This is in a sense continuation of the
series I intended to write on “Let them die to maintain the hegemony of western
science”. I will be writing a few more articles on the above theme though not
by the same title. I want to write on western science is a “pattapal boruwa”,
and in a sense I was glad when a great Sri Lankan scientist living in Canada
said that I am a worse critique of western science than Feyerabend was. As far as I am concerned western science
is nothing but induction (not what is mentioned in connection of the old
scientific method), second rate Applied Statistics and constructing (creating)
stories that are referred to as theories but nothing other than “pattapal
boru). Even so called deductions are based on induction and I challenge any
great Mathematician or Scientist to prove that if A=B and B-C, then A=C, using
only so called logic. I know a bright brat (spoiled by western knowledge) will
say it is an axiom and cannot or need not be proved. However, my point is that
these so called axioms cannot be proved or deduced or whatever you think of
using logic. In fact logic is also nothing but results arrived at using
induction. Western Philosophy considers induction as a problem, but it is not
induction but deduction that is a problem, and deduction can be explained only
using induction!
Recently I came across reports in
newspapers claiming that the WHO in a paper published has claimed that Cadmium
is the cause of the Chronic Kidney Disease Unidentified Etiology (CKDu). In
fact at least one newspaper, not of the Upali group, said that according to an
unnamed official in the Ministry of Health, Cadmium has been identified as the
cause of the CKDu by the WHO in a paper published in a reputed international journal.
I do not have any regard for these so called reputed international journals nor
their contents whether peer reviewed or not as I consider that people who have
ideas should be able to publish them without any restrictions so that as many
people as possible would have access to them. In this context I publish all my
new ideas (not true according to Prof.
Carlo Fonseka) in the newspapers, mainly of the Upali group, in fact I have
been contributing regularly from the
inception of the group, but even in this case there are restrictions as editors
would like to use their blue pencils often, and in order to overcome this
problem I publish the unedited versions in the Kalaya website (www.
Kalaya1.org). Thus WHO paper per se did not
arouse any interest in me but some of my friend wanted to find out
whether Arsenic is not the cause of CKDu, as I was the leader of the Kelaniya
group that claimed that Arsenic is the cause of the disease.
Though I was the leader of the Kelaniya
group sometime ago after I ceased to be the Dean of the Faculty of Science, the
group disowned me as probably my views on Science are too much for them who
would like to end up as Fellows of the National Academy of Science that august
body that is established following the Royal Society, London, though none of
the Fellows have been able to win a Nobel Prize, let alone the Fellowship of
the Royal Society to which they are eligible as Sri Lanka is a Commonwealth
country. Kelaniya group knows that my knowledge of Chemistry is next to nothing
as I have come down in Chemistry at both the University Entrance Examination
and the General Science Qualifying Examination. My knowledge of Biological
Sciences is abysmal though I do not believe in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
being a story related by good old Darwin. The group published a paper in the
Journal of Natural Sciences Research Vol
3, page 64 (2013) on “Possible link of chronic Arsenic toxicity with chronic
kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka” without mentioning me as an
author but thanking me for the support extended. Of course I did not contribute
anything in Chemistry or Biological Sciences and I did not deserve to be named
as an author, but I have reasons to believe that there were other reasons for
disowning me. I was not a member of any
of the committees appointed by various ministries and authorities to study the
problem but the group had no objections to dropping me from these committees.
It is interesting to find that there were some members of the committees whose
knowledge of Chemistry and Biological Sciences was no better than that of
mine.
In any event I
thought that I should go through this paper purported to be by the WHO,
the World Health Organization recognized
in the medical and scientific circles, which appeared in a so called
internationally reputed journal. There
is a paper published in the open access (on line) journal with date 27 August
2013 on “Chronic kidney disease of uncertain aetiology: prevalence and causative
factors in a developing country” by Nihal Jayatilake, Shanthi Mendis,
Palitha Maheepala, and Firdosi R Mehta,
On behalf of the CKDu National Research Project Team. The first is the
Secretary of the Ministry of Health, the second a Sri Lankan attached to the
WHO, the third Director General of Health Services and the last country representative of the WHO
in Sri Lanka. It is interesting to find that the names of the other authours
are not mentioned except that the four aforementioned authors are writing on
behalf of the CKDu National Research Project Team. The usual
procedure is to mention all the authours by name even if the number is very
high. Would the other members of the team be deprived of claiming the paper as
one of theirs when it comes to writing CVs and applying for promotions? Are
their human rights violated by the act of four individuals even if they are
highly placed in the Academic and Professional circles?
However, what is
most significant is that the paper is not one of the WHO though Shanthi Mendis
and Firdosi Metha are attached to the WHO. The paper does not state that it is
published on behalf of the WHO and it specifically says that the paper is
published on behalf of what is called the CKDu National Research Project Team.
I do not attach any authority to the WHO as far as the health of the people of
this country is concerned, but it is clear that some people in the ministry of health
who project themselves as spokespersons are interested in using the so called
authority of the WHO to propagate their pet theories against Arsenic.
In this
connection I wish to draw the attention of the readers to the final report
published by the WHO (in the name of the WHO) on “lnvestigation and Evaluation
of Chronic Kidney Disease of Uncertain
Aetiology in Sri Lanka”. It is a report on the project “Investigation and Evaluation
of Chronic Kidney Disease of Uncertain Aetiology in Sri Lanka”, the principal
investigators being the Health Ministry, Sri Lanka and the WHO.
The names of all
the individual investigators are also mentioned and the date of award and the
completion of the project also being mentioned. The final report and the paper
published by Mendis et al. in the reputed international journal differ in
contents, data and it is not known what transpired between the publication of
the final report by the WHO and the esteemed paper. In any event it has to be
mentioned that neither the report nor the paper comes to any conclusion as far
as the cause of the CKDu is concerned and it makes me wonder who in the Ministry of Health is responsible
for concluding that Cadmium is the cause of the disease. (to be continued)
Nalin De Silva
23-10-2013
