Re: Alec Baldwin & the Tooth Fairy

["Björn Cedervall" <bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com>]

According to one article on statistics, correlations etc I have (can 
give exact ref. later if anyone is interested) one third of the 
population of the State of New York lives within one mile from at least 
one "waste dump". Living close to these waste dumps was correlated with 
stillbirths and malformations. The kind of waste dumps as well as their 
numbers were taken into account and there were associations/correlations 
with the named medical problems. But anyone reflecting over this asks - 
but who lives there - and what are these people's life styles as 
compared with the rest of the population?

I imagine that the tooth project should produce a lot of "correlations" 
with various disease patterns depending on ones interests and points of 
view (Popper's formulation if I remember right). In the aftermath, time 
periods as well as geographical areas can be chosen in a creative way to 
produce selling clusters to the sensational media. This form of 
statistics is usually fruitful because you first get the answers and 
then choose the hypothesis.

bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com
Depts. Medical Radiation Biology & Medical Radiation Physics,
Karolinska Institutet, Box 260, S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
Fax: Int + 468 343525 (Med. Radiation Physics)
Website: http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Exchange/8256/
Any opinions expressed above are those of mine and may not necessarily 
coincide with those of others.


Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html