eLetters

95 e-Letters

published between 2004 and 2007

  • The "Fabricius Method" is not science
    Alan Korwin

    Dear Editor

    Injury Prevention recently explored firearm issues, introducing what might be called the “Fabricius Method” of analysis. Invented by ASU professor William Fabricius with his 12-year-old son John Denton, it works simply enough. They counted gunfire stories in one newspaper, and concluded guns are rarely used for anything good. I imagine many heartily embrace this conclusion.

    Newspaper rep...

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  • Reality Check: Flawed Methodology Fails to Discover Defensive Gun Uses
    Robert C. Solomon, MD, FACEP

    Dear Editor

    The study by Denton and Fabricius [1] uses local newspaper accounts to discover instances of defensive gun use in the Phoenix, Arizona area during a brief period in 1998 and concludes that there are far fewer such occurrences than reported by criminologists who performed nationwide telephone surveys. While telephone surveys are certainly vulnerable to some significant sources of bias, including those re...

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  • Author's reply
    Anne T McCartt

    Dear Editor

    Regarding the eLetter by McCartt and Geary.[1]

    Our study had the specific, stated objective of determining whether New York’s ban on drivers’ use of hand-held phones led to short-term and long-term changes in the use rates of hand-held phones while driving. Our intent was not to assess the relative safety effects of hands-free versus handheld devices. In the discussion, we note that any subs...

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  • Handheld vs Handsfree
    Richard L Hockey

    Dear Editor

    McCartt and Geary in their recent article in IP [1] have glossed over the problem with banning hand held phones in that there is now a large body of evidence showing that there is no safety benefit to be gained from hands free devices ie they are both dangerous. The problem with outlawing handheld but allowing handsfree phones is the implicit message that handsfree is somehow safer. The problem was rec...

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  • Author's reply
    Hester J Lipscomb

    Dear Editor

    We are responding to the inquiry of Mr Freedman about whether we had conveyed our findings to OSHA.[1] The data reported in our article 'Nail gun injuries in residential carpentry: lessons from active injury surveillance'[2] were collected over a three year period. We presented results on several occasions in national meetings where OSHA representatives were in attendance including: the following:...

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