Yesterday's New York Times...

[Alexander Gross2]

Taubes makes it quite clear that some epidemiologists and doctors are likely
to support his position and others are likely to oppose it. This means that
while this correspondent is fortunate in having an epidemiologist for a son,
it truly adds nothing to our discussion.  I have, together with my wife,
followed the ups and downs of epidemiological research over the past twenty
years, but more importantly each of us has been quite directly and
personally affected by those results where hormone replacement therapy and
statins are concerned.

Perhaps it needs to be noted, since so many here seem to be almost totally
wedded to theory, that the results of Epidemiological Research, unlike the
results of Mainstream Linguistics Research, can have an immediate, direct,
and practical impact, sometimes touching on life and death.

I am of course deeply impressed by the eighteen lines of credentials this
professor finds necesary to add to his signature, and this triumph of good
taste leads me to believe that it would not have been amiss, since the claim
has been made that someone is "using material in a field in which one lacks
expertise," if the person making this claim could have at least glanced at
the material on my website at:

http://language.home.sprynet.com/otherdex.htm#chinmed

as well as the opening paragraphs (under the Linguistics menu) of my invited
LACUS presentation two years ago.  If this had been done, it would have been
discovered, along with two papers appearing in a medical review, that I have
been concerned with the nexus of medicine and linguistics for at least the
last twenty years.  I can't help wondering if the apparent bone of
contention here has more to do with my perspective on linguistics than
anything--actually, nothing that I can think of (though it's always a good
idea to try changing the subject)--that I have ever written about
epidemiology.

With very best to all!

alex

----- Original Message -----
From: "R. A. Jacobs" <rjacobs at townesquare.net>
To: <funknet at mailman.rice.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Yesterday's New York Times...


> With respect to Taubes' account of epidemiology, my epidemiologist
> son comments that his article covers almost exactly the same topics
> as one he wrote a few years back. The points are reasonable but
> overblown and highly selective.  Some things are twisted.
>
> My son comments: For example, when Richard Peto talked about all the
> rubbish published, he almostly certainly didn't mean ALL
> observational studies, as Taubes said he did.  Peto is probably very
> unhappy about this right now.  Note that Taubes also implies that
> epidemiology hasn't figured anything out about why Japanese have
> lower rates of breast cancer - in fact it's almost certain that
> obesity has a lot to do with it.  And it's not as if we have no clue
> about what causes obesity, as Taubes later implies.  Few if any
> working in obesity doubt that it's a combination of eating too much
> and not having enough physical activity.
>
> When Taubes did this a few years ago, my son vaguely remembers a lot
> of quoted senior epidemiologists being unhappy about having their
> statements quoted out of context and strung put together with a bunch
> of other selected self-critical statements from epidemiologists, to
> form an overly damning picture of the field as a whole.
>
> Even given the natural desire to defend one's own field, the above
> points surely indicate the dangers of using material in a field in
> which one lacks expertise to score points about one's own field.
>
> Best,
>
> Roderick A. Jacobs
>
> --
> Roderick A. Jacobs, Author/Linguistic Consultant Recent Articles:
> [Georgia State University] Review of  'Handbook
> of English Linguistics
> Em.Prof. Linguistics & 2nd Language Studies in JOURNAL OF
> ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, ,
> Past Dean, College of Languages, Linguistics, 35:2 (June
> 2007), 188-193.
> & Literature, University of Hawai'i
> Books recent or in process: Review of 'Mental
> Spaces in Grammar:
> English Syntax (Oxford University Press) Conditional
> Constructions' in COGNITIVE
> Valhalla's Daughter (with agent) LINGUISTICS,
> 17-4 (2006), pp.567-574.
> Hands Across Time (in process)
> Tel: 404-378-7365 "Apih, the little
> dragon", in OKI NIRMALA,
> Jakarta, Indonesia: 12/2006
>