Which? Uncovers Dangerous Advice from Nutritionists.

16th January, 2012 28

Having just had a baby girl and moving house, I thought I would subscribe to Which? magazine as I knew I needed to make a few critical spends over the coming months. Which? is a consumer rights organisation that publishes reports and reviews into consumer issues. Online reviews of products and services can often be misleading as you do not know anything about the reviewers motives and depth of experiences. [read more…]

TED Quacks

8th December, 2010 38

The TED talks are a treat. TED runs a series of conferences around the world where interesting people are invited to speak about “ideas worth spreading”. You can view hundreds of these talks online from great thinkers, such as Richard Dawkins, the inspirational, such as Brian Cox, and the influential, such as Bill Clinton. Nobel Prize winners mix with politicians mix with innovative business leaders. And the video archive online [read more…]

The Finchley Clinic, Triamazon and the Law.

9th September, 2010 4

There is nothing too remarkable about the Finchley Clinic in London. Apart that it is not really a clinic as you might understand the word. It is run by a chap called Mark Lester who apparently used to offer a number of questionable alternative medicine therapies, including ozone therapy, bowen therapy and very unorthodox tests such as Rife machine and something called electro-crystal therapy. These days, the Finchley Clinic just [read more…]

Doctor’s Data and Bogus Tests

7th July, 2010 35

This week in The Lawyer, Robert Dougans and David Allen Green wrote about the emerging phenomenon of ‘wiki litigation’ where there is large scale scrutiny and participation in legal proceedings using the web as a shared medium. They used the example of the British Chiropractic Association’s libel case against science writer Simon Singh. This was not just the web watching the case – but actively participating by the scrutiny of [read more…]

Ozone Therapy, The Homeopath and Savage Grace

27th August, 2009 35

Put conventional logic to one side and join me on a trip to the Caribbean where we will meet holistic therapists, dodgy diagnostic tests, fantastical cancer treatments, heavy metal rock gods, porn stars and also some really bad and shocking things too. Louise Mclean (not pictured) is a rather prominent UK homeopath and writer. Based in London, and a member of the Homeopathic Medical Association, she is probably most famous [read more…]

Nutritional Therapists Fail to Join Ofquack

20th April, 2009 20

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, Ofquack, is having an appalling start to its life. Needing 10,000 people to join its register in the first year to break even, it has collected less than 300 names. This should be put in context with a claimed “150,000 complementary healthcare practitioners in the UK.” Part of the problem is that, at the moment, Ofquack is only allowing nutritional therapists and massage therapists [read more…]

Top Ten Tips For Creating Your Own New Alternative Medicine

29th March, 2009 29

The economic downturn may mean that you are thinking of retraining as an alternative healer. You might be tempted to invest your redundancy money or savings in training courses and equipment. Think again. It may be far cheaper and much more lucrative to invent your own brand new form of quackery. Most forms of alternative medicine are at most only a few decades old or have only become popular recently. [read more…]

Ofquack’s Toothless Squawk

19th January, 2009 1

Today sees the long awaited launch of the government backed Ofquack, better known in some circles as the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Ofquack is the “national voluntary regulator for complementary healthcare practitioners” and was set up by Prince Charles’ Foundation for Integrated Health and funding from the Department of Health. You can find their sparkly new website at http://www.ofquack.org.uk/. It has been quite a long road getting here. [read more…]

Deeside Water Quackery

16th January, 2009 1

The gullibility of British newspapers never ceases to amaze me. The British press today carried uncritical articles about the miracles of Deeside Mineral Water. The Telegraph – a paper with no serious science credibility anymore – told us, Scientists claim that Deeside Water can give drinkers a younger appearance and more radiant skin tone. Those who drank the Scottish water, which is bottled from a spring near the Queen’s Balmoral [read more…]

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