homeopathy – Page 4 – The Quackometer Blog

Homeopaths Attempt to Rubbish Ernst and Singh with Dismal Critique

21st April, 2009 22

The stillborn homeopathy campaign, Homeopathy Worked for Me, that attempted to collect 250,000 signatures but managed just a few percent of that, has now resorted to producing a laughably daft critique of Ernst & Singh’s Trick or Treatment. William Alderson, a homeopath, has produced a 142 page response to the book that attempts to show that the book has “has no validity as a scientific examination of alternative medicine”. Entitled, [read more…]

Homeopathy Does Not Cause Side Effects in Cancer Patients

14th April, 2009 30

The Cochrane Library has published a new review of the effects of homeopathy on cancer patients**. Its conclusion is that “there is limited evidence that homeopathic remedies ease the side effects of cancer treatments, but they at least seem to cause no serious adverse effects or drug interactions.” The Quackometer’s response is “No shit, Sherlock!” Homeopathy is the application of nothing.* It is therefore rather likely that pills with nothing [read more…]

Mistletoe and Cancer

24th December, 2008 7

Merry Christmas! Last Christmas, we looked at the quackery surrounding myrrh. This year, it is time for me to have little whine about mistletoe. Christmas would not be the same without a little cheeky kiss under this herb – usually with someone you really ought not to. But, its role at Christmas undoubtedly stretches back in time to more paganistic practices. According to Pliny the Elder, it was central to [read more…]

The Society of Homeopaths: The Failure of Self Regulation

14th October, 2008 73

The Adverting Standards Authority has today found that a homeopath advertised their asthma clinic for kids by making untruthful, unsubstantiated and irresponsible claims. Archway House Natural Health Centre holds an Asthma and Eczema clinic for children, run by Julia Wilson, a member of the Society of Homeopaths. Inasmuch, this is not news. The ASA make judgments like this every week. Their weekly published list today contains all sorts of findings [read more…]

How Can You Criticise Homeopathy When You Have Never Studied It?

3rd October, 2008 6

Anyone who has ever entered into a debate with a homeopathy about the nature of their trade will have sooner or later bumped into this objection to their arguments. At one level, it is a simple deflection away from whatever point you were trying to make and an attempt to turn the conversation to your apparent lack of credentials and authority to question the subject. Without doubt, the homeopath will [read more…]

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Malaria?

23rd September, 2008 3

Dr* T on his Thinking is Dangerous blog reports that Helios appear to have stopped selling their Malaria nosodes for the homeopathic prevention of Malaria. This is good news. A quick check also reveals that Ainsworths also appear to have stopped selling it too. Is this the end of this dispicable practice in the UK? It is difficult to know, although it will make it much more difficult for casual [read more…]

Desperate Remedies

2nd August, 2008 26

Homeopathy on the NHS has nearly vanished. We see prescriptions have halved in the past two years and one of the last five hospitals has been confirmed to close. This is as it should be. The last vestigial remnants of nineteenth century quackery in the state health care system are being dropped from the tax payers burden. There is nothing unsurprising here. It is the natural result of an increasing [read more…]

That’s It for Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital

29th July, 2008 26

Reported today in Pulse, Campaigners look to have lost their fight to save a leading homeopathic hospital, in a landmark case that accelerates the treatment’s deepening crisis over NHS funding.West Kent PCT decided there was ‘not enough evidence of clinical effectiveness’ to justify funding routine homeopathic consultations and treatments at the Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, a decision which may force its closure. Amazingly, most patients and GP’s did not want [read more…]

The “New Fundamentalism”: Why Lionel Milgrom is Plain Wrong (Again)

5th July, 2008 48

Bafflegab – the multiloquence characterized by consummate interfusion of circumlocution or periphrasis, inscrutability, and other familiar manifestations of abstruse expatiation – is word that ought to be familiar to Lionel Milgrom. Milgrom is a champion apologist for homeopathic ‘science’. As a former director of the Society of Homeopaths, he delights the homeopathic community with his musings on quantum theory, entanglement and its hypothesised role in ‘patient-practitioner interactions’. Since quantum theory [read more…]

£10,000 if you can show homeopathy works

18th June, 2008 29

Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh have issued a challenge to homeopaths: show the world your evidence that homeopathy is effective for any single condition. After recently publishing a book on the merits of various alternative medicines, there has been a near universally negative response from alternative medicine practitioners, particularly the homeopaths, who would prefer to try to smear the Professor than engage in argument. The most common claim from homeopaths [read more…]