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Path: utzoo!decvax!tektronix!orca!hammer!seifert
From: seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Placebos can cause cancer (?!)
Message-ID: <1273@hammer.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-May-85 00:32:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: hammer.1273
Posted: Mon May 20 00:32:12 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 21-May-85 01:44:25 EDT
References: <1589@aecom.UUCP>
Reply-To: seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy)
Distribution: na
Organization: The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm
Lines: 24
Xref: tektronix net.med:01612 
Summary: 

>	Much to their dismay, 5 of the 60 people had developed cancer within
>the 10 years post-study. This is much higher than would be expected.
>
>	Does placebo cause cancer?  No, of course not.  It cannot.  If starch
>and gelatin caused cancer we'd all be shapeless masses of lymphoma by now.
>
>				Craig Werner
>				!philabs!aecom!werner
>		What do you expect?  Watermelons are out of season!

Just EXACTLY what is in those "placebos", anyway?  Are they 100.00000% pure?
Are all placebos used in all experiments always the same?

If 5-in-60 is much higher than would be expected, than what *is*
the explaination?  Is the small sample size sufficient to account for this?

Perhaps we could take up a collection and ship poor Craig a watermelon
before he posts any more of this nonsense.

The Earth revolve around the Sun?  No, of course not.  It cannot.

				Snoopy
				tektronix!mako!seifert
	What do you expect?  The Scientific Method is out of season!