Will the day come when the Independent starts to get embarrassed about the scientific illiteracy of their columnist Julia Stephenson—otherwise known as the Green Goddess? In this weeks bad science blog, which also appears in the Guardian, Ben Goldacre highlights the ‘ludicrous false information and claims’ she makes in her article on electromagnetic sensitivity.
This is the same Julia Stephenson who both promotes and is promoted by ‘Europeans for Medical Progress’ (EMP). We have exposed this organisation many times as an animal rights group masquerading as a medical body. Stephenson has claimed in various articles that animal experiments are ineffective and ‘put people in danger’. Most recently, she made the standard animal-rights claims last month that there was a link between animal testing and the thalidomide disaster, the Northwick Park tragedy of the trial of TGN1412, and the side-effects of Vioxx.
All of these false claims have been systematically rebutted many times over. In the case of thalidomide, a letter to the Independent showed the true story—that the disaster could almost certainly have been averted if proper animal tests had been carried out. The findings of the expert committee relating to animal testing and the clinical trial of TGN1412 were posted on this blog, as were the facts about Vioxx.
But it is not just how wrong the animal rights campaigners get their facts that put them to shame. Their arguments are riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions which speak for themselves.
In the article on electromagnetic sensitivity, Julia Stephenson turns to quack therapies like Q-link pendants, energy fields and homoeopathy for answers. But are these good science? In the preface to his book on why he opposes animal experiments, the founder of Europeans for Medical Progress argues against various forms of ‘alternative medicine’, which he describes as ‘pseudoscience’. In these he includes magnet therapy, energy fields, homoeopathy and the like—a perfect match for Julia’s remedies!
In another even more blinding contradiction, the Goddess quotes a Professor Leif Salford in support of her position on electromagnetic sensitivity. He has been researching the effects of phone masts for 15 years, and apparently he says that exposure to radiation emitted by mobile phones and masts can destroy cells in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, movement and learning. But where does Professor Salford get his evidence from? You guessed. Studies in animals!
Salford’s CV states that his major scientific work is within the field of neurosurgical oncology, to help find therapies for malignant brain tumours. He highlights how results from experimental animal models of damage to neurons can be translated to the human situation. Julia Stephenson – take note please.
