Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ttidcc.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!linus!philabs!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: Placebos can cause cancer (?!) Message-ID: <437@ttidcc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 22-May-85 13:03:28 EDT Article-I.D.: ttidcc.437 Posted: Wed May 22 13:03:28 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 23-May-85 14:29:43 EDT References: <1589@aecom.UUCP> <1273@hammer.UUCP> Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) Distribution: na Organization: The Cat Factory Lines: 32 Summary: In article <1273@hammer.UUCP> seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy) writes: > >Just EXACTLY what is in those "placebos", anyway? Are they 100.00000% pure? >Are all placebos used in all experiments always the same? No. They have to simulate different conditions, after all. Some are injected, some are taken orally, some are applied topically, etc. > >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? ~sigh~ I wish they'd make courses in introductory statistical analysis requirements for graduation. Then maybe people would have some idea of how experimentation and scientific method works. The explanation for the higher than normal cancer rate among the controls in quoted experiment is probably normal statistical variance. It might be a good idea to check this out by replicating the experiment (that's what Master's theses are for (-: ). If the same thing happened again, _then_ it would be a good idea to start checking into the cancer causing properties of the placebos. An even easier method would be to research the literature and check out the cancer rate among subjects given the same placebos in other experiments. -- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp TTI 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe