Wi-Fi, Quackery and the MPs

21st May, 2007 12

Well, today’s news has had lots of Wi-Fi scares being reported. Tonight’s Panorama is going to look at the ‘dangers’ of bringing Wi-Fi into schools. Let’s wait to see what they have to say, but early reports do not bode well as they are claiming that their ‘independent tests’ showed WiFi produces EM levels three times higher than mobile phone masts. It is difficult to think up a more meaningless [read more…]

Patrick Holford and Scientology: the Church of Optimum Nutrition?

12th May, 2007 40

Here is an odd one. Why would Patrick Holford’s Food for the Brain charity have associations with a Scientology linked organisation? His charity is working with schools to improve the ‘mental health’ of children. Should we be alarmed by this? What on earth has Scientology and Patrick got in common? My last rather large post concentrated on the philosophy of Patrick Holford, Optimum Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy. I made a [read more…]

Holfordism: Understanding Patrick, Optimum Nutrition, and the Nutritionist Industry

10th May, 2007 66

Patrick Holford has built up a very impressive and comprehensive empire; networks of web sites, charities, a college, educational trusts and of course, books, TV shows, supplements sales, and licensing deals. It is a very impressive achievement and it would be hard to argue that Patrick, and his philosophies, did not pretty much dominate the UK nutritionist scene. Some nutritionists might outsell him in book sales, but none have created [read more…]

Home Pregnancy Gender Testing – Pink or Blue or Con?

4th May, 2007 10

One of my repeated gripes is that the Daily Mail Health editorial policy is little more than to be a shill for quacks. Like most of the paper, you have to read it with deep suspicion. Here is the latest piece of questionable reporting on a new home pregnancy test that purports to tell you the sex on your baby only a few weeks into pregnancy. The £189 mail-order kit [read more…]

My Sparrow Dead and Cold

2nd May, 2007 3

I have recently been rather drawn into the world of electrosenstivity and found that passions run high. But loudness of voices and strength of convictions rarely match closely to soundness of argument. Indeed, high voices, closed minds and poor debate are a good indicator that quackery might be at work. I have been quite critical of those that support electrosensitivity suffers for being so hostile to the idea that people [read more…]

Electrosensitivity: Caused by Wi-Fi and Mobiles?

27th April, 2007 54

The Daily Mail brings us the story of Sarah Dacre who suffers terribly from a range of symptoms including “hair loss, sickness, high blood-pressure, digestive and memory problems, severe headaches and dizziness. ” Sarah believes the symptoms are caused by the effects of the ‘electrosmog’ in our environment, the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) given out by mobile phones and Wi-Fi networks. She is so troubled by these devices that she resorts [read more…]

Pulling My Hair Out

26th April, 2007 35

or, The Role of Mineral Hair Analysis in the Sale of Food Supplements initially posted on Holford Watch. Patrick Holford has set up a charity. Not poorly, fluffy kittens or unwanted donkeys, but a charity dedicated to helping kids do better at schools with better ‘nutrition’. The charity is called Food for the Brain. Being against such a venture would appear to be like being against sunshine or trying to [read more…]

Teachers’ Union Demand Meteorite Shields For Schools

23rd April, 2007 6

Quackery thrives on fear. Cancer, infection and injury are rightly things to be concerned about. Despite the near doubling of our expected life span in the last hundred years or so, scientific medicine will eventually let us all down and we shall eventually succumb to the final inconvenience of death. In the meantime, the fear of suffering creates opportunities for quacks to exploit. The entrepreneurial quack will fan the flames [read more…]

Google ‘Sees no Evil’

17th April, 2007 4

Once upon a time, back in the olden days, that is, before 1996 or thereabouts, your typical quack was faced with a big problem. Just as with producing software, the manufacturing stage of the quack business is straightforward. The software firm used to ‘record’ software onto ‘floppy disks’ and the quack could press ‘nutrient pills’ in huge numbers, or fill bottles or make pills with ‘homeopathic water’ straight from the [read more…]

Watch Holford Watch

17th April, 2007 0

Just to let you know that I am proud to be able to contibute a little to a new blog, “Holford Watch”, a site about ‘top media nutritionist’ Patrick Holford. This site aims to provide a counterpoint to much of what “Britain’s best-selling author and leading spokesman on nutrition and mental health issues” has to say as there are very many people who would consider that much of what he [read more…]

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