WHENEVER deaths in Thailand are unexplained, the conspiracy theorists come out of the woodwork - or these days the teak door - and offer up alarming scare stories that fall under the heading ''junk journalism.''

The five recent deaths in Chiang Mai that have yet to be comprehensively explained have led to one exercise in alarmist nonsense under the byline Gavin M. Greenwood, ''a security consultant with the Hong Kong-based Allan & Associates firm.''

Engaging in flights of ludicrous fancy, Mr Greenwood writes: ''In fact, although there is no public data on foreign fatalities and detailed descriptions of the cause of death of tourists in Thailand, anecdotal evidence indicates that a disturbing number of foreign nationals die of unexplained causes - as many as 50 on the island of Phuket alone over a recent eight-month period.''

Writers who start a sentence with ''in fact'' then add ''although there is no public data'' before declaring that ''anecdotal evidence indicates'' should be treated with absolute disdain.

Asia Sentinel and irrawaddy.org have spread this nonsense when it deserved to go on a good editor's spike. Best stay away from this rubbish in future.

Unfortunately Mr Greenwood has already been given the opportunity to circulate his logic on the Internet, which is what's really scary. We hate to be purveyors of misinformation, but in this instance, we're obliged to publish Mr Greenwood's illogical train of thought so we can demolish it.

''In Phuket's case,'' he writes, ''a report by police between the end of December 2009 and mid-August 2010 on the island itself, which was expanded upon by the local Teak Door blog, offers a snapshot of how the deaths occurred over the period.

''Three deaths were acknowledged by the police to be result of direct criminal violence. However, a further 15 were recorded as dying from heart failure, falls and 'unknown causes' - as broad category that would also encompass deaths from drug overdoses.

''Another five were recorded as suicides, and the remainder died as a result of traffic accidents, drowning or electrocution.

''This pattern is likely to be repeated in Thailand's other beach resorts, with variations in inland areas such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai.''

Ho hum. A security expert consults the Internet, finds spurious information that supports the spurious argument he is making, and presents it as spurious fact. He takes lies about Phuket and makes them lies about all of Thailand.

While there are many questions that still need to be answered about the Chiang Mai deaths, there have not been ''as many as 50 unexplained deaths of foreign nationals'' on Phuket ''over a recent eight-month period'' . . . unless you count drownings at Karon beach.

There were 73 expat deaths on the official police list for Phuket in 2010, the vast majority of them with acceptable causes.

It's true that too many deaths in Thailand go unexplained. What's required in future, though, is better standards of forensic investigation and more frequent autopsies, not junk journalism.