Nocebo effect and smart meters
I asked:
Hello Dr Lamech
What do you answer to
those who claim smart meter symptoms are due to the nocebo effect (fear of
harm)?
What % of people who
reacted didn’t know the meter was changed or ignored the
potential health risks?
Thanks very much and best
regards
--
Andre Fauteux, Editor
La Maison du 21e siècle
magazine
2955
Domaine-lac-Lucerne
Ste-Adèle (Qc)
Canada J8B 3K9
From: Federica Lamech <lamech.federica@yahoo.com.au>
Object: nocebo effect
Date: March 1 2015 19:16:34 UTC−5
Hello Mr Fauteux,
in my opinion smart meter
symptoms are not a nocebo effect.
Only 8% of cases claimed
to be electrosensitive prior to smart meter exposure, which means that the rest
were not likely to have any reason to suspect that smart meters were going to
make them sick. A few cases described finding out that they had had a smart
meter installed AFTER they had developed symptoms and the majority were not
aware of what a smart meter even was (including that it is a wireless device),
as the public here in Victoria were simply not informed.
In my experience as a
medical practitioner, ascribing symptoms to 'nocebo' effect is a lazy and
dangerous practice, that can in some cases lead to tragic outcomes (eg. chest
pain being blamed on stress and the patient subsequently goes on to die of a
heart attack, as the ECG can be normal in the early stages of ischaemia).
It is also not appropriate
to declare a nocebo effect as the cause of symptoms in people whose medical
history we do not know and that we have not examined and properly assessed.
This is especially the case as the number of people claiming same or similar
symptoms from smart meter exposure is too high, it crosses geographical,
cultural and age boundaries.
5 of the cases in my
report were children, which makes the likelihood of nocebo effect miniscule.
It would be interesting to
pose that same question to those who claim that this is a 'nocebo' effect. On
what grounds can they make such a statement? Are they using an evidence based
approach? What are their motivations for dismissing people's symptoms
reporting? Do they understand the risk such a dismissive attitude may have? Do
they care? If they are in a position of authority, do they accept that it is
not consistent with their 'duty of care'?
Regards,
Federica Lamech
My article about Dr Lamech’s study, the world’s first on smart
meter health complaints published in a peer-reviewd journal:
Altern Ther Health Med. 2014
Nov-Dec;20(6):28-39.
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