What's New Robert L. Park 16 Nov 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 11 Nov 16   Washington, DC

1. THE ALTERNATIVES: SYMPOSIUM EXAMINES QUACK CURES.
Sadly, the death of Steve Jobs from pancreatic cancer came just a month 
before the Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium, “Alternative Medicine, 
Under the Microscope” was held 7&8 Nov 2011 at McGill University in 
Montréal, Canada.  Although it’s unlikely that alternative medicine 
contributed directly to Jobs’ death, his delay in seeking effective 
treatment probably did (WN 28 Oct 11).  Not a scientist, Jobs initially 
turned to alternative medicine rather than face surgery.  The four 
symposium speakers, Harriet Hall, Paul Offit, Bob Park, and Edzard Ernst, 
are well-known debunkers of alternative medicine.  Free to the public, the 
symposium was funded by McGill alumnus and benefactor Lorne Trottier. He co-
founded Matrox, a computer graphics corporation.  

2.CANCER AND CAUSALITY: EINSTEIN DIDN’T HAVE A CELL-PHONE.
Of the world’s 7 billion people, an incredible 5 billion have cell phones 
(“mobiles” in most countries).  The safe use of mobiles is therefore a 
global health concern. The response of the World Health Organization was to 
conduct a huge epidemiologic study aimed at demonstrating a link between 
cell-phone radiation and brain cancer.  The effort was seriously misguided –
no such link exists.  The study served only to raise widespread public 
alarm over a nonexistent hazard.  Epidemiology, which is the study of 
health patterns in populations; is important, but it’s not a substitute for 
science.  Science is the organization of knowledge into testable laws and 
theories.  It has been known for more than 100 years that electromagnetic 
radiation at frequencies below the ultraviolet is non-ionizing, and thus 
cannot create the mutant strands of DNA that constitute incipient cancers.  
In 1905, Einstein’s “miracle year,” he theorized that electromagnetic 
radiation consists of discrete units of energy, now called “photons,” which