The Quackometer Blog | Experiments and Thoughts on Superstitious Health Beliefs | Page 19

Step Aside, I’m a Homeopath!

February 27, 2007

Step Aside, I’m a Homeopath!

It is difficult to know when looking at the claims of many alternative medicine web sites, whether the people involved are a) deluded or b) fraudulent. For my part, and being a good natured soul, I tend to believe most people are just into weird things and are rather locked into their strange world view. They genuinely feel they are helping people by selling their products and services. To challenge their own beliefs and let in new arguments would mean risking abandoning so much about how they define themselves – and how they earn a living. A journey through quackland is a salutary reminder of how we need to guard ourselves against false beliefs. The existence of quackery ably demonstrates that the easiest person to fool is yourself and...

We the undersigned…

February 15, 2007

We the undersigned…

In the past I have been critical of the exaggerated claims made by the promoters of salvestrols as the new super-food-supplement. There is no evidence to suggest that these plant-derived chemicals have any positive effect on reducing cancer risk when taken in supplement form or for forming any part of a medical regime for cancer sufferers. Trials are apparently underway, but the best evidence to-date has been in-vitro studies of cells in petri dishes. And yet, the supporters of this new ‘wonder vitamin’ have set up companies and are heavily promoting it around the world. Now, Tony Blair’s 10 Downing Street office have recently had an initiative to listen to the people and set up a web site that allows us, the good subjects of Her Majesty, to petition...

The Depths of Ms McKeith’s Anti-Science

February 14, 2007

The Depths of Ms McKeith’s Anti-Science

It’s been a bad week for Gillian. The anti-quackery blogging brigade have been partaking in bouts of the great British pastime of uncontrolled Schadenfreude (why did we leave it to the Germans to coin that term?) after the Advertising Standards Authority stopped Gillian McKeith as advertising herself as ‘Dr Gillian’. The Guardian printed a huge article by Ben Goldacre about how she is a ‘Menace to Science’ and how her particular brand of nutrionism is deeply anti-science and harmful. Is there anything else left to say on the subject? One thing that Ben and Gillian’s defenders have in common is their belief that, in many ways, it is immaterial by what title she calls herself. Obviously, her use of the title offends the many hardworking PhDs who have sweated...

Luv a Duck – it’s Magnetic Holisitic Slippers!

February 12, 2007

Luv a Duck – it’s Magnetic Holisitic Slippers!

It’s that time of year again when a young male duck’s thoughts turn to the browner sex. Yes, its St Valentine’s Day, and gift buying is mandatory if you wish to maintain the affections of your fair-feathered ducky-love. So what to buy? A few suggestions out there from the world of Quackland. Sarah Stacey, and her cosy tie-in with Victoria Health, had plenty of suggestions in last week’s You magazine - the colour supplement of the Mail on Sunday. Let’s start with the first and best… Holistic Silk magnetic slippers, £65: these adorable brocade slippers are simply addictive; they’re not only gorgeously sexy but the magnets implanted in the inner soles had me skipping around the house at bedtime, doing all sorts of unlikely things such as the washing...

Quack Word #39: ‘Superfood’

February 2, 2007

Quack Word #39: ‘Superfood’

Regular listeners to BBC Radio 4′s Womans‘ Hour will have recently heard nutritionist Suzi Grant extolling the virtues of so-called superfoods. Quackery, I say. But what on earth can be wrong with a superfood? Surely eating foods rich in nutrients has nothing to do with quackery, but is just common sense? I don’t think it is quite that simple, and I would contend that anyone using the word ‘superfood‘ is a quack and deserves to score Canards on the Quackometer. Using the term ‘superfood‘ is at best meaningless and at worst harmful. Let me explain. Suzi has been appearing on the show regulalry talking about her ideas on superfoods. This Friday’s edition of Womans‘ Hour (listen here) was not such a clear run for her though. This time, Suzi...

This May Be Fair Trading – Then Again, It May Not.

January 15, 2007

This May Be Fair Trading – Then Again, It May Not.

Today, the Office of Fair Trading has published its findings into a company that promotes the use of Magnetic Bandages for healing wounds and treating pain. According to the OFT press release, Magnopulse Limited, a company which manufactures and sells magnetic therapy products for humans and animals, including leg wraps, back pads and neck wraps, pet collars and pet beds, has agreed to change its advertising following action by the OFT. It looks like Magnopulse have been bad boys an girls by making claims about their products that really do not hold up, according to the OFT. And, it looks like Magnopulse do not agree with this finding. However, they have agreed a compromise with the OFT, and so Magnopulse adverts will change (just after the stock of old...

Who the hell has got it in for Dax Moy?

January 5, 2007

Who the hell has got it in for Dax Moy?

Happy new year to you all. I’ve been off for my Christmas break and I am now attending to my post bag and I thought I would share a few gems with the world. First, I am always up for a challenge and so when writer Geoff Freed starts off his email “You pure miserable person”, I know I am in for a treat! When Geoff adds “I bet you would not have the guts to print this” I really have no alternative! Subject: Geoff Freed You pure miserable person. It seems you get off by putting others down. It seems you are afraid of new ideas. New ideas threaten the established and then often become the accepted. I know Geoff well we were at Uni together and have...

easyQuack

December 20, 2006

easyQuack

Le Canard Noir has a hectic international life, flitting around the world in luxury, from hotel to beach, from fine restaurants to top spas. And all I have to do is occasionally blog from wherever I can get WiFi access. Such are the benefits of being a Big Pharma shill. (Keep the cheques coming in – my stocks of champagne are getting low for Christmas). However, yesterday was a little more mundane with a 4am foggy dash to Luton for the first easyJet flight to Edinburgh. A quick meeting there, and then back in the afternoon. So, in my caffeine starved, befuddled and yawning state, I had found myself flicking through the easyJet in-flight magazine. Something I usually avoid, but I was late and had to run past the...

The Daily Mail: An Apology

December 12, 2006

Those of you who have read my last blog entry might be under the impression that I believe the Daily Mail is a deeply ignorant and offensive paper that panders to its bigoted readers’ prejudices and does nothing but promote its right wing individualistic nonsense. Furthermore, I may have left the impression that the Daily Mail is little more than a conduit for alternative medicine fraudsters who use the rag to promote their deluded and dangerous wares through a credulous and uncritical science editorial policy. I may have given the impression that I was gloating about how the paper picked up all three Quackometer Awards for Quackiest News Source, News Story and Journalist. Well, today, the paper disproves any of these slurs by printing a rather enlightening piece about...

The First Annual Quackometer Awards and Year Review

December 8, 2006

The First Annual Quackometer Awards and Year Review

The Quackometer has been up and running for just about a year and has seen some serious traffic increases over the past six months. Starting off with just a few hits per day, the daily unique visits now stand in the many hundreds, with a peak recently of several thousand. Cripes! What started off as a bit of a bored joke has now grown into a proper web site. So, a quick, tearful thanks to all the people who keep coming back. Thanks for all the correspondence, both encouraging and threatening. I hope 2007 will throw up richer, funnier and more useful functionality and content. Plus a few more innevitable threats. So, to the main business. The quackometer scans various news sites twice a day on the look out...

A Pantomime of Science

December 7, 2006

A Pantomime of Science

A criticism often levied at the quackometer is that it is very broad brush. Fair enough. It is often quite general in what it says, but it is only a bit a web script after all. The quackometer is intended to be a spring board into the exploration of health claims. Improvements in the new year should make this easier. However, the central premise behind the quackometer is that when someone uses words like ‘vibration’, ‘energy’ or ‘quantum’ in the context of a health claim, then almost invariably pseudoscience is being used. And, as the black duck would say, …it is full of scientific jargon that is out of place and probably doesn’t know the meaning of any of the terms. So, is this a reasonable statement to make?...

Quack Word #16: ‘Nutritionist’

November 21, 2006

Quack Word #16: ‘Nutritionist’

A regular comment to me is to ask “why have I got it in for Nutritionists?” Surely, these are dedicated health professionals who do wonders for peoples’ health by improving their diets and making sure people take the right supplements, if required. Well maybe. The problem is that so many nutritionists are not doing this and often resort to pseudoscience and quackery. This week’s Quack Word blog entry will argue that the Quackometer is quite right (most of the time) in scoring highly a web page with the word ‘nutritionist’ in it. So, a quick definition of ‘nutritionist’. Whilst one should always take wikipedea articles with a sceptical eye, their definition of nutritionist is a good starting point: A nutritionist is a person who advises people on dietary matters...

PHYTOBIOPHYSICS® – Flower Power or Duck Weed?

November 14, 2006

PHYTOBIOPHYSICS® – Flower Power or Duck Weed?

A big thanks to quackometer correspondent, a broadcaster, journalist and nutritional therapist, Suzi Grant for bringing me to the attention of the wonderful sounding healing technique of Phytobiophysics®. (please don’t sue me…) This is a technique that is being promoted by the Institute of Phytobiophysics which follows the Mossop Philosophy through its products and courses. The Mossop philosophy is supposed to: harnesses the vibration energy of plants to release energy blocks in the human body so that balance is re-established for all levels of consciousness; spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. So far, just the usual pseudoscience, sounding a bit like a Bach Remedy. However, the Mossop Philosophy is based on the ‘discoveries’ of Professor Dame Diana Mossop. Wow. Regular quackometer followers will now just how much flaunted titles excite...

Kryotherapy – Freezing the Balls off a Brazen Quack

November 14, 2006

Kryotherapy – Freezing the Balls off a Brazen Quack

The Quackometer is far from perfect. Sometimes quackery slips though its little webbed feet and I need to update it. Often a story in the paper requires a little more dissection to reveal its inner quackery. So, today we hear that standing in a freezer can improve your health. Daily Mail reporter, Barney Calman, freezes his bits off as a piece of investigative journalism into whole-body cryotherapy. This is a technique that claims to cure a whole host of problems by allowing yourself to stand in a freezer at -120C for a few minutes. Funny, the chickens I put in the freezer never appear to get any better. As is often the case in the Daily Lunacy, the article is a thinly veiled piece of advertorial for a new...

An Holistic View of the Quackoblogosphere

November 3, 2006

An Holistic View of the Quackoblogosphere

For a while now, the quackometer has been regularly and automatically scanning various blogs for good writing about quackery. The end result is a twice-daily distillation of what’s hot in the blogosphere about quackery -or as the little black duck calls it, the quackoblogosphere. Now, this digest is available as an RSS feed so that you can see who is writing the best stuff in one easy to find location. Please let me know if there is a blog out there that is not being scanned. You can see the full list of scanned blogs from the quackoblogosphere’s home page. PS Apologies for using the word ‘Holistic’ in the title. I felt rather dirty when typing it.

QuackSafeTM Search Engine

October 26, 2006

QuackSafeTM Search Engine

Le Canard Noir is pleased to announce the arrival of the Quackometer QuackSafeTM Search Engine. Do you quickly need to debunk the latest fraudulent claim? Do you need to see if others have insight into a quack? This is the Search Engine for you. The Search Engine will only return matches from sites and blogs that are known to supply reliable information about quackery, quacks, medical fraud and health realetd pseudoscience. It is based on the newly available Google Coop technology, but unlike Google, will not return sites that swallow fraudulent medical claims whole. Start QuackSafeTM searching here. The Quackometer QuackSafeTM Google Toolbar Button has been updated to allow one button access to the Search Engine from the Google Search box on the toolbar. If you have already installed...

The Scent of a Quack…

October 20, 2006

The Scent of a Quack…

At last, what appears to be some reasonable criticism of high street quackery in the Daily Mail… Well, it sort of starts out OK with a report as follows: … according to a report in Psychiatric Bulletin, health shops give out bad advice on depression and they offer a range of useless stuff, including the cruel-sounding cat’s claw, when only one of their products, St John’s Wort, is scientifically proved to have any antidepressant effect. Great – an expose of the nonsense dished out in heath food shops. Our intrepid investigative journalist, Jill Parkin, then sets out to do her own research and pops into her own local health food shop with the following hilarious observation… Inside, what an aroma! It’s licorice stick, ageing raspberry leaf tea and, most...

QuackSafeTM Surfing with the Quackometer Toolbar Button

October 13, 2006

QuackSafeTM Surfing with the Quackometer Toolbar Button

Le Canard Noir is pleased to announce the arrival of the Quackometer QuackSafeTM Toolbar Button for Internet Explorer that will allow one-click access to the Quackometer and QuackSafeTM Search Engine. Click the button to find out if your current page is Quackery. Highlight a name in the text and click the button to find out if they might be a quack. Type a query into the Google Toolbar search button and click the Quackometer button for reliable search results. UPDATE: The Toolbar button now has access to the QuackSafeTM Search Engine. Simply enter your query into the Google Toolbar and hit the duck’s head. As a sophisticated reader of my site, you may feel that you too can spot a quack a mile off. But in these days of...

Ethical Quackery, the Monarchy and Kate Moss

October 12, 2006

Ethical Quackery, the Monarchy and Kate Moss

No, this is not about our Defender of Quackery, our Quack-in-Chief His Royal Quackiness, Prince Charles, but about the Distinguished Provost of the Royal College of Alternative Medicine, Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi. And yes, it is just a rather lame story written solely to get a picture of Kate on my blog. I’ve written a rather lazy blog on the distinguished professor before that was just a bit of a gawp at his quacktastic website and what looks like a health phone-line scam. Well, I’ve done a little more digging with Google and it has revealed a few quack gems. It has been pretty hard work, since Google returns some 6,000 pages, the vast majority just appears to be Prof Obi’s self-promotion. However, if you persist in digging a...

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Events and Talks

Does Integrated Medicine Make Sense?
Great Hall, Dartington, Devon
I will be debating the role of Integrated Medicine with Simon Mills from the College of Medicine, Sarah Wollaston MP for Totnes, and Becky Simpson who used CAM when being treated for cancer.

Saturday 26 May, 2012. 6.00pm

A History of West Country Quacks & Rise of Evidence Based Medicine
Plymouth Skeptics in the Pub
The West Country, particularly in Bath, saw some the greatest quacks and also the greatest advances in evidence-based medicine. I will talk about how the two approaches fought each other in the 18th and 19th Century.

Tuesday, June 19 2012 at 7:00PM