Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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![[Read Rapid Response]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
Homeopathic Claims for Passive Smoking
- Maurice L. Gueret (23 April 2004)
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Re: Homeopathic Claims for Passive Smoking
- Kenneth Campbell (26 April 2004)
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Automatic indexing - BMJ articles missing on the PubMed index, but present on Web of Science.
- Phillip J. Colquitt (27 April 2004)
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Maurice L. Gueret, General Practitioner Dublin 6w, Ireland
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I beg to remain sceptical of the claim that small exposures to other people's tobacco smoke cause large increases in the risk of cardiovascular diseases. If we are to espouse such fundamental theories of Homeopathy, surely we should go the whole hog and embrace this rogue discipline in its entirety. If like cures like, then small amounts of environmental tobacco smoke may in fact be good for you. Competing interests: None declared |
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Kenneth Campbell, Clinical Information Officer (posted in private capacity) Leukaemia Research Fund
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Passive smoking exposures may be low-level compared to those of active smokers but they are far from homeopathic! Homeopaths claim clinical efficacy for dilutions so extreme that not a single molecule of the "active principle" is present. If Dr Gueret knows of any ventilation systems so effective that they can dilute cigarette smoke below the threshold of detection, without imposing gale-like rates of air replacement, he should share this secret with the world. Until then the air in a typical room where people are smoking will continue to contain distinctly supra-homeopathic levels of cigarette smoke contamination. Objective evidence of this is given by the detection of substantially raised cotinine levels in blood and urine samples from those exposed to environmental tobacco smoke(Jarvis et al. 2001). Jarvis, M. J., Feyerabend, C., Bryant, A., Hedges, B., & Primatesta, P. 2001, "Passive smoking in the home: plasma cotinine concentrations in non-smokers with smoking partners", Tob.Control, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 368-374. Competing interests: None declared |
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Phillip J. Colquitt, Technical Advisor Self employed
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For example, letters in your current(24 April 2004) issue are already indexed on PubMed(I’ve just looked) - an example of the “automatic” feel to communications in our era. But letters from six issues previous(13 March 2004) headed “Joy of Rapid Responses”, one of which was mine, and which were indexed on PubMed with similar automatic and speed, are not presently indexed. Web of Science indexes my letter(and presumably others). Email enquiry to PubMed about this “here today gone tomorrow” phenomenon, generated a response which lacked plausibility and felt “automatic” – something about the publisher. Competing interests: None declared |
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