Homeopathy
A few days ago, a group called the Friends of Science in Medicine wrote to the Vice Chancellors of Australian universities, speaking out against the teaching of complementary and alternative medicine in the curriculum. This group consists of more than 400 Australian professors, academics, researchers and scientists who work in biomedicine. I’m one of them – a very junior one.
The strength of the reactions has been fascinating. In the last 48 hours alone, I’ve been a fascist, an elitist, arrogant, narrow-minded, a shill for sociopathic corporate interests, viciously protective of my orthodoxy and a generally morally reprehensible crusader for the intellectual interests of old, white men.
I wonder how I have the time, to be honest. However, in the middle of all the noise and mutual disdain between both sides of the alternative medicine divide, what I think is the central point is being lost. And that central point is this: Magic is an insufficient basis for university teaching.
Continue reading "Why do our universities teach shonky “magic”?" »
Welcome to a new regular Punch piece – I Call Bullshit!
(We’ve used this one before, but it really is supremely funny)
It’ll be dedicated to all the quackery, bullshenanigans and bogus science out there, everywhere.
Today’s was going to be all about psychics. Then I saw this piece in The Australian about a homeopathy clinic offering remedies for radiation sickness. They thoughtfully spruiked their wares at a time when so many people in Japan are scared out of their wits as the radiation threat worsens.
Continue reading "ICB: Using homeopathy for radiation poisoning" »
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braunman says:
Richard, I would like to point out that in that last message you’re basically saying “I don’t need facts, all I need is my opinion!” I don’t normally like to put words in peoples’ mouths but…really, that sums up your entire post. Read more »
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acotrel says:
@Faz The other day someone on this forum picked up the line thast ‘Rachel Carson was a misanthrop’. They said that her campaign to ban DDT led to millions of deaths due to malaria. They neglected to mention that every insect species which has been almost killed off by pesticides… Read more »
It’s World Homeopathy Awareness Week, and homeopaths around the world are celebrating their craft and reflect on the 255th birthday of their creator, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.
Homeopathy was invented 200 years ago by the German physician, and is based on a ‘like-treats-like’ concept: that the symptoms of an illness can be treated by minute quantities of the same substance that caused it.
This is known as the ‘Law of Similars’ and means that a homeopathic medicine for insomnia may include miniscule amounts of coffee or a homeopathic medicine for hay fever may contain tiny traces of grasses, pollens or animal hair.
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Dr Lisa Milne says:
Indeed Nancy, its positively and consistently evident that at best its does nothing (being water) but that at worst it leads to avoidable deaths (such as that of Penelope Dingle) when the condition is real and life threatening. Read more »
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Dr. Nancy Malik says:
Evidence of homeopathy is undeniably positive and consistent. It’s a human evidence of experience, gathered from a real-world observation in a real-world setting (not in an ideal artificial laboratory) giving real-world solutions. Read more »
Marketing gurus around Australia have embarked on a whole new strategy. No more two-for-the-price-of-one, or 20-per-cent-extra-free deals. Now it’s all about giving the people less of what they want. Genius.
First they shrank chocolate bars. Now they’re cutting the amount of alcohol in booze – not in the designated driver-oriented “lite” products, but in your everyday lager.
Detergents come in ever smaller containers. It’s concentrated, but what’s the bet most people use the same amount?
But the worst case – particularly in light of swine flu – is cold and flu medicine.
Continue reading "Bless you if you have a cold, the chemist won’t help you" »
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Julia Wallace says:
Tory, I couldn’t agree more about homeopathy. An interesting read is “Bad Medicine” by Dr Ben Goldacre, in which he discusses the dubious practices employed by big pharma, and the whole ‘alternative’ medicine industry. And to those posters who discussed the use of pseudoephedrine for a cold, my reading of… Read more »
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Chris says:
Actually. Sorry. In response to the above post… I think it’s dispicable that chemists could even stock homeopathic products. They do this only to make money because as previously posted homeopathy is all about drinking WATER. There is no active ingredient in homeopathy and thus there is no effect beyond… Read more »
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