AW: [ RadSafe ] BBC reports There is no single cause for Gulf Warillness, researchers have concluded

[John Jacobus]

Rainer,
I scanned the article and did not see any reference to
radiophobia or phobia of any kind indicated.  

I think you are reading too much into this article,
which is what the anti-nuclear people also do.  

--- Rainer.Facius at dlr.de wrote:

> Many thanks for that most valuable pointer, Fred!
> 
> Much of Durodié's diagnosis below (from this special
> issue) appears to pertain also to radiophobia from
> low level radiation and its exploitation by a
> resolute few thriving on 'politics of fear' -
> including a large fraction of the media.
> 
> Regards, Rainer
> 
> Bill Durodié, Risk and the social construction of
> 'Gulf War Syndrome'. 
> Phil. Trans. R. Soc.B 361(2006)689-695
> 
>
http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/philtrans_b/gulfwar/TB060689.pdf
>
<http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/philtrans_b/gulfwar/TB060689.pdf>
>  
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> Fifteen years since the vents that are held by some
> to have caused it, Gulf War Syndrome continues to
> exercise the mind and energies of numerous
> researchers across the world, as well as those who
> purport to be victims and their advocates in the
> media, law and politics.
> 
> But it may be that the search for a scientific or
> medical solution to this issue was misguided in the
> first place, for Gulf War Syndrome, if there is such
> an entity, appears to have much in common with other
> 'illnesses of modernity, whose roots are more
> socially and culturally driven than what doctors
> would conventionally consider to be diseases.
> 
> The reasons for this are complex, but derive from
> our contemporary proclivity to understand humanity
> as being frail and vulnerable in an age marked by an
> exaggerated perception of risk and a growing use of
> the 'politics of fear'. It is the breakdown of
> social solidarities across the twentieth century
> that has facilitated this process.
> 
> Unfortunately, as this paper explores, our ability
> to understand the social origins of self-hood and
> illness, combined with a growing cynicism towards
> all sources of authority, whether political,
> scientific, medical or corporate, has produced a
> powerful demand for blame and retribution deriving
> from a resolute few who continue to oppose all of
> the evidence raised against them.
> 
> Sadly, this analysis suggests that Gulf War Syndrome
> is likely to prove only one of numerous such
> instances that are likely to emerge over the coming
> years.


+++++++++++++++++++
"Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse."
Adlai Stevenson

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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