Opponents of the F-35 made emotional appeals Monday night in a failed attempt to persuade the South Burlington city council to reject local basing of the fighter jet. On Tuesday night they summoned scientific data to reinforce their argument that noise from the planes is harmful to human health.
At a forum entitled “Last Call for Kids,” three Vermont medical experts warned that the F-35 will have potentially acute physical and mental consequences for those living in areas subject to the highest decibel outputs.
Citing a 2011 World Health Organization study, University of Vermont nursing school professor Judith Cohen listed some of the possible impacts: “headaches, tiredness, irritability, impaired intellectual function, inability to complete tasks.” Noise levels produced by the likes of the F-35 can cause “cognitive impairment” in children, Cohen added, saying “reading, attention span and learning” may all be adversely affected.
Dr. John Reuwer, an emergency and occupational medicine practitioner in South Burlington, reduced the data to a simple formulation: “The F-35 is bad for our children’s health.” The effects are such, Reuwer added, that “allowing this plane to come here is like encouraging our children to smoke.”
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The article says no such thing. Quote me where it says that.
The article indicates that the doctors read and processed the research materials, not that they did the original research. SchmanVT wondered if you’d done as much.
Question still not answered.
No, what I was doing was responding to this exact sentence from SchmanVT:
“The doctors presenting evidence have researched the questions diligently, have you?”
What evidence did he have for his statements? None. And, in fact, he was wrong because they did not do any research. All they did — according to the article — is make statements interpreting other people’s studies. You don’t criticize SchmanVT for making assumptions about these doctors, but you criticize me for having the nerve to question HIS assumptions.
Good grief.
OK, you’re describing doctors you don’t know and ascribing to them attributes for which you offer no evidence.