The Quackometer
Experiments and Thoughts on Quackery,
Health Beliefs and Pseudoscience
Welcome to the Quackometer
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recent quackometer blog entries...
How Life Healthcare Coped with the Terror of an ASA Investigation.
Wed, 14 May 2008 17:25:00 +0000
The Advertising Standards Authority is one of the few regulatory bodies in the UK regularly prepared to tackle the untruthful and unsubstantiated claims made routinely in the alternative health industry. It is also one of the weakest regulatory bodies in the UK. Nothing could highlight that more than how Life Healthcare (trading under the url http://www.reverseageing.com/) dealt with an
How to become a Daytime TV Expert: The Jayney Goddard Story
Wed, 07 May 2008 19:13:00 +0000
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
Neal's Yard Remedies 'rapped by medicines regulator'
Tue, 06 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000
In a recent post, I described how Neal's Yard Remedies had withdrawn their Malaria homeopathy pills. Their press release said, as this is obviously a contentious issue which is causing customer concern, we have decided to withdraw the product, Malaria Officinalis 30c from sale with immediate effect. I described this as bullshit, just like the rest of their press release. The much more likely
On Bullshit and Mindfucking
Thu, 01 May 2008 17:45:00 +0000
Edzard Ernst has accused practitioners of alternative medicine of lying to their patients. In last week's New Scientist he gave an interview where he described his childhood experiences with homeopathy, and his subsequent medical and homeopathic training, and his work in the only German homeopathic hospital. His conversion to doubt has been slow and guided by the evidence. He now believes that
Neal's Yard Ethical Bullshit Remedy
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:52:00 +0000
Neal's Yard Remedies has announced that it is withdrawing is Malaria Officinalis 30C homeopathic remedy from sale. This is the absolute minimum it could have done given that its Exeter Branch was recently caught out by the BBC South West programme Inside Out selling this remedy as protection against malaria. (I wrote about this staggering event recently.) What reason do Neal's Yard give? Let's
A Footnote to Darwin and Homeopathy
Neal's Yard Remedies Offers Lethal Homeopathic Malaria Advice
Medical Astrology - Forseeing the Future of Regulated Alternative Medicine
Hopi Ear Candling - Removing the Grey Goo Between Your Ears
The Vets Who Make People Feel Better
The Society of Homeopaths: One Year On
Very Soon, Falsely Using the Title 'Dr' Will Land You in a New Heap of Doo Doo
About Me
The Quackometer has been developed by Andy Lewis. If you wish to get in contact then please read the FAQ and then email me. Details in the About section.
The $100 Challenge
With minimum cost, homeopaths could do a simple test that would start to shut me up about the implausibility of homeopathy.
It is now
23 weeks
without anyone taking the test.
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