. Friends who wear a Q-Link report that they feel healthier and more energetic.
The homeopathic medicine company, New Vistas, and the Australian flower essence company, Bush Flower Remedies, both make drops that claim to reduce the amount of radiation stored in the body.
Also, for the past two months I’ve been using an electro-magnetic field protection unit plugged into a wall at home. The device was created by engineer and homeopath Gary Johnson. Disturbed with the increasing number of patients coming to him with skin problems, exhaustion, blurred vision, and symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, he suspected that they might be sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
“The heart of the unit is a programmed microprocessor unit that produces a holograph field that is amplified through an internal aerial system. This protection field protects the human system from the negative effects of EMR,” says Johnson. He says he has had great success in alleviating patients’ symptoms, and claims the unit offers unlimited protection from any negative electromagnetic emissions in a 700-square metre radius.
Professor Leif Salford, of Sweden’s Lund University, has been researching the effects of phone masts for 15 years. He says that exposure to radiation emitted by mobile phones and masts can destroy cells in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, movement and learning, and calls mankind’s dependence on mobile phones “the world’s largest biological experiment ever”.
As yet, no one knows what price we will pay for our dependence on modern technology.
Additional research by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, USA (www.niehs.nih.gov) and the Office of Communications, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries (www.ofcom.org.uk)
How to block the rays
* Magnetic field protection boxes start at £235 and are available from www.subtlefieldtechnologies.com
* Q-Link pendants cost from £70 at www.qlinkworld.co.uk
* Anti-radiation mobile phone headsets are available at www.rf3now.com or the Sloane Health Shop, London SW3 (020 7730 7046)
* Australian Bush Flower Essences can be found at www.ausflowers.com.au
I should add that I feel it is unacceptable for anyone in the comments to be rude about people who suffer with symptoms; however this is a journalist writing in a newspaper, both should take responsibility for what they print, and so the science content of the article is very very much fair game.
environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article2600308.ece
How one woman fought back after being diagnosed by her naturopath with overexposure to Wi-Fi and mobile phone frequencies
A few months ago I noticed I was feeling dog-tired and drained all the time. Usually a good sleeper, I’d suddenly begun waking up early in the morning and finding myself unable to go back to sleep.
It wasn’t only me that was drooping. My once-lush plants had lost their lustre too. Ridiculous, considering how well I look after myself - and my plants.
I am well-doctored, to put it mildly. I probably consult more doctors than Woody Allen, who has separate screenings of his movies for his doctors. Everyone is entitled to a hobby; mine just happens to be my health, and what a fascinating hobby it is.
When at a loss to explain my new malaise, I visited my naturopath. It may sound unorthodox, but if it works, who cares?
She insisted that my exhaustion was caused by electromagnetic “smog” in my flat. The problem, she explained, is that our dependence on office and communications equipment (especially mobile phones and the masts needed to power them, as well as microwaves, computers and electrical equipment), exposes us to frequencies that can have a detrimental effect on our wellbeing, especially if we are run-down, or if our immune system is compromised in some way.
This made sense, as my symptoms had begun soon after installing wireless technology in my sitting room. Wireless (Wi-Fi) technology allows you to access emails and the internet anywhere in your living space. It’s convenient but I could live without it if meant having more physical energy. So I immediately turned off my wireless network and replaced it with broadband.
My naturopath is not alone in her concern. There is growing evidence that Wi-Fi technology is harmful. When the Swedish town of Götene activated their new Wi-Fi system in May 2006, within hours the local hospital emergency services were receiving calls from residents complaining of a number of symptoms: difficulty breathing, blurry vision, headaches and even cases of heart arrhythmia. On 23 May 2006, Sweden’s STV followed up the story on their current affairs programme “Debatt”.
The worldwide centre of the mobile phone industry, Sweden is where much of the research on environmental illness has been carried out. It was the first country to recognise electromagnetic hypersensitivity as a valid medical condition, and has set up a federal body to assist sufferers of those affected (www.feb.se). There have been calls for the Swedish government to close down the nation’s Wi-Fi networks, pending further investigation.
Those concerned about possible side-effects believe that our unprecedented exposure to electrical equipment, mobile phones and Wi-Fi mean that we are surrounded by a soup of electromagnetic smog at all times. In effect, we live in an electro-dictatorship: even if you haven’t voted for this technology by say, owning a mobile phone, you may still suffer the same effects as those who have. For example, although I’ve turned off my wireless access I can still tap in to my neighbour’s Wi-Fi downstairs.
Research being carried out by industry, the Government and academics has so far failed to find a persuasive link between mobile phone masts and health problems. The Department of Health and the Mobile Operators Association insist that British masts conform to international safety standards. A research group commissioned by the government-funded Health Protection Agency reported: “Exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low and the overall evidence indicates they are unlikely to pose a risk to health.” But it continued: “Research has limitations and the possibility remains open that there could be health effects from exposure - hence continued research is needed.”
Many doctors are now convinced that this powerful technology is storing up huge problems for our future health. To date, 1,200 physicians in Germany, and 2,000 worldwide, have signed the Freiburger Appeal, a petition for severe restrictions on wireless technology. The doctors say they are seeing a dramatic increase in certain diseases and symptoms in their patients.
“Any imbalance in our electromagnetic field creates a disturbance in cell structure and function, which can lead to illness in sensitive individuals,” says London-based complementary health practitioner Dr Nicole de Canha.
Even cordless hands-free home telephones - such a boon to multitaskers, enabling one to patiently listen to friends and family for hours while cleaning cupboards, re-potting house plants and reorganising the CD collection - are now off-limits. Their electrical force-field is nearly as powerful as that of a mobile phone. Since I’m now chained to a phone on a lead, my cupboards are filthy and my friends are neglected. But at least I’m less radioactive.
It’s much harder to avoid mobile phone masts, however. Over the past 10 years they have sprouted all over the country to power the mobile phones owned by over 95 per cent of the population. To find out how close you live to a mast go to www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk. The results may shock you: there are now 35,000 mobile phone masts in the UK, and chances are that several are in your immediate vicinity. It’s supposed that you are never more than 10 feet away from a rat in London; you may find yourself even closer to a phone mast.
Despite being implicated in a number of health problems - something that alarms parents of the one in 10 schools located close to masts - these masts need no planning permission and are often disguised in trees, petrol stations, shop signs, even church steeples. For instance, the support pole for the golden angel weathervane on Guildford Cathedral is actually a mobile mast, supporting several antennas. In return for access to the coveted hilltop site, the golden angel was regilded. It seems that even God cannot offer protection from this insidious pollution.
Fortunately there are steps that concerned individuals can take to reduce the amount of “electro-smog” to which they are subject. Like many people, I’m mobile-dependent, but I now use a headset that delivers sound through an air-filled wireless tube similar to a doctor’s stethoscope (but much smaller, so you don’t look like you’re on call). Conventional headsets transmit sound to the earpiece through a wire, but as wire is an electrical conductor it may also deliver radiation directly to your head. Since I’ve started using the tube I no longer experience headaches or a slight ringing in my ears.
You could also try the Q-Link pendant, which employs “sympathetic resonance technology,” something that the makers declare “repairs and tunes your biofield”. Friends who wear a Q-Link report that they feel healthier and more energetic.
The homeopathic medicine company, New Vistas, and the Australian flower essence company, Bush Flower Remedies, both make drops that claim to reduce the amount of radiation stored in the body.
Also, for the past two months I’ve been using an electro-magnetic field protection unit plugged into a wall at home. The device was created by engineer and homeopath Gary Johnson. Disturbed with the increasing number of patients coming to him with skin problems, exhaustion, blurred vision, and symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, he suspected that they might be sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
“The heart of the unit is a programmed microprocessor unit that produces a holograph field that is amplified through an internal aerial system. This protection field protects the human system from the negative effects of EMR,” says Johnson. He says he has had great success in alleviating patients’ symptoms, and claims the unit offers unlimited protection from any negative electromagnetic emissions in a 700-square metre radius.
Professor Leif Salford, of Sweden’s Lund University, has been researching the effects of phone masts for 15 years. He says that exposure to radiation emitted by mobile phones and masts can destroy cells in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, movement and learning, and calls mankind’s dependence on mobile phones “the world’s largest biological experiment ever”.
As yet, no one knows what price we will pay for our dependence on modern technology.
Additional research by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, USA (www.niehs.nih.gov) and the Office of Communications, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries (www.ofcom.org.uk)
How to block the rays
* Magnetic field protection boxes start at £235 and are available from www.subtlefieldtechnologies.com
* Q-Link pendants cost from £70 at www.qlinkworld.co.uk
* Anti-radiation mobile phone headsets are available at www.rf3now.com or the Sloane Health Shop, London SW3 (020 7730 7046)
* Australian Bush Flower Essences can be found at www.ausflowers.com.au
I should add that I feel it is unacceptable for anyone in the comments to be rude about people who suffer with symptoms; however this is a journalist writing in a newspaper, both should take responsibility for what they print, and so the science content of the article is very very much fair game.
environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article2600308.ece
Mobile Phones & Electrosensitivity
The Independent has put its green columnist Julia Stephenson on to Panorama's Wi-Fi scare story: a charming beef heiress living in Chelsea on a trust fund, who believes her symptoms of tiredness and headache are caused by electromagnetic radiation from phones and Wi-Fi.
The most important background for any "electrosensitivity" story is the issue of the "provocation studies". These are simple. Sufferers explain that they can tell when they are exposed to, say, a mast, a computer monitor, or a phone, because their symptoms get worse.
So in a provocation study, an electrosensitive person sits in a room with the source of electromagnetic waves hidden from view: they don't know whether it is switched on or not.
There have been 36 such studies published to date. This is very active work. This field has not been neglected. Thirty-three have shown that the subjects were unable to tell if the signal was present or absent, and the other three were flawed, as I have previously explained (references at badscience.net). Could the Independent and Panorama have deliberately ignored these, in the name of propagating their scare, and selling themselves? But the reality is clear. The symptoms of electrosensitivity are real, and deserve our compassion, but they seem not to be caused by electromagnetic signals.
Instead of this useful information (were the researchers wasting their time?) the Independent article was filled with ludicrous false information and claims. Since giving up her cordless phone, she has become "less radioactive".
Britain is full of masts because 95% of the population own a phone (including infants and pensioners?). "You are never more than 10 feet away from a rat in London; you may find yourself even closer to a phone mast."
Not with 35,000 masts in a country of almost 100,000 square miles. Masts are "disguised in trees". How cruel. I could go on.
But with the treatment options it really kicks off. First, she recommends the Q-link pendant from two weeks ago (the pseudo-electronic medical device flogged by vitamin pill entrepreneur Patrick Holford). Then she talks about claimed remedies to "reduce the amount of radiation stored in the body". Excellent news. And they're described as "detox" remedies, so presumably the "radiation" stored over the years in your body is suddenly expelled in one big dollop. Duck!
And lastly there is her "electro-magnetic field protection unit", created by engineer and homeopath Gary Johnson. "The heart of the unit is a programmed microprocessor unit that produces a holograph [sic] field that is amplified through an internal aerial system ... He claims the unit offers unlimited protection from any negative electromagnetic emissions in a 700 square metre [sic] radius."
If Gary really has found a way to cancel out any electromagnetic signal with a special beam then the military will be keen to talk to him, but since a "holograph" is a document written entirely in the handwriting of the person whose signature it bears, and a sphere cannot have a radius measured in "square metres", I'm not too sure Julia knows her arse from his elbow.
It's also hard to see how being emotionally positive or negative can be a property of a wave, and how his device could identify this. Perhaps the answer is to be found in an episode of He-man and the Masters of the Universe called The Revenge of Evil from 1986: "Something is wrong with the powers of Grayskull: there are strange negative energies that surround it and it looks as if it is burning! ... He-Man uses his sword and sucks the power back into himself, even transforming the negative energy into positive. The balance is restored, and the evil clone fades away."
People who believe their symptoms are related to exposure to electromagnetic fields are almost certainly mistaken - I would now say misled - about the cause, but they are very right about their symptoms.
Symptoms are real, they are subjective, some people experience them very severely, and this is real distress that deserves our compassion. Alternatively, you could cynically exploit them - and mislead them, and frighten them - to sell your quack products, your newspaper, your TV show, and your freelance articles.
I'm not judging. I'm simply laying out the alternatives.
The most important background for any "electrosensitivity" story is the issue of the "provocation studies". These are simple. Sufferers explain that they can tell when they are exposed to, say, a mast, a computer monitor, or a phone, because their symptoms get worse.
So in a provocation study, an electrosensitive person sits in a room with the source of electromagnetic waves hidden from view: they don't know whether it is switched on or not.
There have been 36 such studies published to date. This is very active work. This field has not been neglected. Thirty-three have shown that the subjects were unable to tell if the signal was present or absent, and the other three were flawed, as I have previously explained (references at badscience.net). Could the Independent and Panorama have deliberately ignored these, in the name of propagating their scare, and selling themselves? But the reality is clear. The symptoms of electrosensitivity are real, and deserve our compassion, but they seem not to be caused by electromagnetic signals.
Instead of this useful information (were the researchers wasting their time?) the Independent article was filled with ludicrous false information and claims. Since giving up her cordless phone, she has become "less radioactive".
Britain is full of masts because 95% of the population own a phone (including infants and pensioners?). "You are never more than 10 feet away from a rat in London; you may find yourself even closer to a phone mast."
Not with 35,000 masts in a country of almost 100,000 square miles. Masts are "disguised in trees". How cruel. I could go on.
But with the treatment options it really kicks off. First, she recommends the Q-link pendant from two weeks ago (the pseudo-electronic medical device flogged by vitamin pill entrepreneur Patrick Holford). Then she talks about claimed remedies to "reduce the amount of radiation stored in the body". Excellent news. And they're described as "detox" remedies, so presumably the "radiation" stored over the years in your body is suddenly expelled in one big dollop. Duck!
And lastly there is her "electro-magnetic field protection unit", created by engineer and homeopath Gary Johnson. "The heart of the unit is a programmed microprocessor unit that produces a holograph [sic] field that is amplified through an internal aerial system ... He claims the unit offers unlimited protection from any negative electromagnetic emissions in a 700 square metre [sic] radius."
If Gary really has found a way to cancel out any electromagnetic signal with a special beam then the military will be keen to talk to him, but since a "holograph" is a document written entirely in the handwriting of the person whose signature it bears, and a sphere cannot have a radius measured in "square metres", I'm not too sure Julia knows her arse from his elbow.
It's also hard to see how being emotionally positive or negative can be a property of a wave, and how his device could identify this. Perhaps the answer is to be found in an episode of He-man and the Masters of the Universe called The Revenge of Evil from 1986: "Something is wrong with the powers of Grayskull: there are strange negative energies that surround it and it looks as if it is burning! ... He-Man uses his sword and sucks the power back into himself, even transforming the negative energy into positive. The balance is restored, and the evil clone fades away."
People who believe their symptoms are related to exposure to electromagnetic fields are almost certainly mistaken - I would now say misled - about the cause, but they are very right about their symptoms.
Symptoms are real, they are subjective, some people experience them very severely, and this is real distress that deserves our compassion. Alternatively, you could cynically exploit them - and mislead them, and frighten them - to sell your quack products, your newspaper, your TV show, and your freelance articles.
I'm not judging. I'm simply laying out the alternatives.
Mobile Phones & Nocebo
Short, and let's hope sweet: a new study in Norway double-blind tested 17 people who'd said that mobile phones affected them.
After 65 pairs of sham and real tests, the researchers concluded that
the study gave no evidence that RF fields from mobile phones may cause head pain or discomfort or influence physiological variables. The most likely reason for the symptoms is a nocebo effect.
"Nocebo" being the opposite of placebo: something harmless that you believe is harming you. Nocebo effects are real, as the symptoms of the sufferers are (as Bad Science's Ben Goldacre repeats whenever he deals with this). It's the cause of the symptoms that remains unidentified; this study makes a total of 37 "provocation" studies that have shown no effect apart from nocebo from mobile phones.
The study wasn't any quick'n'easy one either: each test took two hours, and participants were asked to note symptoms occurring up to seven hours afterwards.
And more fun:
The increase in severity [of symptoms] was slightly higher with sham exposure than with RF exposure for pain/discomfort as well as for headache and other symptoms. For no symptom was the difference statistically significant.
The present study demonstrates that exposure to RF fields from GSM 900 mobile phones does not cause pain or discomfort in the head or other symptoms, even in individuals carefully selected according to the criterion of a specific sensitivity to mobile phone use.
We'd like to think that this would help people ease off the scare stories, but our hopes have been repeatedly dashed on this one...
By Charles Arthur - The Guardian
After 65 pairs of sham and real tests, the researchers concluded that
the study gave no evidence that RF fields from mobile phones may cause head pain or discomfort or influence physiological variables. The most likely reason for the symptoms is a nocebo effect.
"Nocebo" being the opposite of placebo: something harmless that you believe is harming you. Nocebo effects are real, as the symptoms of the sufferers are (as Bad Science's Ben Goldacre repeats whenever he deals with this). It's the cause of the symptoms that remains unidentified; this study makes a total of 37 "provocation" studies that have shown no effect apart from nocebo from mobile phones.
The study wasn't any quick'n'easy one either: each test took two hours, and participants were asked to note symptoms occurring up to seven hours afterwards.
And more fun:
The increase in severity [of symptoms] was slightly higher with sham exposure than with RF exposure for pain/discomfort as well as for headache and other symptoms. For no symptom was the difference statistically significant.
The present study demonstrates that exposure to RF fields from GSM 900 mobile phones does not cause pain or discomfort in the head or other symptoms, even in individuals carefully selected according to the criterion of a specific sensitivity to mobile phone use.
We'd like to think that this would help people ease off the scare stories, but our hopes have been repeatedly dashed on this one...
By Charles Arthur - The Guardian
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)