Phone mast allergy 'in the mind'

[Alan G]

Can't post links yet. BBC Health section is just reporting the results of a study into people who claim to be sensitive to signals such as mobile phone masts, phones, wifi etc.

"Mobile phone masts are not responsible for the symptoms of ill health some blame them for, a major UK study says.

Dozens of people who believed the masts trigger symptoms such as anxiety, nausea and tiredness were unable to detect if signals were on or off."


From the description on the BBC it seems like a pretty good double blind study and the results were as expected.


2/44 "sensitive" individuals detected all 6 signals.
5/144 control subjects detected all 6 signals.


If someone who can post links can track down more info on the study it may be of interest.

[Lothian]

Something is going on at the Beeb. Last night I watched a program that ran a trial comparing detox diets to a control group eating normally. I don’t think the result would surprise anyone here.

Here is your link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6914492.stm)

The study (http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/10286/abstract.html)

[richardm]

Double-blind tests be damned - "DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT I FEEL" bleat copper-veil wearing nutjobs:


"history has shown that many now commonly accepted physical conditions were initially dismissed as psychological".
"Isn't it time that the government woke up to the reality of electrosensitivity instead of attempting to persuade sufferers that it is all in their minds?" said spokeswoman Yasmin Skelt.

[volatile]

Hasn't Randi claimed that people who claim to be sensitive to this type of 'radiation' are eligible for the MDC? Maybe an email to Yasmin Skelt at Mast Sanity might yield interesting results?

[volatile]

My effort, sent to their press office:

Dear Sir / Madam,

I read with interest your comments on Professor Fox's recent Environmental Health Perspectives study into the supposed effects of 3G and GSM radiation. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6914492.stm)

It might interest you to know that if, as you maintain, your organisation knows people who can definitively sense whether a 3G or GSM device is switched on better than chance, they are eligible to win a US$1 million prize from the James Randi Educational Foundation. Further information at http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3393 and http://www.randi.org/research/index.html.

It is obvious you know more than a handful of people who are, apparently, very severely affected by this type of radiation, and it should be very, very easy for anyone with this affliction to pass Randi's simple tests and pocket the million.

Might I suggest your organisation apply? You certainly pass the test's media profile clause, and the publicity and the cash will surely help your organisation in its aims.

Regards,

M. Lodder

[sophia8]

Hasn't Randi claimed that people who claim to be sensitive to this type of 'radiation' are eligible for the MDC? Almost certainly not. But several posters here have suggested it in previous threads.
Personally, I don't think that it's eligible for the MDC, since it's supporters claim it's an entirely physical phenomenon, with no supernatural elements.

[volatile]

Almost certainly not. But several posters here have suggested it in previous threads.
Personally, I don't think that it's eligible for the MDC, since it's supporters claim it's an entirely physical phenomenon, with no supernatural elements.

Well, check the NewsWireless link above, and the email I got from Randi just now (I BCC'd him in):


I predict that you'll get the usual "there's no prize" or "we don't want the
money" responses. These people just won't step forward...

James Randi.


I'd say, and it seems Randi is saying, that if Mast Sanity could produce just one person with the severe sensitivity they claim, they'd win the prize.

[Niobe]

Personally, I don't think that it's eligible for the MDC, since it's supporters claim it's an entirely physical phenomenon, with no supernatural elements.

Yes but they would be able to "sense" a mobile phone in a box being on or off with a higher success rate than chance.

Claiming it's physical doesn't change anything, since people claim the same for some clairvoyant skills.

[BlackKat]

Sadly... the BBC World Service radio has again (just now 7/25) gone on about this phone mast crap. The sad thing is the story is like 6 minutes long with 15 seconds devoted to some professor's badly recorded blurb saying it's placebo effect. That's a pretty poor ratio.

I really love listening to the BBC but this is breaking my heart.

[strathmeyer]

I recently went out to a new cell phone tower to do some service work. A nearby farmer approached me and said, "You people are monsters, I've been having headaches ever since this thing was built." "I have some really bad news for you, then," I replied. "I'm here to turn it on."

[Pipirr]

I recently went out to a new cell phone tower to do some service work. A nearby farmer approached me and said, "You people are monsters, I've been having headaches ever since this thing was built." "I have some really bad news for you, then," I replied. "I'm here to turn it on."


:D

[richardm]

"I'm here to turn it on."

Priceless :D

[Oualawouzou]

Personally, I don't think that it's eligible for the MDC, since it's supporters claim it's an entirely physical phenomenon, with no supernatural elements.

It's been said times and times again, but it bears repeating: how someone describes its own powers/abilities/thingamabob has absolutely no bearings on weither or not they are eligible for the MDC. The final word on what is considered "paranormal" for the needs of the test belongs to Randi, and his position is (in all the cases I've read about) firmly in line with the scientific consensus.

[-Fran-]

I recently went out to a new cell phone tower to do some service work. A nearby farmer approached me and said, "You people are monsters, I've been having headaches ever since this thing was built." "I have some really bad news for you, then," I replied. "I'm here to turn it on."D

*LOL* :D

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

If we took away all the phone masts and electricity pylons, I wonder what people would then blame for their ills and aches.

[-Fran-]

If we took away all the phone masts and electricity pylons, I wonder what people would then blame for their ills and aches.

Earth's magnetic field?

[Invidious]

If we took away all the phone masts and electricity pylons, I wonder what people would then blame for their ills and aches.
Vaccines and fluoridated water. And maybe indoor plumbing.

[tsg]

If we took away all the phone masts and electricity pylons, I wonder what people would then blame for their ills and aches.

Multliple Chemical Sensitivity.

Or perhaps, the lack of technology to cure them.

[eir_de_scania]

Amalgam fillings? They were all the rage some years ago, people getting all kinds of weird symptoms and harassing their dentist for plastic fillings instead. I haven't heard about them for ages, now it is all about radiation. Perhaps time for a revival?