Re: web based health studies

Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Fri, 25 Sep 1998 22:38:59 -0700

> spike wrote:>complete medical history, form the proverbial info-nudist
> colony, in
> >order to
> >determine if vitamins prevent breast cancer? spike
>
> Ian Goddard wrote: Extracting the signal from numerous anecdotal
> claims might be almost impossible, particularly if you
> factor in the possibility of intentional disinformation
> that could be inserted freely by various interested
> parties for one reason or another. I think we have
> to rely ultimately on controlled laboratory research.
>
> A project your talking about could be done side-by-
> side and see if it comes of similar conclusions. I'm
> not sure I see what the privacy concerns are, assuming
> people submit such personal information voluntarily.

thanks ian! a well thought out reply. this topic usually generates a fog of privacy-cautious reactions. i have been struggling with this for several weeks, since i posed the challenge of how to use the web to improve our ability to conduct surveys. how can it be arranged so that each extropian can submit only one survey, thus reducing the possibility of disinformation inserted by interest parties, while simultaneously allowing perfect protection of privacy of individuals?

controlled laboratory research has its shortcomings, which is why we still have recalls on new cars. also, i cannot access the information discovered by ford from their research track. but i can see potential problems by going to a ford owners chat group.

i am looking for a way to make a database to correllate vitamin e usage with breast cancer for instance, one not influenced by those who manufacture and sell vitamin e. spike