Chris Ruane MP, ex deputy head, has doubts about germ theory

One of the readers of my blog wrote to his constituency MP about his concern for public funding of NHS. This is his MP's reply.

Quite an astonishing display of anti-intellectualism and ignorance. It might be worth pointing out that before Mr Ruane became an MP, he was a school teacher.

Dear Andrew,

I too have my concerns about certain types of homeopathic or alternative
medicines and treatments such as palmistry, astrology, and even aroma
therapy but I feel that western medicine has relied too heavily on the germ
theory of disease that illness and disease came from without and can be
treated from without  medicine or surgery.

I believe a good proportion of illness and disease can be effectively
controlled by tapping into and enhancing an individual's natural immune
system. That the patient is not such a passive receptacle for science,
medicine and surgery but can contribute to their own recovery. The illness
should be seen in the round that the psychological and social condition of
each individual patient are as important to an individual's recovery as
surgery.

Western medicine should not be dismissive of other practices such as
acupuncture, meditation but the balance needs to be struck.

Yours sincerely,

Chris

Chris Ruane MP
For the Vale of Clwyd

4 Comments on Chris Ruane MP, ex deputy head, has doubts about germ theory

  1. What makes Chris Ruane think that western medicine doesn’t deal with "a good proportion of illness and disease" by "tapping into and enhancing an individual’s natural immune system". They are called vaccines and are really quite good. He ought to read about them.Indeed some diseases are from within (my brother has one – it’s called MS). However, in this case, it would appear the disease is caused because the immune system runs awry; either all by itself or as a result of some external trigger. Indeed there are huge numbers of diseases which are not caused by external infections – western medicine has some quite good remedies for some of those. For example, diabetes. At least this ill-informed twerp is no longer able to pass this sort of rubbish onto children. He also ought to look into the structure of that first paragraph.

  2. Other than the unfortunate use of the term "germ theory" there isn’t much wrong with this.A balance does need to be struck. We should not dismiss the benefits of treatments such as acupuncture or even just of positive thinking in the same way as good, hard science shouldn’t be ignored.Personally I feel that there is a lot to be said for having a healthy attitude and outlook and that it contributes to physical, or perhaps psychosomatic, symptoms. I’ll confess to not having looked into whether or not there is any scientific research to this end but I’m fairly confident that the "Placebo effect" has been scientifically demonstrated.

  3. Foamcow. May I suggest you are guilty of the same error as Ruane. Pontificating about the benefits of alt med whilst admitting you have not looked into the evidence.For the latest on the misleading claims of acupuncturists, you would do far worse than look here http://www.dcscience.net/?p=4439

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