-Caveat Lector- Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com http://www.ioa.com/~davehart -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 12:23 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: (fwd) Spin control: EMF / Health effects (from the EMF-l mail list) ======= Microwave News Something Is Terribly Wrong In June 1999, these three events happen in just three days: o The NIEHS issues its report to Congress, which concludes that the evidence that EMFs pose a cancer risk cannot be dismissed. Though this evidence is weak, the NIEHS says, it is reason enough for prudent avoidance (see p.1). o EMFs are linked to as much as a sixfold increase in the risk of leukemia among young children, in a new study released by the University of Toronto (see p.12). o Dr. Robert Liburdy agrees to withdraw three graphs in seven-year-old papers on EMF effects on cellular calcium (see p.1). Which of these stories makes page-one headlines across the country? The Liburdy affair. And what is the lesson that the New York Times draws from the Liburdy business? That "electric power is safe." Liburdy's calcium experiments were not cancer studies and had only the most speculative relationship to cancer biology. When they were published in 1992, anyone who had said, "This shows that EMFs cause cancer" would have been laughed out of the room. It would have been a ridiculous thing to say, and no one ever did. Yet now these three Liburdy graphs seem to become more powerful each time they are mentioned in the media. The Associated Press (July 23) claimed that Liburdy's calcium work "was thought to be the first plausible biological explanation" of an EMF-cancer connection. Not one cancer researcher, biologist or biophysicist was quoted in support of this assertion, perhaps because it is not true. The AP conceded that concerns about EMFs "had been raised well before Liburdy's study," but the New York Times (July 24) wasted no space on such qualifications. In the Times' hands, Liburdy's graphs became "crucial evidence of a tie between electric power lines and cancer"-which had been "faked." Soon the Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 30) was writing that Liburdy "managed to scare the bejabbers out of a lot of people by spinning a yarn about electrical transmission lines causing cancer," and applauded government fraud-busters for exposing this "hoax." The power of the Liburdy graphs continued to grow. It was in fact "Liburdy's deception" which "sparked a campaign of 'prudent avoidance'," according to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan of the pro-industry American Council on Science and Health, writing in the Wall Street Journal (July 27). "We now know" that the EMF issue "is a phony health risk," added Whelan. Ken Hall of the Edison Electric Institute seems to agree: "As long as you don't touch the wire, it's okay," Hall told the Los Angeles Times (July 29), in a story about commercial development directly beneath high-voltage power lines. The paper estimated that EMFs in the proposed development would average about 60 mG. What's ironic is that of the three June events, only two have much to do with EMFs and cancer: the NIEHS report and the Canadian study. Yet those were precisely the two that the media ignored. There is a serious double standard at work here. The stories on the Liburdy affair are full of false statement which are repeated so often, without rebuttal, that they are already accepted as fact. Where are the moderating voices of public health, of epidemiologists, of consumer advocates? We don't believe in conspiracies. But at times the influence of corporate power in both science and the media is so overwhelming that it starts to resemble one. Industries worth hundreds of billions of dollars defend their interests, and they do so in many ways. Recently, a leading epidemiologist at a world-famous medical institution wrote to us on the Liburdy media blitz. He said, "One reason I left this field was that I saw it was virtually impossible to get decent science funded or done without interference in the face of such massive commercial interest." But we can't tell you who he is. His next sentence was, "Don't quote me." ======= -- Jeff -- http://www.wellnow.com --------------------------------------------------------- Well Now Health Information Service Box 15524 Atlanta Georgia [30333] --------------------------------------------------------- "There's nothing left in the world to prove. All that's worth doing is to love one another, using any means available to that purpose." --------------------------------------------------------- DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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