Tongue-Thai'ed! Part XV: Of causality and casualties - Dr. Pornthip and the GT200

Originally published at Siam Voices on July 25, 2012 “Tongue-Thai’ed!” encapsulates the most baffling, amusing, confusing, outrageous and appalling quotes from Thai politicians and other public figures – in short: everything we hear that makes us go “Huh?!”. Check out all past entries here.

The renewed controversy over the fraudulent bomb-detecting GT200 has revealed the reaffirmed faith in the bogus devise by Thailand's top ranking military officers after their admission that it is still in use. This revelation was also accompanied by its unashamed endorsement by the army chief, supreme commander and the defense minister (who was the one responsible for the purchase during his time in the air force), absolutely disregarding multiple scientific tests that have proven the ineffectiveness of what is essentially an empty plastic shell with a dowsing rod.

Another very prominent defender of the GT200 is scientist Dr. Pornthip, a forensic scientist who is well known for her flashy hair styles. She had already fallen from grace when she defended the bogus bomb-sniffer right after it failed government tests (out of 20 tests, it only worked 4 times!) in early 2010.

Now, she has come out again with these stunning statements defending the device:

The head of the the Justice Ministry's Central Institute of Forensic Science believes bomb attacks in the deep South have increased as a result of the CIFS's decision to stop using the GT200 bomb detector. (...)

She also said there were too many variables involved when using the GT200 for it to be infallible. Khunying Pornthip said there have been more frequent bomb attacks in the South since then.

"'More attacks' since GT200 phased out", Bangkok Post, July 24, 2012

She still seems to ignore that there's only one solid variable concerning the GT200: it doesn't work at all! What Dr. Pornthip should know is that there's a difference between causality and casualty when it comes to understanding the role of this bogus bomb-sniffing gadget: the former requires a cause for an effect, the latter is the result of ignoring the cause.

If you come across any verbosities that you think might fit in here send us a email at siamvoices [at] gmail.com or tweet us @siamvoices.

Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and journalist currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He can be followed on Twitter @Saksith and on Facebook here.