Medicine

Alternative medicines can’t escape the long arm of the law

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Edzard Ernst is an impressive chap, not only is he a prize-winning physician, but he is also the founder of two medical journals. And if that is not enough, he was also the first chair in complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and is also the co-author of “Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on … Read more

Magic Pill Awareness week

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Apparently April 10-16 was World Homeopathy Awareness Week. Hey, I’m all for that, I just love the idea of folks become more aware of Homeopathy and what it is “really” all about. Now, before we get into the latest news, let me be blunt and direct … it does not work. Homeopathy’s efficacy is unsupported … Read more

Top five regrets of the dying

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The UK’s Guardian has a story that claims to list the “Top five regrets of the dying“. The background is that Bronnie Ware, a palliative nurse based in Australia who counselled the dying in their last days, has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. OK, I know you are … Read more

Burzynski Quackery … some updates, and some good news.

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I’ve a few Burzynski quackery updates for you. First is the news that Rhys Morgan, the 17-year-old skeptical blogger, has an article published in today’s UK Guardian (now that is impressive). He writes  about the details behind the Burzynski saga and then finishes with a very good quote that nails it … “[Plaintiffs] cannot, by simply … Read more

Antioxidants – The Evidence is: they don’t work

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When it comes to  antioxidant supplements I’ve been as guilty as most and have indeed in the past purchased and popped a few of these with the thought in the back of my mind that I was being health. Alas, I was simply fooling myself, the weight of evidence now available suggests that the antioxidant supplements on sale today either do nothing or might even cause harm to your long term health.

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UK Lottery Funding for spiritual healing on NHS

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In the UK there is a national Lottery that, for every £1 that the public spends on Lottery tickets, 28 pence goes to the Lottery good causes. How do they define “good causes”? Well, these are the arts, charities and voluntary groups, heritage, health, education, the environment and sports. OK, so far that sounds great.

OK yes, you can tell there is a WTF moment coming up because I’m blogging about this, and indeed yes there is, so brace yourselves.

The National Lottery has awarded a £205,000 grant for the two-year study to healing charity “Fresh Winds”. Basically NHS patients will be offered a treatment where a healer will pass their hands over the patient’s body to channel ‘healing energy’ to affected areas in 20-minute sessions to correct energy flow imbalances …WTF (Well I did warn you) … As for this being actual value for money, this is more or less akin to taking the entire pile of cash into the car park and setting fire to it. The evidence that this will be anything other than a placebo is zero.

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