 Thisis an age of statistical trickery and witchcraft, in which pure speculations arepassed for 'science' in the pretence of goodness. One of the origins of thistype of trickery is a piece of 'science' published in ”Zeitschrift fürKrebsforschung” in 1939. I am, of course, referring to Franz H. Müllers 'casecontrol study' titled ”Tabakmissbrauch und Lungencarcinoma”. In healthist circles, such as thetobacco control 'movement', this type of 'science' is widely reverred andacclaimed. Let us dissect Franz H. Müllers study and see what we can learn fromit.
The 'study'
This study waspublished in 1939, in the German language publication ”Zeitschrift fürKrebsforschung” (Journal of Cancer Research). The resulting article was printedin the 49. volume, on pages 57 – 85. It was a central piece in the Nazi Germancampaign against tobacco.
The first thingwe note is the title of the study, which translates into ”Tobacco abuse and lungcancer”. Already in its title the science is suggestive, in pretending that useof tobacco is an abuse. It seems quite familiar!
Aside from alot of anecdotes about experimentation with painting tar and tobacco exctractsto animal skin, the core of the study is concentrated on 96 ‘diseased’ caseswith suggestive medical histories and 96 ‘healthy’ cases.
The 'cases'
According toDr. Müller, the ‘cases’ were gathered at various hospitals, with the ‘friendly’assistance of the managers. I suppose that anybody not ‘friendly’ to Dr. Müllers‘investigative’ efforts could have foreseen a visit by the local branch of theGestapo (any similarity with current trends is purely coincidential....).
History of eachcase was compiled from the medical records of the deceased, no doubt provided by‘friendly’ family doctors. Smoking history was gathered by questionnaires filledout by next of kin, typically a spouse. As to the composition of the diseased 96cases, Dr. Müller states the following:
“Af diese Weisehaben wir folgende 96 Krankheitsfälle zusammengestellt:”
Let us justpause at the language here. “zusammengestellt” means something like “assembled”,“put together” or “pieced together”. What I take this to mean is that Dr. Müllersought out a number of cases that served his purpose and then proceeded to‘investigate’ what they ‘showed’.
The smokers
The use ofderagoratory terms is rampant throughout the description of smokers. A heavysmoker is an “Ekstremer Raucher” - an ‘extreme smoker’.
As for thefirst smoker in Dr. Müllers list, a pipe smoker that allegedly smoked 750 g ofpipe tobacco a week, and threw in a handful of cigars a day, I dismiss thatcompletely. That pipe smoker would have smoked 107 g of pipe tobacco a day, plusthe cigars! Cannot be done.
The‘analysis’
In about 8pages, Dr. Müller makes an amazing amount of discoveries based on his 96diseased cases and 96 healthy cases. He discovers that smoking causes lungcancer, that chromnium causes lung cancer and that lead does not protect againstlung cancer. Perhaps he even discovers something else. I don’t know and I don’tcare. What I smell is that all of the apparant genius that Franz Hermann Müllerdisplays, is to be found in the fact the he himself planted all of thediscoveries to be made.
Conclusion
The study isclearly a piece of propaganda, manufactured to suit the whims of the rulingautocratic nazi elite.
I entirelydismiss Franz Hermann Müllers case control ‘study’. Let me wrap it up in asingle word:
“zusammengestellt”.
Lessons
Clearly thereare implications that this study is a piece of orchestrated science. Current day'researchers' frequently refer to it. A prominent name on the list of Franz H.Müllers admirers is one Richard Doll, the man behind the infamous Doctors Studyon smoking.
Richard Dollhad his eyes focused on Franz H. Müllers case control study from the verybeginning of his studies in smoking and health. In Doll and Hills case controlstudy of smoking and lung cancer from 1950, Franz H. Müllers study is in thelist of references.
In his finalshot against smoking, the Doctors Study 50 years report, Richard Doll persistsin including Franz H. Müllers case control study as number 2 on his list ofreferences. One can only speculate as to why Richard Doll would be so fascinatedby this piece of orchestrated science.
Creatingscience
It is clearfrom the number of claims thrown against ETS that science is being fabricated topromote hate against tobacco users. While it is fine to critisize the fraudulentscience on its own epidemiological merits, there is potential to further unrollthe junking of science.
The use ofconfounders to construct science is evident. In our quest to debunk junkscience, we, as smokers rights activists and citizens might turn to unrollingthe fake science. Surely, with the amount of crap science published today, wecould locate a couple of constructed pieces of science, and make them publiclyknown.
Better still,like guerillas waiting for an ambush opportunity, by learning to unrollorchestrated science, we might be lucky enough to grab 'researchers' with theirhands in the cookie jar, while the news is still 'hot'. The potential forcounterattack is overwhelming, given the amount of crap that is published.
Considerations
Franz H.Müllers case control study in smoking and lung cancer from 1939 is a piece ofpropaganda, manufacured at the behest of the ruling Nazi autocracy. It wasfabricated in one of the most hideous dictatorships ever seen. The 'smokingscience' left in the smoldering ashes of the Third Reich lingers on today. Likenatives dazzled by glass beads and colored stones, current day do-gooders andnaive citizens let themselves be hypnotized by this Nazi science.
In doing so,they are ever hastily being consumed by the very ideology that produced it. Dogood 'researchers' have turned themselves into proponants of this hideousideology.
We are indeedin the gravest of danger. We must be prepared for more. We must brace ourselves.
That is thebrutality of the situation.
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