Posts Tagged ‘ homeopathy ’

We the undersigned…

February 15, 2007

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

By Andy Lewis

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...

The Daily Mail: An Apology

December 12, 2006

By Andy Lewis

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

By Andy Lewis

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...

PHYTOBIOPHYSICS® – Flower Power or Duck Weed?

November 14, 2006

By Andy Lewis

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...

Skinny Homeopathic Grande Cappuccino To Go Please

September 4, 2006

By Andy Lewis

Skinny Homeopathic Grande Cappuccino To Go Please

Yes, sometimes I do get filled with self-doubts, usually in the night. It soon passes. But you see, there is just so much quackery out there that any rational and honest thinker must fully entertain the idea that they have got something horribly wrong. After all, the sceptic should always be challenging their own assumptions. Is the black duck guilty of close-minded, self-dissembling and narrow thinking? Now, in the UK , the body responsible for policing medicines (the MHRA), has recently given an endorsement to the homeopath scammers to keep pushing their sweeties as if they were medicines. Under pressure, the MHRA has handed them a nice get-out-of-gaol-free card. How can I be so sure I am right when such august bodies are against me? The MHRA is extending...

The Paradox of the Good Homeopath

August 31, 2006

By Andy Lewis

A correspondent has made valid points about the quackometer that I should be careful to ensure that it only awards Canards to real quacks. A sentiment I share and I worry about how to achieve this. I was told to make sure I didn’t get the ‘good guys’ who look into the effectiveness of alternative treatments. Fair enough – but this is a murky world, and telling the good guys from the quacks is not necessarily easy. For example, what makes a Good Homeopath? And can I adjust the Quackometer to go easy on them? Let’s explore. First, an an example. Professor Edzard Ernst of Exeter University in the UK is widely regarded as being fairly unique and well respected in the academic world for his work on the...

Boots the Quack

August 29, 2006

By Andy Lewis

I have recently been accused of working for the ‘drug industry’ and just picking on the ‘little guys’ who are using gentle, more human, and less capitalist healing methods. Well, as I say in my definition of quackery, quack thinking can come from all quarters and all sides of the orthodox/alternative medicine camps. ‘Big Pharma’ is a word that is pejoratively used to criticise drug companies in their pursuit of profits by their stubborn refusal to embrace alternative thinking. Their profits depend somehow on them denying the legitimacy of any alternative treatment. Alternative therapies are somehow more suitable for the small practitioner who may not even be that interested in making money – apparently. The evidence would suggest that this is not so clear cut. Alternative medicine is also...

Quack Word #37: ‘Holistic’

August 11, 2006

By Andy Lewis

As you know, the quackometer works by counting words, or combinations of words, that strongly suggest the web site is full of quackery. I thought I would write about a few of those words and why they are dead give-aways. So, ‘Holistic’ – not in itself necessarily anything to do with medicine, but this word is often used with medicine when quackery is at work. Why is this and what do quacks mean by it? Why is almost exclusively used by quacks? Spot this word and you spot a quack. The word was coined by Jan Smuts, the South African statesman, in a work entitled “Holism and Evolution” and defined it as “the tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts”. Holistic...

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Posts Tagged ‘ homeopathy ’

We the undersigned…

The Depths of Ms McKeith’s Anti-Science

The Daily Mail: An Apology

The First Annual Quackometer Awards and Year Review

PHYTOBIOPHYSICS® – Flower Power or Duck Weed?

Skinny Homeopathic Grande Cappuccino To Go Please

The Paradox of the Good Homeopath

Boots the Quack

Quack Word #37: ‘Holistic’

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