Talk:John Brignell

I reverted the changes made by 193.129.160.226

• "However, According to a report in the New York Times in 1999, Materia cases do now stand at 2.7 Million. It is possible that his figures were calulated using the assumption that, if DDT had been used correctly and completely, malaria would no longer be in existance. [1]"

the slightly diff figure in the NYT from 1999 doesn't add much ; the rest is speculation. Aside from which I have never heard of public health community suggesting malaria could be eradicated but rather controlled.

It is possible to clarify his claims with the following analogy. You may see relative risk expressed as a ratio (ex: 1.5). This number 1.5 means, for instance,that a woman with a particular risk factor is 1.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than someone without that risk factor.

• "Another way to express this number is to say that the risk factor increases relative risk by 50%. However, it's important to ask... "50% increase relative to what?" If the baseline risk level we're comparing to is 1%, a 50% increase isn't as meaningful."

this is a common argument of risk managers but Lamberts quote takes issue with the suggestion that extra risk is claimed not to be statistically significant. It clearly is - we are not talking about something with a string of zeroes in front of it. And if you are one of the extra 0.5% who get the diseases then it is very statitically significant.

• although his logic is based on the fact that scientists were not looking for it prior to the 1970's, hence his claims;

this addition implied this came from the Lambert citation itself; but rather than add the ref mid-sentence it is not clear that is what Brignell'a basis is. Even if it is then the absence of evidence hardly supports the claim that the ozone hole was always there.--Bob Burton 16:26, 7 Sep 2005 (EDT)

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the following was inserted at the top of the article today; I've removed it to here:

What follows is the work of an individual known as The Adhominator. You can recognise his style, as he never attacks the argument, only the arguer. You can identify him, because he is the only authority he quotes. Enjoy!

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Earlier this morning I received an email from Brignell complaining that a pre-amble warning readers about Lambert's blog posts kept being removed. (It is posted above). After Diane removed the latest addition of this, a few hours later 206.248.68.77 removed the entire section on Brignell and his views on DDT, the ozone hole and a Lancet study. I reverted this and have rewritten the section. I'll post a note offline to Brignell explaining the reasons. --Bob Burton 01:07, 30 Sep 2005 (EDT)

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I've rolled back the following change made by 134.148.20.2 from the article as it was not written to meet SourceWatch editorial conventions:

Note: If you have a solid understanding of complex statistics, check out the explanation of relative risk on Brignall's site and you will see that he clearly demonstrates why a relative risk of 1.5 is not significant. He is not just quoting some book, he produces the mathematics. Tim Lambert clearly does not understand complex statistics. Either that, or he has a personal agenda. [Jim Smith, B.Maths (Newcastle)]

--Laura Miller, 02:31, 4 Oct 2005 (EDT)