Fitzpatrick on WDDTY

20th November, 2013 61

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, a trustee of Sense About Science, has written an article, in online magazine Spiked, criticising the detractors of magazine What Doctors Don’t Tell You. In the article, Even Quacks Must Have Free Speech, Fitzpatrick says Simon Singh and blogger Matthew Lam are wrong to call for the ‘consoring’ or restriction of the distribution of this “fundamentally silly magazine”. The argument appears to be one of simple free [read more…]

Boots Selling Dubious Philips BlueTouch Pain Relief Patch

8th November, 2013 23

For £275.00, Boots will sell you a sort of torch that it claims offers a “natural, drug-free way to treat back pain”. Made by Philips, this device uses some blue LED lights that it claims “stimulates the body’s natural healing process.”. This was brought to my attention by a tweet from Richard Wiseman, New product in Boots claims blue LED light eases back pain. Is this shite? pic.twitter.com/eF3cIF5Yqp — Richard Wiseman (@RichardWiseman) [read more…]

WDDTY: An Evil Agenda

31st October, 2013 57

The latest November issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You has appeared and has delivered on its promise to devote an issue to cancer treatment with homeopathy and other quackery. It has been a tense month for the magazine owners as an impromptu campaign has happened where people have been writing to High Street retailers, such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s warning that the magazine contains serious health misinformation and a dangerous [read more…]

BBC Uphold My Complaint About Jo Good on Barking Hour

23rd October, 2013 9

This week, the BBC has published its findings into an investigation of a May episode of BBC London’s Barking Hour programme where misleading, dangerous and possibly illegal advice was given about he treatment of animals with chiropractic and homeopathy. Despite the BBC originally dismissing my complaint and saying that it was “balanced and fair”, an independent investigation found the programme had made unfounded claims, had misled the audience and had not [read more…]

Professional Standards Authority Gives Accreditation to Ofquack

11th October, 2013 12

Ofquack, or the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) (www.ofquack.org.uk), has been approved as an Accredited Voluntary Register by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). So now, craniosacral therapists, ear acupuncturists, reflexologists and reiki healers can claim to be covered by similar professional standards as doctors and nurses. This development is deeply worrying. It aims to protect the public from risks associated with such practices, but it will do not such thing. Indeed, by [read more…]

Call to Action: Tesco and WDDTY

20th September, 2013 143

Tesco may be changing its stance on this highly controversial magazine. Time to act and remind them how dangerous and unacceptable this publication is. For a year now, there has been much concern that mainstream retail outlets have been stocking and selling a magazine called What Doctors Don’t Tell You. Now, there are many magazines on the shelves that frequently promote superstitious and pseudoscientific forms of health belief, such as homeopathy, vitamins [read more…]

Kevin Wright and the Cancer Charities that Harm Children.

6th September, 2013 197

A month ago, I saw two young men in Bristol Temple Meads Station collecting money for the charity Kids Integrated Cancer Treatment. They were holding two large plastic apples for passing passengers to put money in and telling people they were like CLIC – a popular childrens’ cancer charity – except “Integrated”. What made this everyday scene unusual is that one of the trustees of the charity, Jacqueline Wright was [read more…]

The Inspection of Steiner Schools

12th August, 2013 215

Last week, it was reported that pupils at Ringwood Waldorf School, a private Steiner School, had been given art lessons in “supervised self harm”. The pupils had been encouraged to cut themselves with a blade as part of an art class. The teacher resigned before a disciplinary hearing could take place. Steiner schools sell themselves as focusing on art. I am sure this was not what parents were expecting. But [read more…]

An Unacceptable Response from the BBC

4th July, 2013 20

I have received a reply from the BBC to my complaint that BBC Radio London seriously misled its listeners during a ‘Barking Hour’ programme on the use of chiropractic and homeopathy for dogs. Details of the concerns are listed on my previous blog post. To remind you, the programme was given over to “animal chiropractor”,  Kay McCarroll, who made many unchallenged, misleading statements about quack treatments for dogs. The programme misled [read more…]

What the Steiner Waldorf School Movement did not want you to read.

14th June, 2013 140

Earlier this month, Grégoire Perra was finally acquitted in a French court after the Federation of Waldorf  Steiner Schools in France decided to sue Grégoire Perra, a former Steiner teacher, for publishing a critique of the schools and the anthroposophy movement. The trial appears to have collapsed as the court accepted that the account was not written out of malice but as an honest examination of the Steiner School system. It also [read more…]

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