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	<title>The Quackometer Blog</title>
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	<description>Experiments and Thoughts on Superstitious Health Beliefs</description>
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		<title>BBC Snooker Promoting Cancer Quackery</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/bbc-snooker-promoting-cancer-quackery.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=bbc-snooker-promoting-cancer-quackery</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/bbc-snooker-promoting-cancer-quackery.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:27:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2415</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Snooker player, Peter Ebdon, has been appearing on the BBC Snooker Championships with a promotional logo for ‘Gerson Therapy; emblazoned on his waistcoat. Gerson Therapy is a form a alternative cancer treatment offered by many quacks and supported by a US company, the Gerson Institute. People with cancer are persuaded that the diet should be used as an alternative to mainstream treatment. It mainly consists of eating huge quantities of fruit and having coffee enemas. There is no evidence that it has any effect beyond removing large quantities of cash from its users. Indeed, users may be harmed by its insane dietary requirements and the needless and dangerous enemas. Of course, it also harms people by driving a wedge between them and their oncologists and GPs. Informed decision making can no longer take place if you are being lied to by a quack with promises of &#8216;natural cures&#8217;. In short, there is every reason to believe that Gerson diets kill people. Ebdon is free to believe such nonsense, should he wish. But he should not be using his platform on national TV to promote such dangerous nonsense. And the BBC itself may be breaking the Cancer Act of 1939 which [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/bbc-snooker-promoting-cancer-quackery.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>72</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Chiropractors Cash In on Olympics.</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/chiropractors-cash-in-on-olympics.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=chiropractors-cash-in-on-olympics</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/chiropractors-cash-in-on-olympics.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:53:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2405</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Olympics are coming to London this Summer and the presence of such a huge jamboree means it will not just be athletes and race walkers flocking in, but thousands of support staff and businesses including caterers, pole dancers, medical teams and chiropractors. Yes, chiropractors. Apparently, a ‘Central Medical Unit’ has been appointing “doctors, chiropractors and physiotherapists” in order to treat athletes at the games. Google this ‘Central Medical Unit’ and you will see a plethora of chiropractors who are keen to announce their pride at their inclusion in the event. We see chiropractor Richard Skippings from Thirsk say “to have been selected is a massive honour”. Chiropractor Lauren Comley from Berkhampsted says on her website  “to have been selected is a massive honour.” Tim Button from Mangotsfield also says that “to have been selected is a massive honour”. And we see Bath-based chiropractor Peter Dixon reporting to the newspapers that “to be part of the team and to have been selected is a massive honour”. It would appear that to be selected for the “Central Medical Unit” is indeed a massive honour. Except, I cannot find anyone else who thinks so. Indeed, I am struggling to find any reference [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/chiropractors-cash-in-on-olympics.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Myovision Scans and Chiropractic</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/myovision-scans-and-chiropractic.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=myovision-scans-and-chiropractic</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/myovision-scans-and-chiropractic.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:34:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2387</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[An advert in my local paper called for people to come into the Wells Chiropractic &#38; Osteopathy Centre for an introductory price of £19. Included in this price was a “complete consultation and results, including the latest high-tech Myovision Scan”. Chiropractors have been criticised for trying to lure people into lengthy, costly and, importantly, unnecessary treatments. Chiropractic is of limited therapeutic value. It may help a little with lower back pain, but no more than pain killers and exercise. The wilder claims of chiropractic, such as being able to treat childhood ailments, have been shown to be utter nonsense. So what is a Myovision scan and what function does it provide during an initial chiropractic consultation? A Myovision device is a handheld scanner that is designed to measure electric activity in skeletal muscles. According to the manufacturer, The MyoVision Scan takes 90 seconds and is completely safe, painless and non-invasive. The MyoVision sEMG ScanVisions read the voltage that the muscles in your spine naturally emit. These readings look at the level of voltage and the patterns of directionality, which allows your healthcare professional to determine if your spine and nervous system are functioning optimally. The result is a picture, as [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/04/myovision-scans-and-chiropractic.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>53</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Quack Totnes Cancer Conference Ends in Farce</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/quack-totnes-cancer-conference-ends-in-farce.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=quack-totnes-cancer-conference-ends-in-farce</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/quack-totnes-cancer-conference-ends-in-farce.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:59:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cancer quackery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[totnes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/quack-totnes-cancer-conference-ends-in-farce.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this month, I wrote about how Dr Stephen Hopwood was opening a new alternative cancer clinic in Totnes, Devon, that was to “offer real alternatives to the conventional approach to cancer health care”. To celebrate the opening, Hopwood was holding a cancer conference, inviting people with cancer to come along, and inviting a range of cancer cure peddlers to temp attendees with their magic beans. What followed was quite extraordinary. Local Devon MP, Dr Sarah Wollaston, after re tweeting my blog post, got in contact with the local Trading Standards. She was not the first to do so; prior to my post, others had also expressed their concerns. Trading Standards have recently come under academic attack for failing to act on breaches of various consumer protection laws around health claims. A study placed 39 complaints to various Trading Standards. None resulted in prosecution; many complaints were simply ignored. But the involvement of a local MP no doubt prompted TS into action and the BBC reported that they had initiated an investigation into claims that the clinic and conference were in breach of the Cancer Act of 1939. Hopwood accused the MP for being a &#8220;shop front&#8221; for the pharmaceutical [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/quack-totnes-cancer-conference-ends-in-farce.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>40</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Burzynski Millions</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-burzynski-millions.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-burzynski-millions</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-burzynski-millions.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:55:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Burzynski]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[burzynski]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-burzynski-millions.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dr Stanislaw R. Burzynski presents himself as a lone maverick doctor, struggling against the vested interests and great wealth of the medical profession. He claims to have found a safe and effective form of cancer treatment that can save children with the deadliest forms of cancer. But he claims the medical authorities and “Cancer Industry” do not want you to know this and will try anything to shut him down. They have their millions to protect. Burzynski came to America from Poland “with twenty dollars in his pocket, a theory in his head, and an indefatigable attitude that shown in his smile.” He had an idea, that a chemical extracted from urine, could cure cancer. From that humble beginning, he has fought the authorities to build the clinic and laboratories needed to give life to children where all others are happy to see them die rather than lose their profits. And so, when parents of desperately ill children from around the world hear about the Burzynski Clinic, they will have to find the money themselves. The UK’s NHS will not fund it, nor will health insurers. But his experimental protocols are not cheap and the many months of treatment will [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-burzynski-millions.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>37</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dr Burzynski Comes to the UK</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/dr-burzynski-comes-to-the-uk.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=dr-burzynski-comes-to-the-uk</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/dr-burzynski-comes-to-the-uk.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:52:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/dr-burzynski-comes-to-the-uk.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In October this year, an organisation calling itself The Cambridge Institute of Complementary Health is hosting a conference on “cutting edge and innovative ways of treating cancer”. The keynote speaker is Dr Stanislaw Burzynski from the Burzynski Institute in Texas. Burzynski is a controversial character. He has been regularly appearing in local and national newspapers and TV in the UK as families with desperately sick children try to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to send them to the US and try his antineoplaston cancer therapy. Except that, after 30 years of selling this ‘pioneering’ treatment Dr Burzynski has failed to produce any convincing evidence that it works. Indeed, an analysis of what he is actually doing by an oncologist suggests that, at best, he is selling orphaned chemotherapy drugs at hugely inflated prices, and offering an incoherent version of gene targeted chemotherapy. Burzynski is not allowed to treat patients with his wonder drug unless they are enrolled in trials. And that is what he does: enrols them on trials,charges the parents hundreds of thousands for the privilege of being his test subjects, and then fails to publish the results. And when he is criticised, he hires thugs to try [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/dr-burzynski-comes-to-the-uk.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>32</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Boiron Settles for $12M to Stop Homeopathy Lawsuits</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/boiron-settles-for-12m-to-stop-homeopathy-lawsuits.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=boiron-settles-for-12m-to-stop-homeopathy-lawsuits</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/boiron-settles-for-12m-to-stop-homeopathy-lawsuits.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:29:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[homeopathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boiron]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2342</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have long contended that homeopathy does so well because people do not know what it is. Homeopathy thrives on the esoteric nature of its beliefs: tell customers one thing, but believe something weird within the cult. Indeed, last week I was at dinner with French friends where the subject of homeopathy came up. (It’s huge in France. The picture is of the local Phamacy window – the big advert is for Boiron’s flu remedy Oscillococcinum.) I explained how Oscillo is made – the repeated dilution of a single duck’s liver 200 times. I explained that this was equivalent to taking the liver and diluting it in a sphere of water 10320 times bigger than the observable universe. Of course, I was not believed. This is obviously absurd and so cannot be true. But Oscillo and other Boiron homeopathic remedies are big business making hundreds of millions of dollars per year. In the US though, Boiron has been attracting a large number of class action law suits as it has become known just what is (or is not) in its remedies. Here is a rather humorous video that has helped raise awareness of the Boiron problem in the US. So, faced with [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/boiron-settles-for-12m-to-stop-homeopathy-lawsuits.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>38</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Totnes Cancer Health Centre: A Quack Pascal&#8217;s Wager</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-totnes-cancer-health-centre-a-quack-pascals-wager.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-totnes-cancer-health-centre-a-quack-pascals-wager</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-totnes-cancer-health-centre-a-quack-pascals-wager.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:39:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2333</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[England has a rather odd piece of legislation prohibiting the advertisement of cancer treatments. It is odd because, on the whole, England is a pretty tolerant place when it comes to allowing people to set themselves up with health businesses. There is a Common Law right to practice. And anyone can treat a sick person, even for money, as long as there is informed consent. There are exceptions. You must not claim you are a registered medical practitioner, you may not use a few protected titles such as Dietician and Speech Therapist, and you must not claim to be able to treat cancer and venereal disease. The Cancer Act of 1939 specifically prohibits that “No person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement containing an offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefor, or to give any advice in connection with the treatment thereof.” It is worth noting from the outset that this law applies to all forms of treatment, conventional or alternative, proven or unevidenced, scientific or superstitious. Given this law, it is rather odd that Dr Stephen Hopwood has recently set up the Totnes Cancer Health Care Centre, an apparent [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/03/the-totnes-cancer-health-centre-a-quack-pascals-wager.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Frome Steiner Academy: Absurd Educational Quackery</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/frome-steiner-academy-absurd-educational-quackery.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=frome-steiner-academy-absurd-educational-quackery</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/frome-steiner-academy-absurd-educational-quackery.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:58:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rudolf Steiner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anthroposophy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steiner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2323</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Having recently moved to Somerset, and as the parent of a couple of small children, potential future schools are obviously of interest. One that I will not be considering is the new Steiner Academy in Frome. Following the current government’s plans to remove schools from local democratic control and place them in the hands of various private, religious and commercial interests, the Frome Steiner School has received agreement in principle from Michael Gove to open later this year. A principal reason for my decision is that Steiner schools (sometimes called Waldorf Schools) are not open about the true nature of their origins, beliefs and methods. The new web page of the Frome Steiner Academy gives the impression that they follow a progressive approach to teaching that uniquely follows a child’s personal development. That all sounds wonderful. What they do not say is that this approach is based on occult thinking, astrology, clairvoyance and esoteric cult-like beliefs. Even if their beliefs may have some positive effects for children, the apparent secrecy is a deep cause for concern. But why I am I writing about this superstitious teaching approach on my blog about superstitious medicine? Steinerism, or Anthroposophy to give it its [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/frome-steiner-academy-absurd-educational-quackery.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>361</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>IPAN &#8211; Questionable Treatments for &#8216;PreAutistic&#8217; Children</title>
		<link>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/ipan-preautistic-children.html?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ipan-preautistic-children</link>
		<comments>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/ipan-preautistic-children.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andy Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[melanie sykes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.quackometer.net/blog/?p=2313</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to the Sun and Daily Mail today, celebrity Melanie Sykes has won £50,000 on the TV game show The Cube and will be donating the money to the charity International Pre-Autistic Network (IPAN). In doing so, the reports say she revealed that that her own son was autistic. She wants to raise awareness of autism and hoped the charity, which she is a patron of, would use the money to help other parents. But the Quackometer’s alarm went off. The claims being made looked very questionable. Just exactly who are IPAN and what do they do? For a start, IPAN do not appear to be targeting children with a diagnosis of autism. Instead, they claim that they can spot certain behaviours in 3 month old babies that may be a precursor to autism. They claim that if left untreated, autism will develop. They claim that they use a ‘psychodynamic’ method “that deals exclusively with emotions’ to correct these problems. They claim that they want parents to know that ‘autism is preventable’. These are extraordinary claims and I see no good reason to believe they are true. Autism is a range of developmental problems characterised by poor development in social [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/02/ipan-preautistic-children.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
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