SITES AND USE IN NEWSLETTERS. PLEASE TWEET AND RE-TWEET ON TWITTER.
Daily Echo Letters.
The claim that M.E, (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) is the same as Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and any of its variants (Re: New ME website
launches to help support sufferers in Dorset, Bournemouth Daily Echo, 15
February 2012 --
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/yourhealth/9531839.New_ME_web/)
is as unacceptable and leads to the same erroneous conclusions, as
saying that any person, place or thing is the same as the name of its
collective group and/or any of its other group members. For example,
that apple could stand for ALL fruit, when we know there are many other
types of fruit, or that apples (which may have variants of its own kind
- Granny Smith, Cox, Gala etc.) are just the same as oranges, bananas etc.
The crucial problem is that studies are not comparing like with like
and, conclusions that may be recommended for the eating, packing,
storing or processing of some fruit, may be inadvisable or even harmful
for, say, mangoes, which were included not in the study.
Although the membership of some items may be contested (for example,
tomatoes, most often a fruit, are sometimes claimed to be a vegetable if
cooked) it is most often possible to be sure which categories they may
not be in, for example insects, or road vehicles.
Some refinement may be by provenance, for example, Champagne is a
sparkling, alcoholic, wine from only that part of France. If the
essential criteria are progressively loosened to, say, Bubbly/Champagne,
one can permit other sparkling wines; then, if the requirement of
alcohol is dropped, lemonade and fizzy water may be test subjects, with
which no comparison with Champagne is possible.
To avoid such contamination of subject selection in other areas, there
are advertising standards and rules of product labelling to ensure
consumers know what they are about to purchase. I suggest such a
voluntary code for all groups and individuals who use the term M.E, to
include a definition of what they mean by it (for example,
Ramsay-defined M.E.; or World Health Organisation Handbook ICD-10;
G.93.3) and the more specific the better.
If people were not aware that the naming of M.E., quite separate from
CFS, was such a crucial matter, you could put indiscriminate labelling
down to ignorance; now they know, it would have to be carelessness, or
wilfulness.
Yours sincerely
drjohngreensmith@mecommunitytrust.org
Dr John H Greensmith
ME Community Trust.org
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