Wikipedia entry for electrical sensitivity

Hi all,

Someone pointed out to me the entry in Wikipedia for
electrical sensitivity:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity

Looking through the editing history of this document,
I'm amused by the number of people who are strongly
convinced that ES does not exist. It kind of makes
it pointless to try to correct the errors in this
entry, as they will simply change them back... :-(

Marc

--- In [hidden email], "Marc Martin" <marc@...> wrote:

These people obviously don't realise how lucky they are not to have
ES. If only they knew!!  

Maybe someone should tell them that it is a recognised condition in
some countries, perhaps that would help.

Wikipedia, of course, can be edited by anyone. The fact that the majority
of editors don't believe in ES is simply a reflection of current majority
view in the world. We have to work gradually to change that thinking.

Wikipedia does have the criterion that it should be NPOV (neutral point of
view), reflecting both sides of an argument, but not necessarily in equal
amounts. Also, statements made must be backed up by published evidence,
preferably from peer-reviewed or reputable sources. Otherwise they will get
deleted. The difficulty is that relatively little about ES seems to have
been published in such journals - or if it has, those references have not
been included.

It is not all bad news. The wikipedia article does contain some useful
links to ES websites and ES related articles, and shows that it ios not
something which can simply be dismissed out of hand. But we must expect
that it will at present be more tilted towards the sceptical lobby. Indeed,
the article has evolved in the sceptical direction since it originally
appeared, as can be seen by viewing the edit history. There is more
material on both sides of the argument in the "talk pages", but this cannot
be included in the main article as it is "unpublished" or "original
research".

Ian

_____

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Marc
Martin
Sent: 15 September 2007 00:27
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [eSens] Wikipedia entry for electrical sensitivity



Hi all,

Someone pointed out to me the entry in Wikipedia for
electrical sensitivity:

http://en.wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity>
.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity

Looking through the editing history of this document,
I'm amused by the number of people who are strongly
convinced that ES does not exist. It kind of makes
it pointless to try to correct the errors in this
entry, as they will simply change them back... :-(

Marc





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Richsurf's quote "Maybe someone should tell them that it is a recognised
condition in
some countries, perhaps that would help". is apposite, as I tried to edit a
similar statement into Wikipedia about ES being a recognised condition in
some countries at one point. This was challenged. Only Sweden could be
found to give any degree of recognition, and that seemed surprisingly
limited. I had stated: "the Swedish government officially recognise ES as a
physical impairment" which was a direct quote from the
electrosensitivity.org website (not electrosensitivity.org.uk, which is
different). Here are some of the statements that ensued in discussion:
 
Quote 1:
I am aware that multiple ^pro^-ES sites says that it is a recognised
condition in Sweden. The problem is, that I am not aware of any official
swedish publication that acknowledges the same fact. I.e., I am not sure if
it is a fact or a myth, and thus I do not think it should be included in
Wikipedia until a solid reference surfaces.
 
Quote 2:
the
<http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:6tenY6URUPMJ:www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonl
yres/9E29937F-1A27-4A16-A8C3-F403A623300C/0/ElectromagneticReport.pdf+Health
+Effects+of+Electromagnetic+Fields+ireland&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk> Irish
report on electromagnetic fields says this about Sweden's position
"The Swedish Board of Health and Welfare is the Swedish authority to grant
financial support through the national budget to disability organisations. A
disability organisation is according to the authorities understood to be an
organisation which members (at least a majority of) meet substantial
difficulties in everyday life due to some kind of disability. The National
Board of Health and Welfare thus make their decisions based on the
consequences for the afflicted individuals and not based on any known
underlying cause of the disability/problems. The Swedish Association for the
Electrosensitive was granted financial support as a disability organisation.
Most disability organisations that have received this type of financial
support join the Swedish Disability Federation, as has The Swedish
Association for the Electrosensitive. This fact has sometimes been
misinterpreted as if electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a recognised
medical diagnosis in Sweden."
 
As a result of all this, my statement had to be deleted because we could not
find any reliable source to support it categorically.
 
So that is the challenge to us. If we want to make statements that various
countries officially recognise ES in some way, we have to back this up with
official evidence. Linking to a website which claims something is not
enough. Authoritative sources include government websites and publications,
published scientific papers and reputable news agencies like the BBC (this
does not imply I agree with everything they say!).
 
So can someone produce references or links to authoritative evidence about
government recognition, please? Then we will have something which can be
put into Wikipedia and defended against any attempt to delete it.
 
The reason I feel the Wikipedia article is important is that it is the site
which people most often hit in a random search for any particular subject.
So if someone is developing ES, for example, and wants to find out a
balanced opinion on it that shows there is some evidence for an effect, it
is a valuable thing to have. Assertions by "pro" or "anti" websites giving
only one point of view can be more easily dismissed by sceptics.
 
Incidentally, of the various people editing the Wiki ES article, about 8
have been fairly regular, and I would classify 2-3 as "broadly sympathetic"
and 4-5 as "anti". Hence the current balance of the article.
 
Ian
 

_____  

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
richsurf77
Sent: 15 September 2007 10:48
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [eSens] Re: Wikipedia entry for electrical sensitivity



--- In eSens@yahoogroups. <mailto:eSens%40yahoogroups.com> com, "Marc
Martin" <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Someone pointed out to me the entry in Wikipedia for
> electrical sensitivity:
>
> http://en.wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity>
.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity
>
> Looking through the editing history of this document,
> I'm amused by the number of people who are strongly
> convinced that ES does not exist. It kind of makes
> it pointless to try to correct the errors in this
> entry, as they will simply change them back... :-(
>
> Marc
>

These people obviously don't realise how lucky they are not to have
ES. If only they knew!!

Maybe someone should tell them that it is a recognised condition in
some countries, perhaps that would help.



 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

They got one thing right:

"For those who are severely affected, ES can have a significant impact
on their quality of life, causing physical, mental and social
impairment and psychological distress"

Eli