Four Arguments for Elimination of Television

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In Mahayana Buddhism, each chakra (energy center) of the body is described as processing certain parts of the color spectrum, while also intermixing the colors processed by other energy centers.

In acupuncture, the two principal light-reception glands, the pineal and the pituitary, are the subject of specific light treatments, designed to keep them in balance.

Rush told me that many cultures consider the body's experience of color, which is to say spectra, as a prime factor in health. However, when faced with this kind of evidence, this culture places it all in a "primitive" category. We consider it superstition or mythology rather than knowledge or science.

It is only when a James Reston submits to acupuncture while having his appendix out in China, and then writes an article about it in the Times, that most of us are willing to have another look.

Serious Research

Not feeling that I could rely upon esoteric religion, primitive medical practice, or the work of John Ott as my only evidence that television light might be harming our bodies, I made a telephone call to the head medical researcher at a well-known nonprofit organization which, like Ott's organization, has done some excellent work in exposing the danger of X-radiation from television. (He declined to be named.) I asked him what, if anything, had been done on television light. Had he looked into the possible effects of the red, blue and green emanations?

"Where the hell do you get that crap?" he said. "I'm sick and tird of kooks not acquainted with serious research who go around spreading that stuff! "

I told him about some of the research, particularly Ott's.

"I know about that guy," he said. "He's no scientist, and people are paying far too much attention to him. He doesn't even have a biology degree."

I asked him if he'd read any of Ott's books or papers, which, after all, had been published in "serious" medical journals and had been supported by medical schools all over the country. I pointed out that Ott's board of medical people was highly respected.

"Listen," he said, "I'm really too busy to waste time on conjecture. There's a difference between careful research and pseudoscience. "

I answered by reminding him that the work of his organization was usually called "pseudoscience" by corporate and government scientists, whose conceptions he himself usually attacked. Could he now be falling into the same trap? I asked him again if he'd read any of Ott's work.

"Listen," he said again, loudly, "we are now discovering that artificial light might be terrific for you. It's good for people, not bad. If you want to read something really serious, go get a copy of Scientific American and read the article by Dr. Richard J. Wurtman on how artificial light is curing all kinds of diseases."

"Well," I asked, "are you saying that some artificial light has beneficial effects? If so, could not some other artificial light made up of other spectra have negative effects? Have you read Ott? "

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