Uncategorized – Page 22 – The Quackometer Blog

How Life Healthcare Coped with the Terror of an ASA Investigation.

14th May, 2008 32

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 investigation. Life Healthcare had made an advertising leaflet for a product [read more…]

How to become a Daytime TV Expert: The Jayney Goddard Story

7th May, 2008 39

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 experts in complementary and integrated medicine.” Impressive stuff. No wonder [read more…]

Neal’s Yard Remedies ‘rapped by medicines regulator’

6th May, 2008 7

In a recent post, I described how Neal’s Yard Remedies had withdrawn their Malaria homeopathy pills.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 cause was that they were being [read more…]

On Bullshit and Mindfucking

1st May, 2008 17

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 homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo therapy. [read more…]

The ‘Close Doors’ Button

23rd April, 2008 23

I read a rather disconcerting thing the other day. Apparently, the ‘close doors’ button on lifts (elevators, for my American friends) does not work. It is there to give us a sense of control in the tin box suspended on a rope. We press it but the lift control mechanisms decide when the doors should actually shut according to their pre-programmed cycles. My reaction was of course total disbelief. For [read more…]

A Footnote to Darwin and Homeopathy

17th April, 2008 18

The homeopaths, like Dana Ullman, treat original scientific works like scripture – as a source of truth. Their own Hahnemannian scriptures trump scientific knowledge and evidence at all turns. This fact exposes their pseudoscience. I bet the majority of practicing biologists have never read Darwin’s Origins. Homeopaths like the authority of scientists, celebrities and politicians. It gives them a source of validation that is independent of the reality of the [read more…]

It’s a Stitch Up

15th April, 2008 9

It’s the big story this morning all over the British papers – the new killer in our midst – vitamin pills. Today, a new Cochrane review tells us that guzzling antioxidant vitamin pills ‘do us no good and may be harmful’. The Independent tell us that, We swallow them by the bucketload at great expense but there is no evidence vitamin supplements do us any good, and they may even [read more…]

Medical Astrology – Forseeing the Future of Regulated Alternative Medicine

8th April, 2008 13

Part of the wonderful new world of regulated alternative medicine is the insistence that all registered practitioners undergo Continuous Professional Development. Just like in real professions, quacks will be expected to attend a certain number of hours per year in keeping their skills up to date and learning about the latest developments in their field. The Prince of Wales and his new Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council are right behind [read more…]

The Age of Quackery

30th March, 2008 16

In my last post I discussed how Hopi Ear Candles has nothing to do with the American Hopi tribe and was a technique that had only been scalding ear drums since the Eighties. Quackery likes to sell itself on its ancient roots and traditional heritage. But, by the looks of it, most quackery techniques have much more modern roots. Someone emailed me to ask if I could expand on this, [read more…]

Very Soon, Falsely Using the Title ‘Dr’ Will Land You in a New Heap of Doo Doo

14th March, 2008 11

If you are worried about the activities of an alternative medicine practitioner, there is not an easy way to find the right authority who might look into it. The Advertising Standards Authority are very effective at investigating complex matters, but can only really rap knuckles and leave traders to carry on pretty much unharmed. Often, the only damage is an ASA ruling placed well down in the Google result list. [read more…]