Letters to the Editor
biffbolt
Published Letters: 3
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Britney's nether regions
[Read the article: The Britney economy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Web is currently exploding with photos of what's presumably a menstrual stain on her underwear. I hope for her own sake that she figures out a way to stop her public tailspin[...]
I'm not sure what it says about me that I read that final comment as referring to a pubic tailspin...
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Meh.
[Read the article: Buckle up those fetuses!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People are already inundated with the warning that seatbelts save lives. If they aren't listening, it doesn't strike me that one more warning, aimed at pregnant women, will accomplish much.
This article *may*, however, change the behaviour of those ignorant enough not to buckle up for fear of harming their unborn children. As such, I think it is appropriately titled so as to attract attention from those people whom it might actually help.
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The problem with treatments that rely upon the placebo effect...
[Read the article: Why "placebo" is not a dirty word]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The author doesn't appear to have much problem with the selling of products or treatments whose entire efficacy depends upon the placebo effect. Personally, I have major problems so idly dismissing the moral failings of those people who knowingly prey upon those desperate for hope or a cure from pain.
Regardless that a third of their clients relieve abatement from their conditions, that doesn't excuse the fraud performed against the other two-thirds of their clientèle. I've read far too many accounts of snake-oil salesmen tweaking the wording of their lures to ride the margins against attracting FDA censure, knowing that their products are a sham other than as a consequence of the placebo effect.
People should not have to depend upon their own suggestability as a defence against being bilked. And that applies whether the purveyor is a quack off the street or a government-approved surgeon or pharmaceutical company.