science & innovation
31-May-06
I’m currently reading John Ott’s 1973 book Health and Light as part of a research project on the subject of how light affects human health. Light is as important to life as food & water!
I personally believe that too much exposure to fluorescent and other artificial lights are a factor in many human ailments, including cancer. Unfortunately, this idea is still considered strange (even after over 30 years of research) and few scientists are willing to put their energy and effort behind controversial ideas that might affect their funding or academic reputation. Also, no pharmaceutical company would profit from light therapy like they do from drug therapy.
Here’s a passage from the chapter “Routine Opposition to New Ideas as Standard Procedure” (a clever title indeed):
Some recalled that scientists like Pasteur, Fleming, and Goddard would never have qualified for research funds during the early development of their great discoveries: something must be wrong with our present scientific approach to anything that is new or different from existing conjectures dealing with unsolved problems — problems like cancer. A reexamination of present policies might be in order, in connection with the much publicized appeals for vast sums of money for cancer research in order that “not a single possibility be neglected.”
