Cellular Sickness, Marketing Opportunity

I have on my screen a really bad piece of journalism in the Litchfield County Times.

It's a feature on a Kent couple — a holistic doctor and an acupuncturist — who say they were forced to move out of town because a nearby cell tower was making them sick. So they relocated their business, Progressive Medicine, to Litchfield.

The reporter basically quoted what the couple said about the dangers of microwave radiation from cell towers and electronic devices and repeated it without even a hint of skepticism. No independent sources at all to support their contentions. Where was his editor?

Both the man and his wife say they're feeling better since relocating. But wouldn't it be interesting to put a fake cell tower next to the couple's new home in Litchfield and see whether they complain of a recurrence of their symptoms. You know, the placebo effect ...

As as my friend Chris pointed out on Facebook, this could be a brilliant marketing move, for as the LCT reports:

In their Litchfield practice they treat people with symptoms similar to the ones they overcame and, as such, are naturally better prepared to handle the problems.

And a letter to the editor on the same subject is hilarious. The writer thinks cell towers are ugly, so he suggests satellite phones instead:

The cost: $1,070, plus the regular cell phone plan, plus $25 a month for access to the satellite, plus 65 cents a minute per call.

OK, that would do for retired hedge fund managers on Lake Waramaug, but how about the rest of us? And I wonder how much the data plan is for that stupid phone. That's probably another $100 a month for only a quarter of a gigabyte.

The weekenders and NYC transplants in the Northwest Corner are some of the finest people I know, but honestly, there a few who should just keep quiet, lest they make complete fools of themselves.