They are Bone Doctors, Aren’t They?

8th August, 2008 49

Chiropractors have an air of respectability about them. They style themselves, ‘Doctor’. They wear white coats and have brass plaques outside their offices with lots of letters after their name. My friends look at be puzzled when I say they are quacks. But that is what the evidence says. Their practice is founded on strange ideas about mysterious things called ‘subluxions’ and pseudoscientific beliefs in ‘inate intelligence’ running through our [read more…]

The “New Fundamentalism”: Why Lionel Milgrom is Plain Wrong (Again)

5th July, 2008 48

Bafflegab – the multiloquence characterized by consummate interfusion of circumlocution or periphrasis, inscrutability, and other familiar manifestations of abstruse expatiation – is word that ought to be familiar to Lionel Milgrom. Milgrom is a champion apologist for homeopathic ‘science’. As a former director of the Society of Homeopaths, he delights the homeopathic community with his musings on quantum theory, entanglement and its hypothesised role in ‘patient-practitioner interactions’. Since quantum theory [read more…]

How to become a Daytime TV Expert: The Jayney Goddard Story

7th May, 2008 39

Professor Jayney Goddard is the president of the Complementary Medical Association (CMA), “the world’s largest professional membership body for complementary medicine” and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. She studied homeopathy at Imperial College for five years and has won numerous awards. According to various sites, she is “considered to be among the world’s leading experts in complementary and integrated medicine.” Impressive stuff. No wonder [read more…]

Medical Astrology – Forseeing the Future of Regulated Alternative Medicine

8th April, 2008 13

Part of the wonderful new world of regulated alternative medicine is the insistence that all registered practitioners undergo Continuous Professional Development. Just like in real professions, quacks will be expected to attend a certain number of hours per year in keeping their skills up to date and learning about the latest developments in their field. The Prince of Wales and his new Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council are right behind [read more…]

Life’s 4 Living: Audiokinetron and Lumatron Nonsense

4th March, 2008 9

A bit of a ding dong has started up over at HolfordWatch after they questioned some of the activities of a charity called Life’s 4 Living. There is now a huge red banner on their homepage that proclaims the following: There has recently been a vicious, sustained and unprovoked attack on this charity.Over the next few days life’s 4 living will refute each and every allegation in this spurious attack. [read more…]

Netcetera are Recreant Milquetoasts and Poltroons. Positive Internet Stand Tall.

23rd February, 2008 19

So, the Quackometer has been up and running for 24 hours now and most systems have been restored. A bit more to go though. For the technically inclined, this has involved a move from cuddly cotton wool children’s Microsoft servers to grown up, open source, Apache/Unix servers where a missed semi-colon can kill faster than a homeopath dishing out malaria pills. It’s been a bit of a bother, but I [read more…]

Homeopathy Research Institute – The Highest Scientific Standards…

16th February, 2008 19

The Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI) has been set up by homeopaths Alex Tournier (who apparently works for Cancer Research UK) and Clare Relton (who is based at the University of Sheffield). The Alliance of Registered Homeopaths in one of their rare press statements have made much of it. They say, The aim of the Homeopathy Research Institute is to promote and facilitate high-quality scientific research in the field of homeopathy. [read more…]