Posts Tagged ‘ chiropractors ’

Simon Singh to Appeal Bogus Decision

June 3, 2009
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Simon Singh to Appeal Bogus Decision

  “The law has no place in scientific disputes” Simon Singh is to appeal the absurd and astonishingly illiberal ruling made by Sir David Eady in the libel case brought about by the British Chiropractic Association. This is a brave decision by Simon, but an important one as there are issues at stake that go well beyond one case. Today, the charity Sense about Science is launching a campaign to highlight the issues raised by the Simon Singh libel case. I am very please to support this campaign and be one of the first signatories to the following statement: We the undersigned believe that it is inappropriate to use the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence. The British Chiropractic Association has sued...

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A Carnival of Bogus* Chiropractic

May 19, 2009
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One of the side effects of the BCA vs Chiropractic libel case is that there are a growing number of people who now realise that Chiropractic is bogus*. Even though Simon Singh may well have suffered a set back from a judge who according to the law can define words as he sees fit, we are now seeing increasing exposure to the bogus* practices of the chiropractic trade. One way to show the ridiculousness of the legal decision and of chiropractic would be to have a little blog carnival on the bogus* nature of chiropractic claims and practices, and so I suggest that sceptical bloggers and writers help out by doing the following… 1. Find a chiropractic claim from an association or practitioner and examine the evidence for it...

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Bogus Law

May 15, 2009
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Bogus Law

  The University of Oxford recent completed a report into the comparative costs of defamation proceedings across Europe. Its conclusions were that the costs of libel proceedings in England and Wales are about 140 times higher on average than those found across Europe. The reasons for this boil down the large number of lawyers that get involved, the length of the proceedings, the adversarial nature of English law, and the take up of Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs), “no win no fee”. The result of this is that the legal costs involved are likely to be hugely disproportionate to any potential damage done. Defending a case of libel, even if the damages only amount to a few thousand pounds, could result in the losing party facing legal bills of six...

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The Role of UK Universities in Chiropractic

August 28, 2008
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The Role of UK Universities in Chiropractic

The decision by the British Chiropractic Association to sue Simon Singh will undoubtedly bring increased scrutiny of chiropractic. I would like to start with a first look at the education of chiropractors in the UK. This is also timely as Universities have recently been criticised for teaching quackery, resulting in a homeopathy degree being dropped by the University of Central Lancashire. Chiropractic is going to be quite different from homeopathy though. Anyone can call themselves a homeopath. Having a diploma behind you helps in joining the various homeopathic pretend regulatory bodies. Have a BSc and you will be vastly overqualified by far to dish out sugar pills. Chiropractors, however, need to be registered with the General Chiropractic Council. Chiropractic is capable of causing injury to patients, sometimes even death....

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Chiropractors Try to Silence Simon Singh

August 16, 2008
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Chiropractors Try to Silence Simon Singh

Hot on the heals of New Zealand Chiropractors trying to silence David Colquhoun and the The New Zealand Medical Journal, we learn today in the Telegraph that the British Chiropractic Association has issued a writ against Simon Singh for an article he wrote in the Guardian entitled Beware the Spinal Trap. ‘Dr’ Antoni Jakubowski of the BCA said that this was not a decision they were taking lightly. If justice is forthcoming, it will be a decision they regret. The original article is no loner available on the Guardian site, but here are some excerpts that so offended the chiropractors. This is Chiropractic Awareness Week. So let’s be aware. How about some awareness that may prevent harm and help you make truly informed choices? Some practitioners claim it is...

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They are Bone Doctors, Aren’t They?

August 8, 2008
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They are Bone Doctors, Aren’t They?

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 nerves and bones. We think of chiropractors as being for bad backs, but their founding beliefs state that cracking bones can be a panacea. You will still find chiropractors claiming treatments for all sorts of weird and wonderful things. The evidence for the effectiveness of chiropractic is not good. What evidence does exist suggests it is just another placebo...

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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

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