Psychic llama predicts game. I admit it, I miss the damn octopus. p.ost.im/p/eGCpEd
Brockovich gets involved in the New York mystery illness case
| January 27, 2012 | Posted by idoubtit under Mass hysteria, Media, Pseudoscience, Questionable claims |
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Mystery illness: More girls develop Tourette’s-like tics
Erin Brockovich is on the case! The environmental activist, made famous by the 2000 movie starring Julia Roberts as the crusading single mom, tells USA TODAY she is investigating the case of more than a dozen teens from one upstate New York school plagued by mysterious, Tourette’s-like symptoms. One neurologist who has seen most of the affected girls has diagnosed their illness as psychological in origin; but that diagnosis has been difficult for some parents and community members to accept. Brockovich told USA TODAY that at the request of local residents, she is looking into a 1970 train accident that spilled cyanide and an industrial solvent called trichloroethene close to the site of the Le Roy, New York school.
“We don’t have all the answers, but we are suspicious,” Brockovich told the newspaper, which also reported that at least one boy has now come down with similar symptoms.
Source: MSNBC
Oh great. Let’s get a celebrity attention-seeking lawyer involved. Her involvement makes me squeamish. I’m not a fan of Ms. Brockovich’s methods. See this Quackwatch article. http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/brockovich.html
Erin Brockovich … was a ho-hum legal assistant in California until she discovered that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) had leached trace amounts of chromium into the water supply of the town of Hinkley. She was almost instantly elevated to the role of people’s champion and parlayed the trace amounts of chromium into a $333 million dollar settlement on behalf of a number of Hinkley citizens, who, according to her, suffered from a variety of ailments caused by chromium toxicity. This modern account of David versus Goliath was compelling enough to be made into a Julia Roberts film hit, which, in turn, propelled the real-life Erin Brockovich to stardom on the lecture circuit. But a troublesome question lurks in some scientists’ minds. Were the riches and fame a reward for good science or good science fiction?
Borckovich’s [sic] lawsuit attempted to link a much wider spectrum of ailments in the area with the presence of chromium-6 in drinking water. Whether it’s a miscarriage, a rash, bone deterioration, Crohn’s disease, lupus, or any sort of cancer, Brockovich points the finger at chromium-6. In all probability she is wrong. Single toxins do not cause such a wide array of conditions. But when illness strikes, people are ready to pounce on convenient villains, particularly when there is potential for a large settlement.
Sound familiar? It’s the Dow Corning breast implant controversy (since shown to be junk science) and now this suspected environmental cause. There is a dangerous saying about statistics, “Torture the data and it will confess to anything”. I’m afraid we might see some dubious correlations here as well. And, with the threat of a high profile, expensive, reputation-killing lawsuit, I’m also thinking this doesn’t bode well for the truth – something people might not WANT to accept – in exchange for a big settlement. Sorry. I am skeptical of lawyers.
UPDATE (01-Feb-2012): Science Based Medicine post on this topic. It’s a must read:
The details of this case that have been reported strongly point to a mass psychogenic illness as the culprit. It is an important lesson, as most people underestimate the ability of our brains to generate physical symptoms. There are neurological experts on the case, and others (at the NIH) willing to do further research into the phenomenon. Then there is a circling of those looking to promote their cause or ideology, who seem to be dismissing the diagnosis of experts out of hand and trying to weave this story into a sinister tale.
In the middle of all this are the students and their families, who have to deal with a delicate neurological ailment before the mass media. We can certainly hope that science and reason wins out, but the cranks often have the more alluring answers to offer.
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