Archive

Australian homeopaths flout code of conduct too

Published
by
badchemist
on November 18, 2007
in Badscience, Regulatory Bodies and homeopathy
. 2 Comments

In my previous post I commented on some rather dubious content on the website of an Australian homeopath. This website belongs run by Frances Sheffield, RN, CM, DRM, MHlthSc.Ed., a professional member of the Australian Homeopathic Association. The AHA describes itself as (emphasis mine):

The Australian Homoeopathic Association is the largest and only national association of professional Homoeopaths in Australia, with branches throughout the country.

consequently it has a Code of Conduct (PDF). Section 2.9 of this code of conduct reads thus:

In announcing homoeopathic services, members shall state no more than the place and time of their practice, their qualifications and the services they are offering. The information contained in such announcements shall be factual and explanatory, not in the form of emotionally persuasive advertising, not claiming superior competency or implying cure of any named disease and not offering guarantees of a particular outcome as an inducement.

Now does implying protection from a disease that can not be prevented using conventional medicine contravene these regulations? A complaint may have to be made…

Homeopaths screwed over Meningococcal vaccine

Published
by
badchemist
on November 18, 2007
in Badscience, Victories and homeopathy
. 0 Comments

Via Bad Science and Bad Homeopathy I’ve learned that, due to some intervention by the Australian Skeptics, Australian authorities have banned 200C Meningococcal vaccine. There’s a video news report about it at Bad Homeopathy.

Obviously, being Homeopaths, they’re feeling hard done by. They aren’t trying to sell Meningococcal vaccines, they’re trying to sell a homeopathic remedy for side effects of the real vaccine. If you watch the video around about 15 seconds in you’ll see a bottle of the remedy in question. It’s quite understandable that a lay-person could mistake this for an effective vaccine - thank goodness the Aussies have regulated against this misleading and utterly useless piece of crap.

Another thing that struck me about this ‘vaccine’ is that it’s supposed to treat the side effects of the real vaccine. Now if, hypothetically, homeopathy worked and someone was to take both the real vaccine and the 200C version how does the magic water differentiate between the useful effects of the vaccine, i.e. prophylaxis for Meningococcal C, and the potential side effects?

Although this may have been genuine case of a misunderstanding, worryingly there are Australian homeopaths that claim to be able to protect you against Men. C. Don’t worry though, apparently they are not homeopathic vaccines:

…article regarding homeopathic immunisation - the use of Homeopathy to protect against epidemic diseases. It is important to note that while it is certainly possible to immunise homeopathically, there is no such thing as a homeopathic vaccine or a process known as homeopathic vaccination. Both terms are inaccurate when referring to homeopathic immunisation.

As normal this site contains the usual list of homeopathic half truths; protecting themselves from litigation (surely a 200C dilution of lawyer could do this) whilst slamming evidence-based medicine. Look at the this from the readers questions (my emphasis):

1. Are you telling people not to vaccinate? This could place their lives at risk.

Not at all. Vaccines may be an appropriate option for some people but unfortunately, as acknowledged by their manufacturers and health officials, vaccines do carry risks. I am providing information about another option that is both safe and effective so people can make fully informed decisions on how to best immunise for their situation.

For some, vaccines are inappropriate or even dangerous. They can be contraindicated in those who have severe illness, suppressed immunity, or who have had previous reactions to them. For these people, homeopathic immunisation is a safe and effective alternative - something I am sure they would like to know.

Finally, in the case of meningococcal disease, homeopathic immunisation can also save lives and reduce disability from strains for which there is no vaccine. The following question addresses this issue more fully.

So, in answering one question they manage to criticise EBM and make unsubstantiated claims about homeopathy several times. The Meningococcal vaccine does have side-effects and can’t be given in certain circumstances , this is known due to scienific research; unfortunately it’s the best thing we have for the prevention of meningitis C. Homeopathic immunisation has NO evidence and is NOT effective in the prevention of meningitis. Such unsubstantiated claims are outright dangerous and go further to show that the homeopaths are either too wrapped up in their own delusions to realise how dangerous their advice can be or are unscrupulous quacks profiteering from the anxieties of others. I’ll let you make up your own minds.

BBC Misunderstands Processor Technology Again

Published
by
badchemist
on November 12, 2007
in Badscience, Media, Science Communication and Tech
. 0 Comments

I wouldn’t normally bother with this as it’s just too easy but it’s not the first time I’ve seen the BBC misunderstand the technology of processors.

…Intel has replaced the gate dielectrics, previously made from silicon dioxide, with a material based on the metal hafnium.

Hafnium is a so-called high-K material, which refers to its dielectric constant, and has a greater ability to store electrical charge than silicon dioxide.

Between these two lines they seem to change their mind what they are taking about. Intel has replaced the gate dielectrics with a hafnium based material, hafnium dioxide. If, as they claim in the second line, they had used hafnium they would have made a useless processor. They tell us themselves that hafnium is a metal - it therefore cannot be a dielectric.

Sadly even Intel seem to make this mistake on their own site.

Intel has made a significant breakthrough in solving the chip power problem, identifying a new “high-k” (Hi-k) material called hafnium to replace the transistor’s silicon dioxide gate dielectric

But at least they get it right later on

“High-k” materials, such as hafnium dioxide (HfO2), zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) inherently have a dielectric constant or “k” above 3.9, the “k” of silicon dioxide.

I know this is pedantry to the extreme but it really isn’t that hard to grasp, is it?

The Pill and Cervical Cancer

Published
by
badchemist
on November 9, 2007
in Good Science, Media, Medicine and Health, Science Communication and Statistics
. 1 Comment

In the media today there have been several reports of the increased risk of cervical cancer for women taking the contraceptive pill. All these reports relate to a Lancet article that has been published this week - unfortunately I won’t get access until next week when it hits “Pill cancer risk soars”. This seems a little strong for a headline considering the story continues thus:

The rate of cervical cancer for women up to 50 who have not used the Pill is 3.8 per thousand.

This increases to 4.0 per thousand in women on the Pill for five years and to 4.5 per thousand on the popular combined contraceptive pills for 10 years.

So, even if you want to reduce to simple percentages, women who have been on the pill for 5 years they have increased their risk from 0.38 % to 0.4 %. That’s just over a 5 % increase if you want to use the typical tabloid method of mishandling such figures. For 10 year users the increase is ~18% using the same rather dubious methodology.

What really matters is that the actual change in risk is actually rather small, 0.38 % to 0.45 % is probably not much to worry about considering the huge number of other factors that influence a persons well-being.

The other thing I want to comment about on this is an avenue that may or may not have been raised in the Lancet article - I’ll update when I know. One of the known causes of cervical cancer are certain forms of Human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. Is it not possible that, due to the use of the contraceptive pill, some women may be less meticulous with the use of barrier contraceptives thus leaving themselves open (that wasn’t supposed to be an innuendo) to infection with HPV and therefore an increased chance of cervical cancer?

Obviously this is all speculation so if anyone out there has more information on the subject please comment below or email me (address on the about page).

Poll

Published
by
badchemist
on November 5, 2007
in Pointless Nonsense
. 0 Comments

[poll=1]

If this makes no sense see here.

Quackometer vs. Society of Homeopaths

Published
by
badchemist
on October 30, 2007
in Badscience, Bullying, Society of Homeopaths and homeopathy
. 0 Comments

A couple of weeks there was a bit of a fuss in the sceptical section of the blogosphere as the Society of Homeopaths tried to silence the Quackometer using bullying tactics. As is to be expected in this day and age bloggers responded and the Society of Homeopaths must have felt rather silly. Le Canard Noir has contacted the Society of Homeopaths regarding this matter but has so far been ignored.

Since the event Quackometer has refused to be silenced and has published another damning article about the Society of Homeopaths. Follow the link and read it. You’ll find it to be a strongly worded but polite article revealing the SoH to be a meaningless organisation who appear to have little interest in regulating their members or in defending their position using rationality and argument. Instead turning to bullying tactics and ignoring their critics.

Observer learns about science again, sort of…

Published
by
badchemist
on October 28, 2007
in Good Science, Medicine and Health, Nutribollocks, Science Communication and homeopathy
. 0 Comments

Recently the Observer has made a few scientific faux pas. In July we had the old MMR-autism chestnut and then we had thoroughly debunked at badscience.

Despite this inability to understand basic science there is an article in today’s Observer that is remarkably sensible - The cranks who swear by citronella oil. The article is a scathing attack on homeopathy, particularly in its use for the treatment of HIV-AIDS. Read it and understand that sometimes science journalism is good.

Unfortunately not everyone at the Observer is as well accustomed with the idea of scientific evidence as Nick Cohen. Dr Deborah McManners, a naturopathic physician and GP at the Hale Clinic, suggests, as a treatment for potentially stress induced hairloss.

Homeopathy could be another option - gelsemium is good for anticipatory anxiety, and arsenicum album is ideal for tense, ambitious perfectionists. A medical homeopath would be able to advise you (www.trusthomeopathy.org).

Looking at the Hale Clinic website it’s hardly surprising, they seem to offer all many of pseudoscientific bullshit.

Reckitt Benckiser giving a ticking off by the ASA

Published
by
badchemist
on October 24, 2007
in Badscience and Household Products
. 0 Comments

Reckitt Benckiser, lords of Barry Scott, have been giving a ticking off by the ASA over a Dettol advert. The usual exaggerated claims are too blame.

I want to know why no one ever complains about the other misleading comments in these adverts, namely:

But Dettol Surface Cleanser kills 99.9% of bacteria, including MRSA, E.Coli, salmonella and even the flu virus …

Some of you may now be asking, why is this misleading? It implies that killling MRSA, E. Coli etc. is a difficult thing that maybe other surface cleaners can’t do. The thing is, the vast majority of bacterium and viruses are easily destroyed - soap and hot water will get rid of most, ethanol will get them too, and UV.

Killing these pathogens is not the problem, doing so in an infected patient is. Unfortunately feeding Dettol to a patient with MRSA is unlikely to help them.

The Banished Quackometer Post

Published
by
badchemist
on October 12, 2007
in Badscience and homeopathy
. 7 Comments

Below is the post that has been removed from the Quackometer blog due to “legal reasons” see here and here. Due to it coming from googles cache it’s got some weird html formatting that I’ll sort later. Anyway, enjoy.

Due to the wonders of the blogosphere this has also appeared at the following locations:

Quackometer Blog Wrote

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?

Alternative Health Screening: lunacy of lifesaver?

Published
by
badchemist
on October 9, 2007
in Badscience, KKKly Mail and Medicine and Health
. 3 Comments

In Mail today, there is a surprisingly sensible article on alternative health screening with a road test to boot.

Prior to trying out this “screenings” the author, Charlotte Dovey, rather more sensibly paid BUPA to screen using conventional methods - blood tests and the like. According to the BUPA Wellwoman Health Assessment (£265 a go):

After the £265 test (okay, that’s not cheap either - but it includes blood checks, lung function and smear tests) I’m told I’m in fine fettle and there is nothing ominous on the horizon. But what will the alternative diagnosticians say?

Ms. Dovey then visited three clinics for three different screenings using the Quantum Xerox machine, the AMI machine and the NES machine. A quick google for these results in very little information apart from the NES machine but I assume that Mario and Yoshi will not be doing the diagnosis.

All these machines seem to work only the principal of measuring electrical fields/energies and there are several mentions of “quantum physics”, “biophysics” and even “yin and yang”. All methods conveniently found that, despite the clean bill of health from BUPA, Ms. Dovey had a rather miserable future ahead with health problems ranging from relatively minor (IBS and anaemia) to some life-threatening and devastating diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart and kidney disease).

This is incredibly irresponsible and unethical “health care” and, thankfully, the Mail has reported this rather well with an expert opinion from Dr Graham Archard, vice chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, following each “diagnosis” and pointing out the flaws in the diagnoses. Conveniently all of these practitioners also had something to sell to cure these ills from homeopathic remedies and food supplements to acupuncture.

I presume that, unfortunately, such bullshit as these tests are unregulated and, as such, any snake oil selling charlatan or quack can “measure your bodyfield”, concoct a diagnosis and sell you an ineffective cure. Stay well clear.