Skeptico

Chinese Medicine?

I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a story about a scientist in China called Doctor Who (sorry - couldn’t resist) Doctor Hu whose company is offering stem cell treatments for a variety of conditions.

Jena Teague and her husband Terry Williams are among these new visitors. They traveled to China to seek stem-cell treatment for their blind, 7-month-old baby daughter, Laylah.

[…]

the family traveled to the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where Beike is based. They are spending $23,000 for Laylah to have infusions of stem cells harvested from umbilical cord.

[…]

The doctors have told Laylah's parents that the baby now sees light through one eye, while the other eye is dilating almost to the point where she can see light.

Of course, we can’t know if the treatment is really working. The Chinese scientists don’t know what method might be behind it, which isn’t encouraging. No clinical trials have been carried out and no research has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The risks are unknown. And doctors in the US are not recommending that patients go to China for this treatment.

Also, other scientists in China have their doubts:

Dr. Naihe Jing is the deputy director of one of China's top stem-cell research labs and a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences. He fears Beike could ruin the reputation of China's entire biotech industry.

Still, whether it proves to be a breakthrough or not, one thing struck me – how ludicrous the labels of “western medicine” and “Chinese medicine” are. For example, the idiot Bill Maher on TV recently advised quintuple bypass survivor David Letterman to stop taking the pills his doctor had prescribed him, because this was “western medicine” - something Maher doesn’t accept. So was Maher suggesting Letterman visit China for stem cell treatment?  What is stem cell therapy anyway? It’s practiced in China – a country that also apparently has a biotech industry – so does that mean it’s not western? Perhaps Maher was warning Letterman off humors and bloodletting – western medicine for sure, although rather an unconventional treatment in Europe today.

Or perhaps Maher is just a confused idiot.

The truth is, ancient people, who did not understand how the body works or what really made people ill, just made stuff up about these things. The ancient Chinese made up stuff about meridians and chi. Ancient Indians made up stuff about chakras. Ancient Europeans made up stuff about humors. We now know better, and so have abandoned humors and bloodletting. The only mystery is why people still insist that chi and chakras are real. But whatever you believe is real, the distinction clearly is not between “western” and “eastern” (fill in your preferred country) therapies. The distinction is between therapies that work and those that don’t. Scientists in China are researching real medicine, and trying to find out what works and what doesn’t, just like scientists in the west. Maybe some have oversold their results, but scientific procedures, not ancient myth, will ultimately decide what works and what doesn’t

So can we now please abandon this pretence that doctors in the west practice something called “western medicine”, while the Chinese have access to some secret knowledge that “western science” still hasn’t yet caught up with? There is only medicine that works – or at least, is backed by reliable evidence that it does – and pre-scientific superstitious quackery that doesn’t. The East/West labels mean nothing. And the next time some twit like Maher intones gravely against “western medicine”, just say, “yeah, I don’t fancy bloodletting either” - and advise him to go visit Doctor Hu in Hangzhou. Preferably on a one-way ticket.

March 19 - Update

Steven Novella is even less impressed with this Chinese stem cell therapy than I was.

Quack Sues Quackometer

The Quackometer is being threatened again. This time by quack Joseph Chikelue Obi, according to pv’s No Nonsense blog. And as with the Society of Homeopaths case, the duck’s ISP immediately caved at this thuggish but baseless threat from this quack Joseph Chikelue Obi (pictured right). Will they never learn? Will the duck’s ISP ever grow up?  Will the duck now change his ISP? Regardless, below is the duck’s post that his ISP cravenly pulled. 

The Quackometer’s (Latest) Censored Post

Right Royal College of Pompous Quackery - Dublin
Thursday, September 28, 2006
I had to share this with you. Following on from my recent Quack Word ‘Doctor’ blog, I came across the Royal College of Alternative Medicine (RCAM) , a Dublin based - well, I’m not sure quite what it is…

What caught my eye was just the shameless aggrandisement of the site. It is quite hilarious, if not a little repetitive at times. Calling yourself ‘Doctor’ is somewhat pompous when all you have done is paid for some international postage. However, the man behind RCAM has absolutely no shame and titles himself as the:

Distinguished Provost of RCAM (Royal College of Alternative Medicine) Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi FRCAM(Dublin) FRIPH(UK) FACAM(USA) MICR(UK)

Wow! Probably, just Joe to his mates. Naturally, when you Google the qualification FRCAM(Dublin), there is only person who appears to revel in this achievement. I’ll leave the rest as an excercise for the reader.

The distinguished provost looks like he is just another pseudoscientific nutritionist, his spin being “Nutritional Immunomodulation”. This is obviously a lot more clever than Patrick Holfords mere ‘Optimum Nutrition’, but having only one ‘omnipill’ is probably a poorer commercial decision that Patrick’s vast range of supplements.

Obviously, Professor Obi has had a few problems with what probably amount to bewildering comments about his site as the legal threats and press releases concerning his ‘ethical’ responses to criticisms cover more space than anything else. ‘Ethical’ is a favourite word on the site.

The most recent press release states,

7th September 2006 : The Distinguished RCAM Provost, Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi FRCAM(Dublin) FRIPH(UK) FACAM(USA) MICR(UK) has formally accepted appointment as Chief Professorial Examiner for the Doctor of Science (DSc) programme in Evidence Based, Alternative Medicine (EBAM) of a highly respected International University in one of the British Commonwealth Protectorates.

This new qualification is primarily aimed at Medical Graduates, Physicians, Surgeons, Pharmacists, Dentists, Osteopaths, Chiropractors, Opticians, Wellness Consultants, Herbalists, Acupuncturists, Naturopaths , Healers, Podiatrists , Chiropodists , Scientists , Healers ,Therapists, Homeopaths, Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Nurses wishing to ethically upgrade their current Qualifications in Alternative Medicine over an exceedingly intensive 12 - 36 month period of study.

British Commonwealth Protectorates? Could that be Dublin?

I really have no idea what this organisation is all about. But it looks like it could be getting quite big soon…

RCAM currently has International Vacancies for One Million (1,000,000) ‘Foundation Fellows’ (’Movers and Shakers’) ; who will independently play a highly pivotal role in diligently mentoring (and regulating) it’s future Global Membership.

So if you really think that you seriously have what it takes to become a ‘Leader’ in Alternative Medicine , then (perhaps) RCAM may definitely be exactly what the Doctor ordered for you.

One million. That’s a lot of quacks! And they are just to mentor (and regulate) the wider quack membership! This man has ambition.

The Big J really hates real doctors. This is his most recent press release…

RCAM would like to warmly commend the various Chieftans of the National Health Service of the United Kingdom for ethically and appropriately ignoring utterly misguided calls (from a rather amusing Group of thirteen Clinical Yestermen) to compel Hard-Working (and Tax-Paying) British Citizens to additionally pay for Life Enhancing Alternative Medicine Interventions out of their very own pockets - rather than get such treatments free via the NHS. RCAM would like to also categorically state that such exceedingly flawed ‘G-13′ demands that the National Health Service of the United Kingdom expediently abandon Alternative Medicine altogether (in total favour of Conventional Medicine) be diplomatically treated with the very utmost contempt which such unguarded verbal flippance duly deserves ; as none of these 13 ‘Eminent UK Scientists’ behind such calls has professionally attained Globally Acceptable Fellowship Qualifications in Alternative Medicine and as such cannot be deemed competent enough to make such sweeping ‘Shilly-Shally’ statements about the noble independent specialty of Alternative Medicine.

RCAM therefore publicly advises the General Public to lawfully go about their normal Wellness-Seeking Behaviour as usual - without any unwarranted prejudice or fear resulting from such highly self-serving, morally unethical , abjectly crude , totally unprofessional, utterly unstatesmanly, morbidly barbaric, wantonly uncivilized, profanely undemocratic and unspeakably sacrilegious perpetual affronts on the therapeutically formidable institution of Alternative Medicine.

Now, I do not have ‘Globally Acceptable Fellowship Qualifications’ in Santa Clause Studies to know he does not exist. But hey. I must be a morbidly barbaric and profanely undemocratic, unethical duck.

So, struggling around the acres of pomposity I find one place where Prof Joe might be making some money. You can call him to seek his wisdom, after pre-booking an hour’s slot (and handing over your credit card) for a mere 300 Euros. Alternatively, you can pay by the minute on the contact line for a trifling $10 per minute.

Its going to cost you $20 just for Joe to say Hello and to read out his numerous titles, qualifications and names. Not bad ‘ethical’ work.

Ethical Quackery, the Monarchy and Kate Moss
Thursday, October 12, 2006
No, this is not about our Defender of Quackery, our Quack-in-Chief His Royal Quackiness, Prince Charles, but about the Distinguished Provost of the Royal College of Alternative Medicine, Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi. And yes, it is just a rather lame story written solely to get a picture of Kate on my blog.

I’ve written a rather lazy blog on the distinguished professor before that was just a bit of a gawp at his quacktastic website and what looks like a health phone-line scam.

Well, I’ve done a little more digging with Google and it has revealed a few quack gems. It has been pretty hard work, since Google returns some 6,000 pages, the vast majority just appears to be Prof Obi’s self-promotion. However, if you persist in digging a few interesting facts turn up.

So, what has the little black duck found out about the “most Controversial Retired Physician and ‘A-List’ Medical Celebrity, Dr Joseph Chikelue Obi”?

Here we go…

1. The Irish Independent reports that his college does not exist at the Dublin address given on the web site. There’s a surprise! It’s just a front.

2. The Independent goes on. “In January 2003, he was suspended by for serious professional misconduct at South Tyneside District Hospital. Among the allegations made were that he failed to attend to patients, wrote strange notes about colleagues and at one point gave a dating agency phone number to a psychiatric patient.”

3. He was being investigated by the police for taking thousands of pounds of a 58 year old woman to in order to cure a long standing illness.

4. The GMC strike Dr Obi off their register for “serious professional misconduct”. So much for him being retired.

5. On another tack, Dr Obi has been involved in a little cyber-squatting. This looks as if it took place while he was a doctor - always after a few quid!

6. Since then, now self-titled Prof Obi, a few new avenues have been opened, including trying to entice Kate Moss away to one of his ’safe-houses’ in Ireland. Hat’s off!

He is quoted as saying:

“Under the European Convention on Human Rights, Miss Moss still has fundamental rights, just like anyone else out there, and as far as I am concerned, she is not guilty of anything until an Ethical Jury says so.”

(I mentioned before that ‘ethical’ was one of his favourite words.)

7. Prof Obi has been developing a Penis Enlarger (watch out Kate) that his own Royal College has now endorsed.

8. At least one person (out of the targeted million) has paid Prof Obi the fees for his college to accredit them. Dr Michael Keet (8 Canards) of the Central London College of Reflexology handed over ‘hundreds’. Do we feel sorry for out-quacked quacks? I guess we ought to.

9. For those of you wanting to see behind the grand titles and see the real human being, Joseph lists his interests as Comedy in London, Whole Food Nutrition and Christian Music. On this ‘Meetup’ site, he describes himself as “Just a very ordinary guy . . .”. That’s nice.

10. His name appears very often on the blog Abolish The General Medical Council (GMC), often reporting something he has got up to. The blog describes itself as:

An ethical blog for those who publicly feel that the General Medical Council (GMC) should be Statutorily Abolished in favour of a Medical Licensing Commission (MLC) to solely register and revalidate Doctors who practise Conventional Medicine in the UK. The Blog also recommends that the GMC/MLC hands all disciplinary functions over to an Independent Clinical Tribunal (ICT) in keeping with the EU Convention on Human Rights ; to avoid (both) Institutional Bias and Multiple Jeopardy.

Oooh. There is that word ‘ethical’ again. And ‘European Human Rights’. No name is given for the blog author but the avatar is a portrait of the queen. Another apparent obsession of Prof Obi - royalty. Could the author be none other than the Professor himself, a little agrieved for his ticking off? I hope you all click through to the blog. Maybe we will show up in his stats and whoever the writer is can get in contact and confirm one way or another.

I rather hope it is, as the final thing I turned up would just be fantastic…

11. Is the Distinguished Provost of the Royal College of Alternative Medicine, Professor Obi now selling ethical ring-tones? I do hope so.

Watch out Crazy Frog! Here comes the Crazy Provost…

For completeness I am posting here an extract from the North East News, Evening Chronicle article linked to above.
In the article dated 21st April 2004 it states:

Long list of titles
Dr Obi uses a number of medical and professional titles online and claims membership of a long list of organisations.
These include FRCAM (Dublin), FRIPH (UK) FACAM (USA) and provost of the Royal College of Alternative Medicine (RCAM Dublin).
The Royal College of Alternative Medicine appears to be little more than a website. It is listed as a company at Companies Registration Office in Dublin but the phone number given is not in use. Fellowship of the RCA is available to buy from the site.
Dr Obi, originally from Nigeria, does not say where he did his doctorate in science (DSc) or when he joined the Royal Institute of Public Health (RIPH). No one was able to confirm whether or not Dr Obi was a member of the RIPH when the Chronicle contacted it.
Dr Obi says he is a member of the Institute of Clinical Research (ICR), a training body based in Maidenhead that sells membership online for £50.
He also says he is a member of the International Stress Management Association, which also sells membership online from as little as £30.
Dr Obi also claims to be a member of the World Medical Association (WMA), which sells annual membership via its website for 37 euros.
Events that led to failed career
August 2000 - Starts work as a senior house officer in the department of psychiatry at South Tyneside District Hospital.
January 2001 - Leaves following a complaint.
September 2002 - Registration suspended by the GMC for 18 months for reasons
surrounding his “fitness to practise” and “for the protection of the public”.
January 2003 - Dr Obi is found guilty of serious professional misconduct by a GMC hearing which he does not attend.
Obi is said to have made offensive and insensitive comments to psychiatric patients and failed to respond to his pager.
In a previous job in Harrogate it was alleged he failed to conduct an outpatient clinic and failed to properly treat a patient with a heart attack.
And in Pontefract he is said to have described a colleague as a “stupid cow”, spent an excessive time on a computer, and called a surgeon a liar.
August 2003 -Dr Obi launches a campaign to get elected to the North East Assembly, even though no referendum has been held. He describes himself as “North East Assembly Aspirant - Independent (non-aligned)”.
August 2004 -Dr Obi refused to speak to the Chronicle. His campaign website is closed down after he posted defamatory statements there.

A subsequent article entitled Shamed doctor quizzed was published on 15th September 2004.

It’s a pity the Quackometer’s web host, Netcetera, can’t be bothered to read about Mr Obi’s disreputable past.

On 24th August 2004, the Evening Chronicle had this to say about Mr Obi:

Avoid at all costs

Sacked for serious professional misconduct and his registration suspended by the GMC, Joseph Chikelue Obi is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best man to be trusted with your health.

Yet the disgraced former health employee is free to peddle his dubious services on the internet.

Despite being booted out of his job at South Tyneside General Hospital, the shamed health worker is currently touting for business on the worldwide web.

And he’s doing very well out of it, thank you very much.

One desperate woman, unaware of his past, has handed over £3,500… and, not surprisingly, is now feeling even worse than ever.

Operating under the grand title of Professor Obi, it appears he is breaking no law and is free to sell health advice to anyone willing to part with their hard-earned cash.

He may be untouchable in the eyes of the law but morally he is surely operating on shaky ground. Is a disgraced hospital worker really the best person to be dishing out health advice?

If you’re thinking of taking up Mr Obi’s advice, we would advise you to read our story first. It may save you some money.

It’s the Shaking, Stupid

From The Quackometer I learn of the latest hilarious homeopathic complaints against the reality based community. Recent homeopaths’ letters to the Grauniad, include this previously unnoticed fundamental flaw in Ben Goldacre's reasoning:

Goldacre seems to think that homeopathic remedies are prepared by diluting substances. He omits the critical component of shaking ('succussion') between serial dilutions without which they would, indeed, be merely water rather than potentised substances.

Well of course – I see it now. Shaking.  Because without the shaking after each dilution, homeopathy would be patently ridiculous.  But now it makes perfect sense. Why didn’t they say so before? It’s shaking as well! Thanks for clearing that up. 

You know, I think this argument proves one thing, namely that if homeopaths’ complaints were distributed according to homeopathic dilutions, they might actually be stronger. 

Or less weak, anyway.

Maybe.

Diluting The Profits

Via DC’s Improbable Science I learn that Homeopath Dr. (sic)  Manish Bhatia has sent out a panic email newsletter whining about the recent anti-homeopathy bloggers (yay!) and newspaper articles. The impact of all this is apparently that homeopathy is “bleeding to death” (we wish):

Those who are organizing this anti-homeopathy campaign have been SO SUCCESSFUL that most homeopaths in UK have seen a 50% drop in their practice in the last 2 years. In fact most of them get to see only 3-4 patients a week.

I’m puzzled. Surely, due to homeopathic principles, seeing fewer patients should make their homeopathic practices stronger. They obviously can’t be doing it right.

(Cartoon from The North Texas Skeptics.)

But it’s interesting to see how the homeopaths are fighting back:

Most of them are looking to add other things with their practice like massage, acupuncture etc. They can’t earn their bread with their homeopathic practice.

Great. Their unproven woo isn’t earning them enough money so (you guessed it) they add another piece of unproven woo. And I thought it was only Big Pharma that was in it for the money.

Panda Bear – tells CAM like it is

Via Orac I discovered Panda Bear MD – written by an Emergency Medicine Resident Physician who has a way of describing alternative medicine like it is, for example as in this piece:

At a philosophical level, leaving aside the utter ridiculousness of Reiki healers shooting sacred energy from their fingers, this is the difference between real medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine whose practitioners, as they don’t treat real pathology, have never developed humility in the face of disease. It is easy, for example, for your acupuncturist to promise a perfect cure because they’re not really treating anything, just some nebulous mumbo-jumbo like a dysfunction of your ability to receive pure qi from the heavens. Side effects? None, of course. It’s perfect medicine because, despite being based on a completely imaginary idea of physiology that has no relation whatsoever to the way things actually are, it can magically target your imaginary complaint.

The whole thing’s worth a read.

How Does He Know?

One more thing occurred to me after reading yesterday’s post from The Quackometer - The Society of Homeopaths: Truth Matters – it was a quote from Dr Peter Fisher (who is apparently Brenda’s Homeopath). Fisher was talking about how some homeopaths recommended sugar pills to protect against malaria:

"I'm very angry about it because people are going to get malaria - there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won't find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice."

Well, of course, we should be grateful that a senior homeopath feels able to say this. But I wondered, how does he know? Seriously, how does he know that homeopathy is no good for malaria? What method is he applying to determine that homeopathy is no good for malaria?

Now, I know what method I apply to determine that homeopathy is no good for malaria. I consider homeopathy’s total implausibility, plus the knowledge that Hahnemann simply made the whole thing up, and combine that with the fact that homeopathy always fails well run trials such as these 110 trials that homeopathy failed – and I determine homeopathy doesn’t work. But the conclusion I come to from this is that homeopathy is no good for anything.

But Fisher presumably thinks homeopathy works for something. Certainly, The Queen’s homeopath should believe the stuff works for something, wouldn’t you think?  For example, homeopathy is supposed to work for anything from allergies to rheumatoid arthritis. So what consistent method is he applying to evaluate homeopathy, where the conclusion is that homeopathy works for (say) allergies , but that it is no good for malaria? Has he run tests? Tests where homeopathy succeeds with allergies but fails with malaria? And where can we read about these tests? Because they must exist, right? Otherwise, how does he know?

Edited to add: And remember, Hahnemann’s belief that like cures like started after he discovered that taking quinine to treat malaria produced the same symptoms in a healthy person as malaria itself. It’s from this that he drew up the Law of Similars. In other words, homeopathy started with the principle that homeopathic quinine should prevent and/or cure malaria. So if homeopathy works for anything it should work for malaria, wouldn’t you think? So what does Fisher know that Hahnemann didn’t, and how does he know it?

The alternative is that Fisher knows homeopathy is nothing but a placebo, and that a placebo isn’t good enough to prevent malaria.

Can that really be what he means? Inquiring minds want to know.

Homeopathy – Still Doesn’t Work

If you need to point anyone to a good summary of what homeopathy is and why it’s nonsensical quackery, you could probably do no better than Steven Novella’s My Day with the Homeopaths - Part I. He lays out a 12 point “chain of implausibility”, that covers just about everything that’s wrong with homeopathy, including this piece that for some reason had never occurred to me:

The “law of infinitesimals” claims that extreme dilution increases the potency of the diluted substance, but only of the beneficial effects, while decreasing any harmful effects. There is no mechanism for separating out wanted and unwanted effects in this simple fashion.

Of course – how does the magic shaking decrease the harmful effects but increase any (alleged) good effects? Anyway, today Novella posts My Day with the Homeopaths - Part II – on the evidence (ie lack of evidence) that homeopathy works. As I have written before, the implausibility of homeopathy does not necessarily mean it is wrong, but it does mean the evidence it works needs to be stronger than the evidence we demand for other things.  But believers in homeopathy expect us to believe what they say based on weaker evidence, such as the lame anecdotes Dr Novella writes about.

And for more on the dishonesty of The Society of Homeopaths, read The Quackometer’s follow up to their legal threats to his ISP. The Society claim they had asked for details of Society members giving dangerous advice, but that the BBC (whose program was critical of The Society) “were unable to provide a single example”. The Quackometer’s article clearly shows this was not true. His article starts:

I doubt we will ever see an X-Factor moment where a homeopath is forced to brutally confront the totality of their own delusions as they are exposed to a direct and uncompromising truth assault by a quackbusting Simon Cowell. Their emotional commitment to their healing fantasies is far stronger than their intellectual commitment to reason, truth and evidence. But I would have hoped that a homeopath's disregard for truth was limited to the truths of science, however, events in the last week or two have made me wonder.

I recommend reading the entire post – it’s killer. It exposes how homeopaths are recommending magic sugar pills to people visiting Africa to protect them against Malaria, and how The Society of Homeopaths continue to whitewash the complaints.

The Society of Homeopathic Whiners

From Orac I learned how The Society of Homeopaths responded to recent criticism about their censorship of blogger The Quackometer.

The Society instructed lawyers to write to the Internet Service Provider of Dr. Lewis' website because the content of his site was not merely critical but defamatory of The Society, with the effect that its reputation could have been lowered. Dr Lewis, in his article, stated as fact highly offensive comments about The Society and it is for that reason that The Society decided it had no option but to take action. The very crude abuse posted on various websites and e-mailed to The Society since our action suggests that these bloggers/authors are not people who are interested in a real debate on the basis of either science or the public good but who simply want to attack homeopathy, for the very sake of it.

Due to the unpleasantness and surprisingly vitriolic nature of the postings on the Quackometer website and others, The Society has taken a conscious decision not to respond to these bloggers.

Oh boo hoo. No – don’t respond with any actual arguments to refute what was written; don’t respond with any evidence that homoeopathy works (it doesn’t). Play martyr instead. That’s the ticket. And what about these “crude” and “vitriolic” emails they’ve received that they’re too important to respond to? Emails like the one from, ooh let me think, Andy Lewis, owner of the banned Quackometer. It’s here in full. A sample of the crude vitriol Andy sent them:

I hope you understand that my concerns are genuinely held and my motive is the wider highlighting of a problem that may well end in harm or even death to people unless action is taken. I am sorry you have felt it necessary to ask my web hosting provider to take down the page in question. If you could tell me urgently what the wording is that you feel is incorrect, defamatory or not fair comment I will examine it immediately and will ensure a friendly and swift resolution of this matter. In addition, if you wish to respond to my concerns on the site, I will be more than happy to prominently publish your thoughts in full on my web site.

Read the full thing. It’s all equally vitriolic and crude, and unworthy of a reply (apparently).

They’re right about one thing though – I do want to attack homeopathy. But not “for the very sake of it”. I attack homeopathy because it’s quackery that doesn’t work. And because telling people it will prevent or cure malaria is criminal. Or it should be.

One more thing. As an example of the Society’s tin ear and / or total lack of self-awareness, I wish to highlight their claim that the content of The Quackometer post was “defamatory of The Society, with the effect that its reputation could have been lowered”. Because, of course, their threat of legal action has completely obliterated the post (and thus its lowering of The Society’s reputation) from the Internet. Or not, as it turns out. To show the ludicrous nature of their continued banning, I give you just a few sites that repost the article in full and/or comment on it further. Feel free to replicate them on your blog.

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

The Society of Homeopaths, Homeopathy

You’ll let me know if I missed any.

Homeopaths Censor Blogger

From Orac I learn that The Society of Homeopaths was successful in getting blogger The Quackometer to pull his post entitled The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing – an expose of how homeopaths falsely claim that homeopathy can prevent and cure malaria. As Orac says:

Gee, aren't legal threats the way that the evil big pharma and conventional medicine "suppress" the "truth" of alternative medicine and homeopathy? Why is it that the Society of Homeopaths is behaving like a thug and taking advantage of vagaries of British libel law, which is notoriously weighted towards the plaintiffs […] in order to try to suppress evidence-based articles that are not flattering to homeopathy? Notice that, instead of debating, instead of presenting arguments and evidence for why they thought Le Canard Noir was incorrect, the Society of Homeopaths tried to suppress his right to free speech by making legal threats to his ISP, which caved.

Precisely. So in the interests of free speech, and to demonstrate to the homeopaths that bullying will not work (they can still refute the article with evidence – or they could if they had any), I will join many other bloggers (see the end of Orac’s post for the updated full list) and reproduce in full The Quackometer’s censored article. The following is what the homeopaths were frightened you would read:

 

The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing

By The Quackometer

The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) are a shambles and a bad joke. It is now over a year since Sense about Science, Simon Singh and the BBC Newsnight programme exposed how it is common practice for high street homeopaths to tell customers that their magic pills can prevent malaria. The Society of Homeopaths have done diddly-squat to stamp out this dangerous practice apart from issue a few ambiguously weasel-worded press statements.

The SoH has a code of practice, but my feeling is that this is just a smokescreen and is widely flouted and that the Society do not care about this. If this is true, then the code of practice is nothing more than a thin veneer used to give authority and credibility to its deluded members. It does nothing more than fool the public into thinking they are dealing with a regulated professional.

As a quick test, I picked a random homeopath with a web site from the SoH register to see if they flouted a couple of important rules:

48: • Advertising shall not contain claims of superiority. • No advertising may be used which expressly or implicitly claims to cure named diseases.

72: To avoid making claims (whether explicit or implied; orally or in writing) implying cure of any named disease.

The homeopath I picked on is called Julia Wilson and runs a practice from the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough. What I found rather shocked and angered me.

Straight away, we find that Julia M Wilson LCHE, RSHom specialises in asthma and works at a clinic that says,

Many illnesses and disease can be successfully treated using homeopathy, including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, headaches, infertility, skin and sleep problems.

Well, there are a number of named diseases there to start off. She also gives a leaflet that advertises her asthma clinic. The advertising leaflet says,

Conventional medicine is at a loss when it comes to understanding the origin of allergies. ... The best that medical research can do is try to keep the symptoms under control. Homeopathy is different, it seeks to address the triggers for asthma and eczema. It is a safe, drug free approach that helps alleviate the flaring of skin and tightening of lungs...

Now, despite the usual homeopathic contradiction of claiming to treat causes not symptoms and then in the next breath saying it can alleviate symptoms, the advert is clearly in breach of the above rule 47 on advertising as it implicitly claims superiority over real medicine and names a disease.

Asthma is estimated to be responsible for 1,500 deaths and 74,000 emergency hospital admissions in the UK each year. It is not a trivial illness that sugar pills ought to be anywhere near. The Cochrane Review says the following about the evidence for asthma and homeopathy,

The review of trials found that the type of homeopathy varied between the studies, that the study designs used in the trials were varied and that no strong evidence existed that usual forms of homeopathy for asthma are effective.

This is not a surprise given that homeopathy is just a ritualised placebo. Hopefully, most parents attending this clinic will have the good sense to go to a real accident and emergency unit in the event of a severe attack and consult their GP about real management of the illness. I would hope that Julia does little harm here.

However, a little more research on her site reveals much more serious concerns. She says on her site that 'she worked in Kenya teaching homeopathy at a college in Nairobi and supporting graduates to set up their own clinics'. Now, we have seen what homeopaths do in Kenya before. It is not treating a little stress and the odd headache. Free from strong UK legislation, these missionary homeopaths make the boldest claims about the deadliest diseases.

A bit of web research shows where Julia was working (picture above). The Abha Light Foundation is a registered NGO in Kenya. It takes mobile homeopathy clinics through the slums of Nairobi and surrounding villages. Its stated aim is to,

introduce Homeopathy and natural medicines as a method of managing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Kenya.

I must admit, I had to pause for breath after reading that. The clinic sells its own homeopathic remedies for 'treating' various lethal diseases. Its MalariaX potion,

is a homeopathic preparation for prevention of malaria and treatment of malaria. Suitable for children. For prevention. Only 1 pill each week before entering, during and after leaving malaria risk areas. For treatment. Take 1 pill every 1-3 hours during a malaria attack.

This is nothing short of being totally outrageous. It is a murderous delusion. David Colquhoun has been writing about this wicked scam recently and it is well worth following his blog on the issue.

Let's remind ourselves what one of the most senior and respected homeopaths in the UK, Dr Peter Fisher of the London Homeopathic Hospital, has to say on this matter.

there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won't find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice.

Malaria is a huge killer in Kenya. It is the biggest killer of children under five. The problem is so huge that the reintroduction of DDT is considered as a proven way of reducing deaths. Magic sugar pills and water drops will do nothing. Many of the poorest in Kenya cannot afford real anti-malaria medicine, but offering them insane nonsense as a substitute will not help anyone.

Ironically, the WHO has issued a press release today on cheap ways of reducing child and adult mortality due to malaria. Their trials, conducted in Kenya, of using cheap mosquito nets soaked in insecticide have reduced child deaths by 44% over two years. It says that issuing these nets be the 'immediate priority' to governments with a malaria problem. No mention of homeopathy. These results were arrived at by careful trials and observation. Science. We now know that nets work. A lifesaving net costs $5. A bottle of useless homeopathic crap costs $4.50. Both are large amounts for a poor Kenyan, but is their life really worth the 50c saving?

I am sure we are going to hear the usual homeopath bleat that this is just a campaign by Big Pharma to discredit unpatentable homeopathic remedies. Are we to add to the conspiracy Big Net manufacturers too?

It amazes me that to add to all the list of ills and injustices that our rich nations impose on the poor of the world, we have to add the widespread export of our bourgeois and lethal healing fantasies. To make a strong point: if we can introduce laws that allow the arrest of sex tourists on their return to the UK, can we not charge people who travel to Africa to indulge their dangerous healing delusions?

At the very least, we could expect the Society of Homeopaths to try to stamp out this wicked practice? Could we?

One More Time - Acupuncture Does NOT Work

The most exasperating aspect of this recent acupuncture study was the numerous “acupuncture works” type headlines in the press. (Of course, we know that BBC science reporting is quackery, but the BBC wasn’t alone in this case.)

The study CLEARLY shows that sham acupuncture – needles put in the “wrong” place – works no better than the “real” stuff. Therefore acupuncture - releasing of blocked “chi” by placing needles at specific positions – does not work. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that “chi” does not even exist, and so neither can the “meridians” it is supposed to flow along.

As Steven Novella put it:

First let us consider the difference between “real” acupuncture and “sham” acupuncture. Acupuncture is based upon the ancient and superstitious pre-scientific notion that there are lines of mysterious life energy (chi) flowing through our bodies, and that the flow of this energy is responsible for health and illness. Acupuncture is supposed to free up blockages in the flow of chi energy. I grant this idea a scientific plausibility of zero - meaning we can safely discard it.

What does the evidence show for the chi theory of acupuncture? The evidence is overwhelmingly negative, and this study supports this negative consensus. Most well-designed studies that compare traditional and sham acupuncture show no difference between the groups.

Novella goes on to explain the real problem with believing in this “chi” nonsense – namely that it prevents anyone from discovering what (if anything) is really happening when someone receives acupuncture treatment. Something I’ve been saying for years. Novella’s entire article is really worth a read – it summarizes just about everything you really need to know about acupuncture.

Also good is Orac’s Yawn...another overhyped acupuncture study – which includes some additional problems he found with this recent study. Problems that would have made acupuncture look better than it actually was. Yes I know – I was shocked too.

Also, read Bad Science.

I look forward to the numerous compelling anecdotes from true believers, that are sure to appear in the comments.

Other Skeptico writings on Acupuncture

Click the links below. Note the number of times I had to change the news headlines so they reflected what the study actually showed.

Placebo - pregnancy pain cure

Acupuncture does not cut blood pressure

Still no evidence acupuncture works

Acupuncture – it really really doesn't work

No point to acupuncture on animals

Equivocation on acupuncture