2013 – Page 2 – The Quackometer Blog

William Alderson Hung Out to Dry by Homeopaths

3rd June, 2013 18

The desire for homeopaths to obtain state-recognised legitimacy has been tearing the trade apart for a decade or more. On one side are those with ambitions to be seen as mainstream and respectable. On the other side, those that want to remain ‘alternative’, anti-establishment and to be able to make whatever claims they like about homeopathy. The latest instalment concerns homeopathy lobby group, HMC21. They plan to hold a demonstration outside the [read more…]

BBC Devon Promotes Dangerously Deluded HIV Homeopaths in Africa

21st May, 2013 17

Last week, BBC London broadcast a dreadful programme promoting an animal chiropractor despite the fact that there is no good evidence chiropractic is of any use on animals and that chiropractors can only work with animals under very tightly defined circumstances. Yesterday, BBC Radio Devon managed to go one better with an amazingly misguided interview with a homeopath who had been to Tanzania to treat people with HIV. The Judi [read more…]

BBC London 94.9 Barking Hour Lives Up to its Name

17th May, 2013 16

Yesterday, on BBC London radio, Joanne Good and Anna Webb used their Barking Hour show to mislead listeners about how chiropractic, homeopathy and kiniesiology can help pets with serious illnesses. Her guest on the show was a McTimoney chiropractor by the name of Kay McCarroll who was unchallenged as she gave false, misleading and possibly illegal advice about the treatment of animals. [Available here for this week. Starts 10 minutes in.] This show failed [read more…]

Society of Homeopaths Seeks Accreditation from the Professional Standards Authority

8th May, 2013 27

Health regulators do an important thing: protect the public from the potential risks that health care providers and their practices pose to their clients. Risks cannot be avoided in health care. For any treatment that will have effects, there is the risk that there will be detrimental effects which may outweigh any benefit. If a patient is informed of these risks and benefits, good decisions can be made. Alternative medicine [read more…]

Steiner Schools, Vaccination and Measles Outbreaks

26th April, 2013 182

The UK is currently experiencing outbreaks of measles. Many children have been hospitalised and there has been one suspected death. This is an entirely preventable situation and would not be happening if there were sufficient levels of MMR uptake. However, as I discussed in my last article levels of vaccination can vary enormously in the space of just a few miles. To blame the media and their positive reporting of [read more…]

Homeopaths Embrace Vaccination Against Measles – Or Do They?

17th April, 2013 53

There is no general reason why a child in the UK should suffer measles. We have excellent and safe medical technology to ensure communities can be free from this nasty disease. And yet, we are seeing hundreds of children in South Wales currently being infected and many being hospitalised. Your favourite Tory MP, Dr Sarah Wollaston, has been concerned about her own constituents in Totnes where full MMR uptake [read more…]

Crick’s Nobel Medal Ends Up In Questionable Hands

12th April, 2013 37

Yesterday, the family of Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA, sold his Nobel medal for more than £1.3 million. It was reported that the medal was sold to Jack Wang, “CEO of Biomobie, a regenerative medicine technology company located in Silicon Valley and Shanghai.” Wang is behind a company that sells a device called a “Bioboosti”. The small elecronic orb-like device is claims to regenerate organs by [read more…]

Steiner Academy Exeter: Misleading Choices

28th March, 2013 292

Once again, we see a proposed new state-funded Steiner School failing to be open about the occult nature of its philosophy and its spiritual goals. The new Free School, the Steiner Academy Exeter, is confident it will be given approval to open this Autumn as a publicly funded school, and so is opening a formal admissions window on the 1st of April. To this end, it has taken several full [read more…]

Bill Roache, Karma, Reincarnation and Steiner Schools.

19th March, 2013 242

Watching the lunchtime news, it would appear that actor Bill Roache, who has played Ken Barlow in Coronation Street for over 50 years, has been making comments about how sexual abuse victims have brought their problems on themselves as “everything that happens to us has been a result of what we have been in previous lives”. Why would Roache hold such views? The answers lie in his education and upbringing. [read more…]

The BBC Will Make You Sick

4th March, 2013 121

Last Monday BBC South Inside Out broadcast an investigation into ‘WiFi Refugees’. These are people who claim to be so badly affected by the radiation emitted from modern devices, such as mobile phones and WiFi, that they have to seek isolated places where they can live free of neighbours’ electronic devices. As you might image, this is a hard task, and such people live restricted lives, alone, and struggle to [read more…]