Physics Professor Makes a Case Against Distance Healing
Mason Professor Emerita of Physics Eugenie Mielczarek currently writes and lectures on the frontiers of physics and biology.
Her research in solid state physics and biological physics conducted at Mason for 33 years has been published in prestigious journals such as the Physical Review, the Journal of Chemical Physics and the Biology of Metals. In May 2009, she was honored with an award for distinguished research in biological physics from the Washington Academy of Sciences.
Lately, Mielczarek has focused her efforts on an issue of science policy.
Mielczarek recently wrote a report that was published by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Inquiry (CFI) titled “A Fracture in Our Health Care: Paying for Non-Evidence-Based Medicine.” The paper focuses on why federal funding should not be used to support unproven alternative therapies, such as distance healing.
According to Mielczarek, she used simple physics formulas to disprove alleged claims made by distance healers that biomagnetic fields from their hands can cure diseases such as cancer. In the report, Mielczarek notes that healers’ claim of a two milligauss field strength is 18 orders of magnitude below the energy needed to affect any biochemistry.
“Therapeutic touch practitioners claim that they can feel and manipulate human energy fields by making massaging movements in the air just above the surface of the patient’s body. But this was a no-brainer for me. When I saw these claims, I checked to see if anyone had analyzed the data to see if there was enough energy emanating from human hands to significantly alter human biochemistry. The basic laws describing electromagnetic fields and thermodynamics that run our universe show it’s just not possible,” says Mielczarek.
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