NOTE: Due to a work commitment overseas, TOM QUINN, the scheduled speaker for Jan. 31 in Hollywood and Costa Mesa, had to postpone his talk until later in the year. Dr. Kirschner has kindly agreed to appear in his place.

Melvin H. Kirschner, M.P.H., M.D.
All Medicines are Poison! Making Your Way through the Medical Minefield

Sunday, Jan. 31
Note: the regular third Sunday lecture in January (only) has been moved to Jan. 31
3:00 p.m. at the Costa Mesa/Donald Dungan Library, 1855 Park Ave., Costa Mesa*

     How do you evaluate what medical treatments are effective, particularly when there are conflicting studies and advice? What are the consumer and medical field’s concerns with the pharmaceutical and insurance companies? Are there any effective alternative medicine treatments? As health care reform is currently being developed in Congress, Dr. Melvin H. Kirschner sets out to “remove the fog of confusion that clouds the landscape patients are required to navigate in their search for health care today.” He also will explain that medicines are effective but that they can be poisonous if not applied properly. Hence the title!

     In his lecture based on his new book, All Medicines are Poison! Making Your Way through the Medical Minefield, Dr. Kirschner describes the risks and benefits associated with the use of medicines, and explores the validity of other treatments, such as alternative medicine, and the failings and backroom dealings in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. A long-time advocate for patients’ rights, Dr. Kirschner has a long career in the public health field. He studied at Dartmouth and Brown, received BA and BS degrees from UCLA in bacteriology and public health, worked as a public health sanitary inspector and public health engineer, received an MA in public health from UC-Berkeley, and earned his MD at USC, which he followed by training at the Los Angeles County General Hospital.

*The library is next to the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Center, where the talks are usually held.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.
$4 for students.

Victor J. Stenger
What Can Science Say About God and the Afterlife?

Sunday, Feb. 21
4:30 p.m.

    The claim has been made that reason and science supply new and persuasive evidence for the existence of God and the afterlife. A creator God is said to be supported by the apparent fine-tuning of the physical parameters of the universe to make like possible. The afterlife is suggested by studies of past-life memories, near-death experiences, and various paranormal claims. Furthermore, quantum mechanics has supposedly provided reason to believe that consciousness is a separate entity from our bodies and brains and thus able to survive death. New York Times bestselling author Vic Stenger will examine these claims from the point of view of a physicist who spent forty years studying the fundamental structure of the universe.

     Stenger, who received a doctorate in Physics from UCLA in 1963, taught at the University of Hawaii, retiring to Colorado in 2000. He is currently am adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and emeritus professor of physics at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Stenger has also held visiting positions on the faculties of universities in Germany, England, and Italy.

     Dr. Stenger's distinguished research career has spanned the period of great progress in elementary particle physics to very high-energy gamma ray and neutrino astronomy. He also is the author of nine critically acclaimed popular science books about physics, cosmology, philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience. His 2007 book, God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist, was a New York Times bestseller. His latest books, which came out in 2009, are Quantum Gods and The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.
$4 for students.