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Bosco D <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>RESPONSE: The above link clearly explains how false positive results are
>attained in nicotine tests and how doctors can minimize such results by
>reviewing the patients variables - >diet, occupation, etc. It also explains
>how lab errors can lead to false positive results.
>
>At no time does this article contradict the point of the original Herald
>article - smokers should pay higher insurance premiums.
>
>Rather than a misconception this is more like another episode of aspartame
>redux!!
>
What I think Falcao is saying is that a doctor who states that smokers should
pay higher insurance premiums than non-smokers is engaging in unethical
practice because he believes that a doctor cannot certify that a person is a
smoker or non-smoker by virtue of the fact that nicotine, cotinine and
anabasine tests, like any other medical test, have a small rate of false
positives and false negatives that can be avoided by repeating the tests
without laboratory errors, and doing them under conditions that do not give the
false results. If you don't understand this logic then you have a misconception.
Cheers,
Santosh
