tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-258056592010-02-13T08:40:07.501Znot this little black duck...<br> experiments and thoughts on the world of quackery, health fraud and pseudoscience.Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-12321888872474079752010-02-07T19:39:00.003Z2010-02-08T08:45:28.131Z

Liverpool NHS Primary Care Trust funds a Department of Homeopathy, one the last four remaining publicly funded homeopathic hospitals in the UK. It publicises that the clinic in the Old Swan Health Centre can offer homeopathic treatments for everything from arthritis to depression and bowel disorders. There is no good evidence that this is an effective use of public money. Indeed, as was reported

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-28110997875224983532010-02-03T23:07:00.005Z2010-02-04T14:08:44.212Z

Let’s run with an idea and see where it goes. The 10:23 campaign has now had loads of publicity and Boots have failed to address any of the central concerns: mainly, that homeopathy is a daft pseudoscience. Moreover, the pharmacy profession and the drugs regulator have remained silent. In all likelihood, Boots will not withdraw their sugar pills and pharmacists will continue to take your money

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-81081670437283810702010-01-30T20:22:00.001Z2010-01-30T20:22:26.072Z

  Thanks to Stephen Law at the Centre of Inquiry for posting this video of myself and Simon Singh, just after our talks at Conway Hall. The day started with a mass overdose of homeopathic pills (see report in the Telegraph; it’s also on the front page of the BBC web site) , followed by talks on the evidence for alternative medicines and his legal battles (from Simon), the reasons why

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-73937482324843916302010-01-30T10:23:00.000Z2010-01-30T10:23:00.157Z

Right now, if the homeopaths are correct, I should have paralysed arms, be in severe pain, have convulsions, delirium, skin itching all over and be unable to stand. That is because I have taken a massive overdose of the homeopathic remedies, Belladonna 30C, Sulphur 30C and Lachesis 5MM. I wrote this post last night and set it to appear at 10:23 today, the moment I will also be taking a whole

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-5635707895634022232010-01-26T18:30:00.000Z2010-01-26T18:30:00.484Z

This Saturday, hundreds of people, in many cities,  will be demonstrating outside Boots the Chemists about their selling of homeopathic remedies. Each volunteer will be taking a homeopathic ‘overdose’ of a Boots homeopathy product to demonstrate that there is nothing in the tablets but sugar. Out of all the volunteer ‘overdosers’ and their supporters in the 10:23 campaign, there may well be

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-74205979466019146432010-01-18T19:30:00.008Z2010-01-20T12:48:21.608Z

In the last few days, a new campaign has been launched with the aim of showing that homeopathy is an ‘absurd pseudoscience’ and that Boots the Chemists should not be selling these sugar pills to the public as if they were genuine medical products. The ‘10:23’ campaign, as it is known, has a very flashy web site (http://www.1023.org.uk) and states that it has been set up and organised by a group

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-17219769090871708202010-01-15T17:25:00.004Z2010-01-20T18:40:27.997Z

Further documents have been published after the House of Commons held its enquiry into the evidence base for government policy on homeopathy. There are some real treats in there, but I am most concerned about new evidence from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (the MHRA) on how they test the public’s understanding of the labeling of homeopathic products. The new document

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-85870005235837160102010-01-14T21:00:00.001Z2010-01-15T17:29:22.773Z

Over the next few weeks, I will be taking the Quackometer on tour around the UK and giving talks exploring what factors allow pseudo-medicines to survive despite their lack of specific effects and scientific absurdity. Giving examples of quacks and cures from the 18th and 19th Century, I will be comparing them to similar practices today. My first talk was last week in Sheffield (and thanks to

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-63172828405466851382010-01-09T19:12:00.003Z2010-01-11T10:55:04.550Z

Tim Minchin’s rather brilliant poem Storm is being made into a film. You can see the newly released trailer above. The full poem (available here) tells a rather familiar story for thinking people: how do you react when cornered by absurd ‘alternative’ thinking in a social situation? In Storm, Tim describes a North London dinner party situation where the eponymous guest starts spouting fluffy

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-61467511969027770722009-12-16T21:14:00.003Z2009-12-17T00:24:39.322Z

James Randi is a hero to many rational people around the world. He has done more than, perhaps, any person alive to promote rational and clear thinking about claims of the paranormal and alternative medicine. His million dollar challenge acts as a marvelous foil to mountebanks and charlatans. He simply says to them, “demonstrate what you claim, under controlled conditions, and the prize is yours

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-2882224203419307442009-12-16T18:40:00.001Z2009-12-16T19:14:10.714Z

We have a conflicted relationship with the things that give us pleasure. We fear overindulgence may be harming us, and we desperately seek evidence that suggests our habits are beneficial, so that we can continue to enjoy them without guilt. This year appears to have been a good year for coffee in this contradictory quest. Over the past twelve months, the People’s Medical Journal, the Daily

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-34801285146784826572009-12-10T22:46:00.002Z2009-12-15T18:29:14.652Z

The Eighteenth Century in England was the Golden Age of Quackery, with London being a world capital for mountebanks, charlatans and other practitioners of irregular medicine. Consumers in Georgian England had access to an unparalleled selection of medical entrepreneurship from regular doctors, lay quacks, foreigners with exotic elixirs, and even preachers such as John Wesley (as we saw a few

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-12895943655237304382009-11-30T08:55:00.003Z2009-12-02T16:44:31.698Z

In a recent submission to the House of Commons Evidence Committee on Homeopathy, the Society of Homeopaths proudly assert that, The Society has long been committed to the highest standards for homeopathy, having run a voluntary regulatory system for the last 30 years and a course recognition process for the last 15 years. Further, it was the first homeopathy organisation to institute a Code

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-10235758971112342772009-11-20T15:21:00.001Z2009-11-20T21:22:52.479Z

Yes, like it or not, now is the time to start thinking about the perfect gift for the geek in your life. Last year we were treated to a slew of great books about quackery, many of them now available in paperback.  Nonetheless, there are still many great new books, not all just about alternative medicine, and I would love to tell you about a few of them here. John Grant has written a trio of

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-3034368775674055162009-11-14T20:32:00.001Z2009-11-15T16:19:50.026Z

Examine the discourse of any alternative medicine and you will encounter a surprisingly homogenous set of themes: that their methods are natural, simple, available to all, and are based on ancient and traditional knowledge. Cures for disease are freely available from nature and we do not need the intermediation of a medical elite to provide us with them. These cures have been known for

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-52946674874196607472009-10-30T07:00:00.001Z2009-11-14T23:31:26.438Z

Last week, a comment piece in the Guardian asked, “Should there be freedom to mislead?”. It is an interesting question. Should the State intervene and try to regulate scientific truth? In a free society, should people not be free to hold untrue beliefs? In the context of pseudomedical beliefs, what role should regulation play in preventing untruthful claims to be made about treatments and how

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-54051607686560777672009-10-20T23:14:00.001+01:002009-10-21T22:38:05.624+01:00

Luc Montagnier is an interesting and strange character. Last year he was a shared winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine. A remarkable achievement. However, his latest research can only really be described as quite bizarre and some of his statements, are desperately and deadly worrying. So much so, that I think Montagnier ought to be the first recipient of both a Nobel and IgNobel prize. Let me

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-83898140443461388712009-10-15T19:46:00.001+01:002009-10-15T19:46:19.130+01:00

Yesterday, the House of Commons saw a debate on the funding of medical astrology. Yes. Medical Astrology. The Hansard Report of the debate has a seventeenth century feel to it. Tredinnick asserts that the phase of the moon influences the number of accidents and stops blood from clotting. He has tales of eastern lands that use astronomical signs to influence health care and governments that have

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-37455931291053781342009-10-01T00:18:00.002+01:002009-10-01T08:50:01.438+01:00

Just a few days after Psychic Cancer Healer, Adrian Pengelly, appeared on the BBC consumer affairs programme, Watchdog, he was the subject of a particularly glowing report in the Daily Mail. Pengelly had been accused of giving dangerous suggestions to people with cancer. Not only did he say on film that he had a 60-65% success rate with his healing hands, he also said that the chances were

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-53417282318512972462009-09-28T19:27:00.002+01:002009-09-29T15:56:56.814+01:00

As I write this, two married Australian homeopaths are spending their first nights in gaol as they begin prison sentences for six and four years respectively for the manslaughter of their baby daughter, Gloria.This is a tragic, not least for the convicted parents. A nine month old baby died unnecessarily in the most horrific way because of her parent’s belief in the superiority and power of

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-77874236383384810292009-09-25T21:42:00.003+01:002009-09-27T21:48:05.811+01:00

It cannot be a good week for Adrian Pengelly. He has been subject to quite a damning BBC Watchdog investigation about his business activities. Adrian claims to be a “Visionary Healer, Energy Worker, Teacher and Psychic” and declares that he is well known for his “work with terminal illnesses and cancer”. If a so called ‘Psychic Healer’ is giving some sort of emotional or spiritual support to

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-7109206945674284472009-09-24T21:27:00.000+01:002009-09-24T21:27:14.049+01:00

  October 5th, 2009 7pm – 8pm TAM London – The Amaz!ing Panel Conway Hall, Holborn   Sign Up Here   As part of the official fringe to the first ever London TAM, there will be a panel meeting about the Internet and Scepticism. I will be rushing back from a meeting and so I will not have time to don my usual sceptical wig (pictured above). However, I plan to answer all your questions

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-52404892626812132222009-09-20T00:01:00.000+01:002009-09-20T00:21:38.354+01:00

This afternoon, Richard Dawkins will speak about the insidious nature of English Libel Laws as a guest speaker at the Liberal Democrats Conference in Bournemouth. Professor Dawkins (along with me, coughs) was one of the first signatories to the campaign to keep libel laws out of science. This campaign was inspired by the rather shocking story of how science writer Simon Singh is being sued by

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-41444553767663075612009-09-12T00:46:00.000+01:002009-09-12T00:47:25.533+01:00

  This video is starting to do the rounds about how wonderful homeopaths are helping people in Ghana in malarial areas. I hope as many people as possible watch this to better understand this irresponsible and murderous delusion. I have no doubt that the homeopath here is sincere. Adjoa Margaret Stack obviously believes she is doing good in Ghana with her Senya/Tamale Homeopathy Project but

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25805659.post-12275784072209898252009-09-02T23:15:00.002+01:002009-09-18T14:18:54.353+01:00

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have been heavily criticised in recent years for abandoning their core mission by allowing homeopathic sugar pills to contain statements about what symptoms and illnesses they can be used for without having to provide evidence that this is true. The MHRA mission and values: Mission The MHRA’s mission is to enhance and

Le Canard Noirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565056022495154803noreply@blogger.com24