Cuando uno piensa que ya lo ha visto todo, llega siempre alguien y te sorprende. Y cuando ese «alguien» es nada más y nada menos que el New York Times, periódico que ha ganado más de un centenar de veces el premio Pulitzer, la sorpresa (y la decepción) es mayúscula. Me refiero a un artículo publicado ayer por Nick Bilton en ese periódico en el que smartwatches were equated with tobacco. Yes, the aforementioned author talks in his article about the possibility that smart watches and wearables in general can cause cancer.
In 1946, a new advertising campaign appeared in magazines with a picture of a doctor in his white coat holding a cigarette and the phrase "Most doctors smoke Camel." No, it wasn't a joke. At that time, doctors were not yet aware that tobacco could cause cancer, heart and lung disease. Similarly, some researchers and consumers are now wondering whether wearables (wearable devices) will be considered harmful to health in a few years.
For years there has been talk of the possible relationship of mobile phones and many other electronic devices that we use every day with cancer and other diseases. For years studies are carried out on these possible relationships without being able to find any. In fact, the article itself mentions studies carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the CDC in the United States in which it only indicates that there is not enough evidence to determine whether the use of mobile phones is harmful or not, and at best they risk giving some ambiguous recommendations such as "the further a device is from the head the better", as if the head is the only place in the body where cancer can develop.
Just like The Verge publishes in response to this unfortunate article in the New York Times, the last straw occurs when he cites as an authority on the matter Dr. Joseph Mercola, whom he describes as an "alternative medicine specialist", who has a web page on the who sells homeopathic products and who has been warned on several occasions by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) for mislabeling some of their products or promise with them results that are not based on any scientific evidence.
¿Radio frequencies may be harmful and cause cancer? Today it cannot be ruled out, but this is not the same as affirming it. It can also be shown in the future that some medicines used today without the need for a prescription are harmful, or that there are certain habits today considered even healthy that really have negative consequences on our health. In science what is considered true and indisputable today may collapse tomorrow, but from this to comparing the Apple Watch with tobacco, and even ending up saying "I would not let any child use an Apple Watch for a long time" there is much. Not everything should count in journalism.
