Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP
Path: utzoo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!aecom!werner
From: werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Re: Placebos can (?) cause cancer (?!)
Message-ID: <1673@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-May-85 00:50:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: aecom.1673
Posted: Thu May 23 00:50:24 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 23-May-85 14:55:43 EDT
References: <1589@aecom.UUCP> <1273@hammer.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 25

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

	The content of placebos varies from study to study. If pills, it is
usually sugar, starch, gelatin, and coloring, i.e., looks just like a real
pill without the active ingredient. 

> 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?

	In this case, yes, all cancers were common cancers, and all five were
different.  In other words, it was random chance and a small sample.

> Perhaps we could take up a collection and ship poor Craig a watermelon
> before he posts any more of this nonsense.
	
	No need, I've too much Pathology and Endocrinology to learn to
continue to type in these reductio ad adsurdum articles.  However, if someone
would identify the source of the quote in my signature, I would feel obligated
to change it.

-- 
				Craig Werner
				!philabs!aecom!werner
		What do you expect?  Watermelons are out of season!