The Curious Case of Oxford University Press, Homeopathy and Charles Darwin

15th October, 2010 111

Science is a human activity. And as such, it is subject to the full range of fallibilities of thought and action that people are capable of. Within science you will find sloppy and wishful thinking, error and even fraud. But science, rather uniquely, has methods designed explicitly to minimise human biases, reduce error and correct mistakes when they are found. It is this inherent error correction that makes science a [read more…]

John Benneth, Brian Josephson and an Absurd Talk at Cambridge

9th October, 2010 82

On the 1st of October, a rather unusual talk was held at the Cavendish Laboratories in Cambridge, entitled “The Supramolecular Chemistry of the Homeopathic Remedy”. The talk was at the invite of Nobel laureate Brian Josephson and was to be given by a chap named John Benneth. Josephson is a known supporter of parapsychology, telepathy and homeopathy. Now Benneth may well be known to critics of homeopathy as he is [read more…]

The Society of Homeopaths, Richard Barr and MMR

3rd October, 2010 32

The Society of Homeopath’s response to the latest BBC revelations was entirely predictable. The BBC investigation uncovered how homeopaths appear to be routinely offering their sugar pills as an alternative to childhood vaccinations such as MMR. Such unethical and unthinking behaviour can only lead to children being exposed to potentially dangerous infections. Doctors appeared to have been shocked by these findings. But they should not have been. Antagonistic beliefs towards [read more…]

The GP Commissioning Consortium for Integrated Medicine

22nd September, 2010 7

The UK health care system is about to undergo a major overhaul in how services are funded. Currently, tax funded Primary Care Trusts, based on geographical regions, have contracts with hospitals to provide the services that the NHS delivers. The PCTs decide what types of treatments and services are a priority for funding and negotiates the prices that shall be paid. All that is about to change.In a move that [read more…]

Can Homeopathy Cure Mastitis in Cows?

12th September, 2010 38

A new study has been published in The Journal of Dairy Research looking at if you can use homeopathy to treat mastitis in cattle. The paper fails to demonstrate that you can. And as such, that is not a surprise. These cows will have been given water drops as if it is medicine: homeopathy is a superstitious hang-over from 18th Century ways of thinking about health. Of course it does [read more…]

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