-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: September 27, 2007 3:15:26 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Peruvian Meteorite: Illnesses (Incl. Police) Just
"Collective Psychosis"
Did 'Meteorite' Crash Breed Hysteria?
2007-09-26 18:32:05
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/did-meteorite-crash-breed-hysteria/
20070926162009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
(Sept. 26) - On what started as a normal Saturday night one week
ago, residents of a small, remote Peruvian town saw a bright light
streak across the sky, heard a resounding bang and suddenly found
themselves at the center of a media frenzy.
Photo Gallery: Puzzling Ailments
Reuters
A number of locals reported falling ill from a "mysterious disease"
after what was said by villagers to be a meteorite landed near
Puno, Peru, on Aug. 15.
Initial suspicions of an airplane crash quickly spiraled into
widespread reports that a meteorite had plummeted to Earth and left
a smoking, boiling crater whose supposedly noxious fumes were
reported to have sickened curious locals who went to peer at the hole.
Despite doubts expressed by geologists that the crater was actually
caused by a meteorite and firm explanations that a meteorite would
not even emit fumes and that the "sickness" was likely a case of
mass hysteria, numerous onlookers far and wide were fascinated by
the idea that this event could be some real-life "Andromeda
Strain" (the 1969 novel by Michael Crichton), where a mysterious
rock falling to Earth from outerspace made anyone who went near it
ill.
So what is it about things falling from the sky that fills us with
such fear that we can make ourselves sick with panic?
Media reports of the number of locals afflicted by a "mysterious
disease"- with symptoms such as nausea, headaches and sore throats
- after visiting the crater figured in every news article about the
Aug. 15 event, with some reporting that as many as 600 people had
fallen ill.
But doctors who visited the site told the Associated Press they
found no evidence that the crater had actually sickened such a
large number of people.
If noxious fumes did emanate from the crater, they were most likely
the result of a hydrothermal explosion that could have actually
formed the crater, or were released from the ground when the
meteorite struck, if in fact one did, according to many geologists.
Arsenic is found in the subsoil in that area of Peru and often
contaminates the drinking water there, according to Peruvian
geologists quoted on Sept. 21 by National Geographic News. Arsenic
fumes released from the crater could have sickened locals who went
to look, said one geologist who examined the site.
Some health officials suggest that the symptoms described by the
locals, the large number of people reporting symptoms, and the
apparently rapid spread have all the hallmarks of a case of mass
hysteria.
"Those who say they are affected are the product of a collective
psychosis," Jorge Lopez Tejada, health department chief in Puno,
the nearest city, told the Los Angeles Times.
This psychosis could have begun as a result of fear of the
meteorite and the mysterious "disease" on the part of the residents
and spread as official and media reports seemed to confirm it and
give it credence.
"The Peruvian event seems to be a rare case where we may be
witnessing collective anxiety that is approaching near hysteria,"
said Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at John Moores
University in England. "The major[ity] of the affected Peruvian
town hinted that some of the mass anxiety is due to fear of
imminent impacts and psychological stress which is not surprising
given the premature speculation and media hype."
Fear of a meteorite impact is nothing new - humans have long looked
to the heavens with a wary eye.
"The fear of cosmic disaster, in particular cometary impacts, has
existed in all cultures for millennia," Peiser told SPACE.com
But the space age revealed just how many dangers, including comets,
meteors, asteroids, and cosmic rays, await us in the final frontier.
"Only since the late 20th century, humankind has become aware of
the risk posed by asteroids and comets," Peiser said.
"Unfortunately, this risk has been wildly exaggerated by popular
culture."
Our curiosity and fear of impact events has increased their
coverage by the world media, Peiser says, which in turn has
increased the number of meteorite impact reports, even when the
evidence doesn't point that way.
"In recent years, there have been numerous cases where alleged
meteorite falls were linked to mysterious explosions on the ground
- only to be proven wrong," Peiser said. "One of the main reasons
for the significant increase of such claims is almost certainly due
to the growing media interest in the cosmic impact risk. It is part
of human nature - and extremely tempting for the news media - to
hype any event that initially looks mysterious."
While this fear is normal and understandable, it's been blown out
of proportion so that the public thinks that impact risks are
higher than they are, Peiser argues.
"Most people are simply not aware that we are making enormous
progress in finding and identifying the population of Near Earth
Objects and that the impact risk is thus diminishing year by year,"
Peiser said.
And when meteorites have struck, they have never carried any hint
of some mysterious space disease.
"I don't know of any known record of a meteorite landing that
emitted odors so noxious that people got sick from it," said
geologist Larry Grossman of the University of Chicago.
So much for the Andromeda Strain.
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