{"id":29326,"date":"2014-06-18T11:42:26","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T15:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=29326"},"modified":"2014-06-18T19:39:19","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T23:39:19","slug":"senator-accuses-public-health-professor-of-ridiculing-wind-turbine-syndrome-victims-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2014\/senator-accuses-public-health-professor-of-ridiculing-wind-turbine-syndrome-victims-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator accuses Public Health professor of ridiculing Wind Turbine Syndrome victims (Australia)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chapman1\"<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note<\/em>: \u00a0Simon Chapman. \u00a0Simon is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia\u2019s flagship university. Simon is quoted in media all over the world, dismissing\u00a0Wind Turbine Syndrome as baloney. \u00a0(He goes a step further. \u00a0He ridicules WTS victims.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to understand\u00a0that Simon has zero clinical credentials. \u00a0(It\u2019s difficult to define what his PhD is in. \u00a0As best I can tell, it seems to be in sociology with some health-related whistles and bells. Simon came to fame by investigating the tobacco industry for deceptive advertising.)<\/p>\n

Hence, when Simon trashes\u00a0WTS, he does so not as a scientist or clinician.<\/p>\n

Let me put it this way. \u00a0I, too, was a university professor. \u00a0My PhD degree is in history with a minor in anthropology. \u00a0My BA degree is in biology and I was briefly enrolled in a PhD program in molecular biology and, after that, in immunology.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I don\u2019t call myself a biologist. \u00a0Simon Chapman\u2019s pronouncements\u00a0on Wind Turbine Syndrome are no more credible than mine.<\/p>\n

Surprised? \u00a0My credentials lie in the humanities, period. \u00a0Simon\u2019s are\u00a0in the social sciences, period, even if his academic appointment is in a school of public health. \u00a0Neither of us is in a position\u00a0to speak with anywhere near the authority of a clinician like Dr. Nina Pierpont, or a scientist like Dr. Alec Salt, each\u00a0of whom has the requisite scholarly credentials and at least one\u00a0of whom has\u00a0done clinical interviews of victims (Dr. Pierpont). Neither Simon nor I\u00a0has done anything remotely resembling Dr. Salt\u2019s laboratory research on inner ear neuropathology triggered\u00a0by infrasound. \u00a0(Dr. Salt is considered a world leader in neurophysiology.) \u00a0Nor has either one of us done\u00a0anything remotely like Dr. Pierpont\u2019s research into the health effects reported globally\u00a0by people living in proximity to wind turbines.<\/p>\n

Forgive me for laboring the issue, yet it\u2019s time that Simon\u2019s credentials\u00a0be\u00a0clarified.<\/p>\n

The obvious conclusion is that when Simon Chapman dismisses WTS as moonshine, it should be instantly\u00a0apparent that the\u00a0man doesn\u2019t know what the fuck\u00a0he’s talking about. The question becomes, \u201cDoes Simon realize he\u2019s making a fool of himself?\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, maybe I\u2019m wrong. \u00a0Maybe he\u2019s not making a fool of himself. \u00a0Maybe Simon Chapman is really saying, \u201cI’m neither a scientist nor a clinician. I\u2019m a social scientist with some health-related whistles and bells. \u00a0That said, in my opinion as a scholar I think the evidence for WTS is weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

There would be nothing foolish in\u00a0his\u00a0saying this. \u00a0In this case,\u00a0Simon Chapman is not a fool; the people who take him seriously and credit his opinion are fools. \u00a0It\u2019s sort of like people believing Barack \u201cBarry\u201d Obama if Barry toured\u00a0the country\u00a0announcing WTS is horseshit. \u00a0Barry’s a lawyer. He\u2019s a prominent man \u2014 he was even a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago \u2014 but his statements on WTS would fall within what\u2019s called \u201cpersonal opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Same goes for Simon Chapman.<\/p>\n

In any case, Simon has gotten under the skin of Senator\u00a0John Madigan in the Australian Federal Senate. Evidently Madigan appeared on a radio \u201ctalk\u201d show recently\u00a0and expressed doubt about\u00a0Simon’s\u00a0academic credentials to speak authoritatively on WTS. He questioned, as well, Simon\u2019s\u00a0 financial relationship with wind energy companies.<\/p>\n

Simon responded with a threat of lawsuit for libel.\u00a0\u00a0Sen. Madigan\u2019s response is printed, below.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think the senator\u00a0should be dancing in the streets. \u00a0I think he\u00a0should welcome the opportunity to deconstruct Simon before a court of law. \u00a0(Incidentally, I know nothing about Simon Chapman\u2019s connections with wind energy companies.) What I know is what I said above: the man speaks with no more authority on the subject than you or I<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Madigan-484\"

Senator John Madigan<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

I rise to speak tonight on the privilege of this parliament to operate without fear or favour. Members and senators have the right to undertake their duties freely to represent their constituents\u2014it is the reason we are here. Any attempt to gag a senator or member of parliament, any attempt to exert influence by means of threat or intimidation is a breach of parliamentary privilege. This could incur the most serious penalties. Tonight I will speak of such an attempt by a high-profile Australian academic. This academic has a track record of making fun of people in regional and rural communities who are sick. He trades in scuttlebutt. He makes consistent attacks on anyone who makes a complaint against his network of corporate buddies. This academic has become the poster boy for an industry which has a reputation for dishonesty and for bullying.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here<\/a> to read more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: \u00a0Simon Chapman. \u00a0Simon is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia\u2019s flagship university. Simon is quoted in media all over the world, dismissing\u00a0Wind Turbine Syndrome as baloney. \u00a0(He goes a step further. \u00a0He ridicules WTS victims.) It\u2019s important to understand\u00a0that Simon has zero clinical credentials. \u00a0(It\u2019s difficult to define what his PhD is in. \u00a0As best I can tell, it seems to be in sociology with some health-related whistles and bells. Simon came to fame by investigating the tobacco industry for deceptive advertising.) Hence, when Simon trashes\u00a0WTS, he does so not as a scientist or clinician. Let me put it this way. \u00a0I, too, was a university professor. \u00a0My PhD degree is in history with a minor in anthropology. \u00a0My BA degree is in biology and I was briefly enrolled in a PhD program in molecular biology and, after that, in immunology. Nevertheless, I don\u2019t call myself a biologist. \u00a0Simon Chapman\u2019s pronouncements\u00a0on Wind Turbine Syndrome are no more credible than mine. Surprised? \u00a0My credentials lie in the humanities, period. \u00a0Simon\u2019s are\u00a0in the social sciences, period, even if his academic appointment is in a school of public health. \u00a0Neither of us is in a position\u00a0to speak with anywhere near the authority of a clinician like Dr. Nina Pierpont, or a scientist like Dr. Alec Salt, each\u00a0of whom has the requisite scholarly credentials and at least one\u00a0of whom has\u00a0done clinical interviews of victims (Dr. Pierpont). Neither Simon nor I\u00a0has done anything remotely resembling Dr. Salt\u2019s laboratory research on inner ear neuropathology triggered\u00a0by infrasound. \u00a0(Dr. Salt is considered a world leader in neurophysiology.) \u00a0Nor has either one of us done\u00a0anything remotely like Dr. Pierpont\u2019s research into the health effects reported globally\u00a0by people living in proximity to wind turbines. Forgive me for laboring the issue, yet it\u2019s timeRead More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[157,163,16,170],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}