MD, PhD, MAE, FMedSci, FRSB, FRCP, FRCPEd.

Monthly Archives: July 2016

If you feel that, on this blog and elsewhere, some sceptics sometimes use harsh language, you haven’t recently read what ‘the other side’ of the debate regularly publish. A good example is ‘NATURAL NEWS’; slander and insult seem to be the daily fare of this publication. A good example is this recent article [02/02/2017: url disrupted by Admin because of suspected malware]; it is so disgustingly vile that I cannot resist showing you a few passages.

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Meet the ultimate pharma whore and vaccine-toxin apologist, Dr. Paul ‘Profit’ Offit

Possibly one of the most dangerous doctors on planet Earth is Paul Offit, a man capable of creating, promoting and profiting from the most toxic “medicine” known to mankind – experimental vaccines. Not only is injecting neurotoxins into children extremely dangerous, but the whole vaccine industry is loosely regulated, and the CDC requires no proof of safety or efficacy for immunizations.

Plus, the vaccine industry has their own rigged court system so that families cannot sue the manufacturers. Anyone who lets their children be injected with mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum and MSG (contaminants found in nearly every vaccine and flu shot), is putting a ton of faith in something they should not have any faith in. The inoculation industry as a whole has been making fraudulent medical claims for more than 60 years. Vaccines and prescription medications are fast-tracked through the FDA and CDC without any tests for safety or efficacy.

That’s why about one sixth of all Americans (about 50 million) have sought out holistic care of some sort, at least once already. People are fed up with pediatricians who know nothing about nutrition or quality, non-invasive, non-chemical care. They’re also realizing that prescription meds come with side effects that are worse than the conditions being treated. That’s where scare tactic “professionals” and criminal propagandists come into play, like Dr. Paul Offit.

Never trust someone who can ‘vote themselves rich’ – like Dr. Paul ‘Offit-for-Profit’

One of the biggest scams of the century is the “RotaTeq” rotavirus vaccine. Invented by, patented by, promoted by, and worth millions in profit to Offit, the extremely toxic (oral) vaccine contains live rotavirus strains (G1, G2, G3, G4 and P1), plus highly toxic polysorbate 80 and fetal bovine serum. Scared yet? There’s more. This insane inoculation contains parts of porcine circovirus, a virus that infects pigs! This is all per the Merck website’s list of ingredients, in case you’d like to check for yourself. Want to infect your infant with all of this and help “Profit-Offit” get richer, so he can infect more infants?

Bill Gates promotes Offit in their combined attempt to mass-vaccinate the whole world and decrease the population by several billion, by injecting cancer-causing carcinogens and toxins that cause infertility. That’s the plan.

Offit works at the Children’s hospital of Philadelphia (appropriately nicknamed CHOP), and he is a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation. All this in spite of the fact that autism has been directly linked to the MMR vaccine, which contains, not coincidentally, many of the same ingredients as the RotaTeq vaccine.

The Rotavirus vaccine has never been proven to work, yet Offit made tens of millions of dollars when he sold the patent. Offit has direct financial ties to Merck, and formerly served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a position which has come into question as an extreme conflict of interest. That job entailed Offit creating the market for the rotavirus vaccine, which means he basically voted himself rich in the process.

Paul “Profit” Offit is quoted as saying he could get “10,000 vaccines at once” and be fine, knowing even a dozen would probably kill him or maim him for life…

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Such extreme diatribe does, of course, not deserve a comment. However, I want to stress that Paul Offit is one of the leading paediatrician and immunization expert in the US; his reputation is undisputed (except, of course, in circles of deranged loons) and he recently published a book on alternative medicine, entitled ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC’, that I highly recommend.

Guest post by Frank Van der Kooy

Something happened in 2008. Something, or a number of things, triggered an exponential rise in the number of rhinos being killed in South Africa. Poaching numbers remained quite low and was stable for a decade with only 13 being killed in 2007. But then suddenly it jumped to 83 in 2008 and it reached a total of 1 175 in 2015. To explain this will be difficult and it will be due to a number of factors or events coinciding in 2008. One possible contributing factor, which I will discuss here, is the growing acceptance of TCM in western countries! For example: Phynova recently advertised a new product as being the first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) being registered in the UK. By directing customers to a separate site for more information regarding their product they ‘accidently’ linked to a site which ‘advertised’ rhino horn (this link has since been removed). Another example is a University in Australia who published a thesis in 2008, in which they described the current use of Rhino horn as a highly effective medicine, just like you would describe any other real medicine. Surely this will have an impact!

But first a bit of background, so please bear with me. There are two ‘opposing’ aspects regarding TCM that most members of the public do not seem to understand well. Not their fault, because the TCM lobby groups are spending a huge amount of effort to keep the lines between these two aspects as blurred as possible. The first aspect is the underlying pseudoscientific TCM principles; the yin and yang and the vitalistic “energy” flow through “meridians” and much more. Science has relegated this to the pseudosciences, just like bloodletting, which was seen as a cure-all hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, the pseudoscientific TCM principles are still with us and based on these principles almost every single TCM modality works! From acupuncture to herbs to animal matter (including rhino horn) – everything is efficacious, safe and cost effective. Evidence for this is that close to a 100% of clinical trials done on TCM in China give positive results. Strange isn’t it! People in China should thus no die of any disease – they have ‘effective’ medicine for everything! This is the world of TCM in a nutshell.

The second aspect of TCM is the application of the modern scientific method to test which of the thousands of TCM modalities are really active, which ones are useless and which ones are dangerous. Decades of investigation have come up empty-handed with one or two exceptions. One notable exception is Artemisia annua which contain a single compound that is highly effective for the treatment of malaria, and once identified and intensely studied, it was taken up into conventional medicine – not the herb, but the compound. If you investigate all the plants in the world you are bound to find some compounds that can be used as medicine – it has nothing to do with TCM principles and it can most definitely not be used as evidence that the TCM principles are correct or that it based on science.

These two aspects are therefore quite different.

In the TCM world just about everything works, but it is not backed up by science. It is huge market ($170 billion) and it creates employment for many – something that make politicians smile. In the modern scientific world, almost nothing in TCM works, but it is based on science. It is however not profitable at all – you have to investigate thousands of plants in order to find one useful compound.

Many TCM practitioners and researchers are avidly trying to combine the positives of these two worlds. They focus mainly on the money and employment aspect of the TCM world and try and combine this with the modern scientific approach. They tend to focus on the one example where modern science discovered a useful compound (artemisinin) in the medicinal plant Artemisia annua, which was also coincidently used as an herb in TCM – as evidence that TCM works! Here are some examples:

“To stigmatise all traditional medicine would be unfair. After all, a Chinese medicine practitioner last year won a Nobel prize.” No, a Chinese scientist using the modern scientific method identified artemisinin after testing hundreds or even thousands of different plants.

This year, Chinese medicine practitioners will be registered in Australia. ….. Chinese herbal medicine is administered routinely in hospitals for many chronic diseases. …… This has led to recognising herbs such as Artemisia as a proven anti-malarial ……” No, the compound artemisinin is a proven anti-malarial!

There has been enormous progress in the last 20 years or so. I am sure you are familiar with the use of one of the Chinese herbs in managing resistant malaria.” No, very little progress and no, the compound artemisinin!

So this is a game that is being played with the simple intention to blur the lines between these two aspects regarding TCM – but the real reason might simply be “A new research-led Chinese medicine clinic in Sydney, better patient outcomes and the potential for Australia to tap into the $170 billion global traditional Chinese medicine market”

Prof Alan Bensoussan the director of the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) and registered in Australia as a TCM and acupuncture practitioner is a champion in blurring this line. Alan has been instrumental in lobbying the Australian regulatory agency that a long tradition of use is all you need to be able to register new products. He was also influential in establishing the Chinese medicine practitioner registry in Australia, in 2012, and thereby legitimising TCM in Australia. He has been actively chipping away at the resistance that the Australian public have against these pseudoscientific healthcare systems such as TCM – one can argue that he has done so quite successfully because they are expanding their operations into the Westmead precinct of Sydney with a new TCM clinic/hospital.

Enough background; so what does all of this have to do with Rhino horn? (and for that matter other endangered species). We have to remember that in the TCM world just about everything works and that includes rhino horn! Searching Western Sydney University’s theses portal for Xijiao (Chinese for Rhino horn) I found a thesis published in 2008 from the NICM and co-supervised by Alan; “Development of an evidence-based Chinese herbal medicine for the management of vascular dementia”

On page 45-46: “Recently, with fast developing science and technologies being applied in the pharmaceutical manufacturing area, more and more herbs or herbal mixtures have been extracted or made into medicinal injections. These have not only largely facilitated improved application to patients, but also increased the therapeutic effectiveness and accordingly reduced the therapeutic courses …… lists the most common Chinese herbal medicine injections used for the treatment of VaD. “

“Xing Nao Jing Injection (for clearing heat toxin and opening brain, removing phlegm) contains ….. Rhinoceros unicornis (Xijiao), …… Moschus berezovskii (Shexiang), …..”

“…. Xing Nao Jing injection has been widely applied in China for stroke and vascular dementia. …. After 1-month treatment intervention, they found the scores in the treatment group increased remarkably, as compared with the control group …… “

They list two endangered species; the Rhino and the Chinese forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii). But what is truly worrying is that they don’t even mention the endangered status or at least recommend that the non-endangered substitutes, which do exist in the TCM world, should be used instead – or maybe use fingernails as a substitute? It is not discussed at all. Clearly they are stating that using these endangered animals are way more effective than western medicine (the control group) for the treatment of vascular dementia! This is deplorable to say the least. Statements like this fuels the decimation of this species. But this shows that they truly believe and support the underlying pseudoscientific principles of TCM – they have to, their ability to tap into the TCM market depends on it!

As a scientist you are entitled to discuss historic healthcare treatments such as bloodletting. But make sure to also state that this practice has been shown to be ineffective, and quite dangerous, and that modern science has since come up with many other effective treatments. If it is stated that bloodletting is currently being used and it is effective – then you will simply be promoting bloodletting! The same goes for Rhino horn and this is exactly what they have done here. But then again they live in a world where all TCM modalities are active!

How to solve this problem of growing acceptance of TCM in western countries? A simple step could be that people like Alan publicly denounce the underlying pseudoscientific TCM principles and make the ‘difficult’ switch to real science! Admittedly, he will have to part with lots of money from the CM industry and his Chinese partners, and maybe not built his new TCM hospital! But for some reason I strongly doubt that this will happen. The NICM have successfully applied a very thin, but beautiful, veneer of political correctness and modernity over the surface of complementary medicine. Anyone who cares to look underneath this veneer will find a rotten ancient pseudoscientific TCM world – in this case the promotion and the use of endangered animals.

After reading chapter two of this thesis one cannot believe that this is from an Australian University and paid for by the Australian taxpayer! The main question though: Can I directly link this thesis with the increase in rhino poaching? This will be very difficult if not impossible to do. But that is not the problem. Promoting the pseudoscientific principles of TCM in Australia expands the export market for TCM, and hence will lead to an increased need for raw materials, including the banned Rhino horn. That Rhino horn has been a banned substance since the 1980’s clearly does not seem to have any impact looking at the poaching statistics. In an unrelated paper published in 2010 the ingredients in the Xingnaojing injection is listed as “…. consisting of Chinese herbs such as Moschus, Borneol, Radix Curcumae, Fructus Gardeniae, ….” No full list is given in the paper – dare I say because it contains Rhino horn as well? The drug Ice is also banned, but if you are going to promote it at a ‘trusted’ university, then you shouldn’t be surprised that Ice production increases and more of it flows into Australia – even if it is illegal. The same goes for Rhino horn!

Last Sunday evening, the Syrian, Mohammad D., tried to enter an open air festival in Ansbach, Germany. As he had no ticket, he was barred from entering. Later he exploded his bomb in front of one of the entrances of the festival. It killed him and injured 15 others, 4 seriously.

According to a report published in German, the 27-year old suicide-bomber had been treated since about half a year in an institution in Lindau called ‘Exilio’ by alternative therapists (Heilpraktiker) who offer ‘holistic help’ for immigrants under the leadership of Gisela und Axel von Maltitz.

The German ‘Heilpraktiker’ is an oddity left over from the Third Reich. Today, a Heilpraktiker hardly needs any education or training at all. What is more, he/she can claim to practice psychotherapy without proper training in psychotherapy. The Heilpraktiker in charge of Exilio, Axel von Maltitz, for instance, calls himself ‘Primärtherapeut, Heilpraktiker, Traumatherapie and Psychotherapie.’ The debate in Germany about the usefulness or otherwise of the Heilpraktiker has recently been stimulated by the publication of a critical book on the subject and can be expected to get more intense after the events in Ansbach.

‘Exilio’ apparently has a dubious reputation in Lindau, and the local officials had stopped co-operating with this clinic already over a year ago. The therapeutic team of Exilio does not seem to include a single qualified doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist.

The treatments employed in ‘Exilio’ include such dubious methods as Rebirthing, a technique involving “specific breathing exercises which allow individuals to re-experience memories from the past and to release feelings and sentiments that are suppressed / contained within the emotional physical self.” I am not aware of good evidence to show that Rebirthing is effective for any condition.

It seems clear that the Syrian suicide-bomber was seriously disturbed; apparently he already had previously tried to commit suicide. Nobody will ever know whether the atrocity of last Sunday could have been prevented, if he had received proper psychiatric attention. With hindsight, however, it seems clear that the alternative therapies he did receive were not effective.

Acupuncture Today is a much-read online publication for people interested in acupuncture. It informs us that Chinese medicine is quite complex and can be difficult for some people to comprehend. This is because TCM is based, at least in part, on the Daoist belief that we live in a universe in which everything is interconnected. What happens to one part of the body affects every other part of the body. The mind and body are not viewed separately, but as part of an energetic system. Similarly, organs and organ systems are viewed as interconnected structures that work together to keep the body functioning.

To me, this sounds suspiciously woolly. Do they think that conventional healthcare professionals view the various body-parts as separate entities? Do they feel that conventional practitioners see the mind entirely separate from the body? Do they believe others fail to realize that what affects the brain does not affect the rest of the body? These common preconceptions have always puzzled me. Intrigued, I read on.

Elsewhere we learn that Acupuncture Today and acupuncturetoday.com are the only complete news sources in the profession and we don’t take this honor lightly. The acupuncture and Oriental medicine profession is a blend of ancient traditions, healing styles and modern therapies. We provide content that is comprehensive enough to appeal to each of the profession’s diverse groups. In addition, we provide a complete suite of additional products including newsletters, calendars and classifieds that provide our advertisers with the contextual platform they need to communicate with our readers, their customers.

Acupuncture Today seems to reflect a lot of what many acupuncturists want to hear – and thus it might provide us with an important insight into the mind-set of acupuncturists. On their website, I found an article which fascinated me:

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A more efficient method for diagnosis and treatment by remote medical dowsing has been found and used in acupuncture with great success. The procedure involves a pendulum, a picture of the patient, an anatomy book, a steel pointer, and a very thin bamboo pointer.

Being a dentist, orthodontist, acupuncturist and dowser, I like to take the liberty of treating a person affected with lockjaw or temporal-mandibular joint ailments via remote dowsing…

…When the mandible cannot open due to a spasm, the chief symptom is pain. Until energy is restored, the muscle cannot lengthen and pain cannot be eliminated. Acupuncture is a good way to correct this condition without the use of a dental appliance. Dentists specializing in treating TMJ use a computerized equipment scan (electrosonography), surface electromyography and the myomonitor to relax the muscles.

Another procedure to treat TMJ is using dowsing. At this point, I will talk about dowsing procedures and information needed to successfully carry out the procedures. Remote dowsing requires the use of the pendulum, a slender bamboo pointer, an anatomy book, a picture of the patient and a steel pointer.

To treat a TMJ patient, the picture of the patient is dowsed holding a pendulum in the right hand while the left hand uses a bamboo pointer to touch the closing and opening muscles individually in the anatomy book. The closing muscles will have good energy (as evidenced by the circular movement of the pendulum) while the lower head of the lateral pterygoid will have no energy (as evidenced by little or no movement of the pendulum). Having advance information on TMJ acupuncture points helps, but these points will have to be tested if needling will supply energy. Master Tong has suggested a point between Liver 2 and Liver 3. I find Spleen 2, a distal point related to the lower head of the lateral pterygoid, to be more effective. This can be checked by having the patient hold the point of the steel pointer so it touches Spleen 2 on the large toe.

To treat a TMJ patient, the picture of the patient is dowsed holding a pendulum in the right hand while the left hand uses a bamboo pointer to touch the closing and opening muscles individually in the anatomy book. The closing muscles will have good energy (as evidenced by the circular movement of the pendulum) while the lower head of the lateral pterygoid will have no energy (as evidenced by little or no movement of the pendulum). Having advance information on TMJ acupuncture points helps, but these points will have to be tested if needling will supply energy. Master Tong has suggested a point between Liver 2 and Liver 3. I find Spleen 2, a distal point related to the lower head of the lateral pterygoid, to be more effective. This can be checked by having the patient hold the point of the steel pointer so it touches Spleen 2 on the large toe.

By dowsing the picture of the patient with the right hand and using a bamboo pointer to touch the lower head of the pterygoid muscle in the anatomy book with the left hand, it will be evident by the circular movement of the pendulum that these muscles now have good energy. This is done before the needle is inserted. In this manner all points can be checked for ailments such as TMJ, stroke, backaches, and neck and shoulder problems before needling. When the needles are placed and after the needling procedure, energy can be checked using the pendulum. By being very accurate on the location of acupuncture points, less treatments will be needed to obtain results. Another point is Small Intestine 19, a local point which is also very effective. Good results are obtained by careful and accurate needling. Therefore, the number of visits are few…

Dowsing is a diagnostic aid that has been used for other situations and can be very helpful to acupuncturists. In conclusion, I feel that remote dowsing is a great approach to diagnosis and treatment.

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If I had not seen alternative practitioners doing this procedure with my own eyes, I might have thought the article is a hoax. Sadly, this is the ‘real world’ of alternative medicine.

I tried to find some acupuncturists who had objected to this intense nonsense, but I was not successful in this endeavour. The article was published 6 years ago (no, not on 1 April!), yet so far, nobody has objected.

I have also tried to see whether articles promoting quackery of this nature are rare exceptions in the realm of acupuncture, or whether they are regular occurrences. My impression is that the latter is the case.

What can be concluded from all this?

In a previous post about quackery in chiropractic, I have argued that the tolerance of quackery must be one of the most important hallmarks of a quack profession. As I still believe this to be true, I have to ask to which extend THE TOLERANCE OF SUCH EXTREME QUACKERY MAKES ACUPUNCTURISTS QUACKS?

[I would be most interested to have my readers’ views on this question]

A survey published in 2011 showed that one-third of Danish hospitals offered alternative therapies. In total, 38 hospitals offered acupuncture and one Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Light Therapy. The most commonly reported reason for offering CAM was “scientific evidence”.

Many readers of this blog might be amazed with both the high level of alternative medicine presence in Danish hospitals and the notion that this was due to ‘scientific evidence’. A recent article provides even more surprises about the Danish alternative medicine scene.

It revealed that 8 out of 10 Danes are interested in using some form of alternative medicine…Some 67 percent of Danes say the national healthcare system should be more open to alternative healing practices, such as homeopathy, acupuncture or chiropractic, and 60 percent would like to see these treatments covered by the public health insurance system. More than half of the 6,000 respondents believe alternative therapies can be just as effective as traditional medicine.

Charlotte Yde, the chairwoman at Sundhedsrådet, which is the umbrella organisation for alternative practitioners in Denmark, contends many Danes feel frustrated because they cannot freely discuss alternative treatment with their doctors. Alternative treatment researcher Helle Johannessen agrees that Danish doctors should openly discuss alternative medicine options with patients. “In other European countries doctors use alternative treatment to a much greater extent than doctors in Denmark,” Johannessen told DR. “[International experience] shows that some forms of alternative therapy can improve quality of life and reduce anxiety and nausea in cancer patients.”

This, it seems to me, is little more than a bonanza of fallacious thinking and misleading information.

  • The notion that popularity of a therapy has anything to do with its usefulness is a classical fallacy.
  • The notion that belief determines efficacy (More than half of the 6,000 respondents believe alternative therapies can be just as effective as traditional medicine.) or vice versa is complete nonsense.
  • The notion that many Danes … cannot freely discuss alternative treatment with their doctors is misleading: patients can discuss what they feel like with whom they feel like.
  • The notion that in other European countries doctors use alternative treatment to a much greater extent than doctors in Denmark is also misleading: there are many European countries where LESS alternative therapies are being paid for via the public purse.
  • Finally, the notion that that some forms of alternative therapy can improve quality of life and reduce anxiety and nausea in cancer patients – even if it were correct – does not mean that ALL alternative therapies are efficacious, safe, or cost-effective.

Who cares about Denmark?

Why should this be important?

Well, the Danes might care, and it is important because it provides an excellent example of how promoters of bogus treatments tend to argue – not just in Denmark, but everywhere. Unfortunately, politicians all too often fall for such fallacious notions. For them, a popular issue is a potential vote-winner. Within medical systems that are notoriously strapped for money, the looser will inevitably be optimal healthcare.

Several investigations have suggested that chiropractic care can be cost-effective. A recent review of 25 studies, for instance, concluded that cost comparison studies suggest that health care costs were generally lower among patients whose spine pain was managed with chiropractic care. However, its authors cautioned that the studies reviewed had many methodological limitations. Better research is needed to determine if these differences in health care costs were attributable to the type of HCP managing their care.

Better research might come from the US ‘Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ (CMS); they conduced a two-year demonstration of expanded Medicare coverage for chiropractic services in the treatment of beneficiaries with neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) conditions affecting the back, limbs, neck, or head.

The demonstration was conducted in 2005–2007 in selected counties of Illinois, Iowa, and Virginia and the entire states of Maine and New Mexico. Medicare claims were compiled for the preceding year and two demonstration years for the demonstration areas and matched comparison areas. The impact of the demonstration was analyzed through multivariate regression analysis with a difference-in-difference framework.

Expanded coverage increased Medicare expenditures by $50 million or 28.5% in users of chiropractic services and by $114 million or 10.4% in all patients treated for NMS conditions in demonstration areas during the two-year period. Results varied widely among demonstration areas ranging from increased costs per user of $485 in Northern Illinois and Chicago counties to decreases in costs per user of $59 in New Mexico and $178 in Scott County, Iowa.

The authors concluded that the demonstration did not assess possible decreases in costs to other insurers, out-of-pocket payments by patients, the need for and costs of pain medications, or longer term clinical benefits such as avoidance of orthopedic surgical procedures beyond the two-year period of the demonstration. It is possible that other payers or beneficiaries saved money during the demonstration while costs to Medicare were increased.

In view of such results, I believe chiropractors should stop claiming that chiropractic care is cost-effective.

Yes, I admit it: over the years, I had formed a vague impression that homeopaths lack humour. Certainly, many comments on this blog seemed to confirm the notion. But now I changed my mind: some homeopaths are intensely funny.

Yesterday, I found a tweet which read: “NCH and homeopathy to be highlighted at the 2016 American Public Health Association’s conference in Denver”. The tweet provided a link which took me to an abstract authored by Alison Teitelbaum from the US National Center for Homeopathy (on their website, this organization tell us that they “inform legislators and work to secure homeopathy’s place in the U.S health care system while working to ensure that homeopathy is accurately represented in the media”).

The abstract in question summarized a presentation for the up-coming APHA-meeting in Denver. It is so hilariously comical that I simply have to share it with you (for those readers are homeopaths, I have added [in square brackets] a few footnotes explaining the humorous side of it):

Background: Over the last 25 years there has been a marked increase in consumer demand for information about complimentary [1] and alternative medicine, including homeopathy. Anecdotal data [2] suggest that homeopathic consumers are very satisfied with homeopathic medicines, and use them to treat acute, self-limiting conditions, however very little data exists in the published literature examining either topic [3]. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to evaluate homeopathic consumers’ use and satisfaction with homeopathic medicines.

Methods: Survey of nearly 20,000 consumers [4] who had purchased at least 1 over-the-counter (OTC) homeopathic medicine in the past 2 years.

Results: [5] More than 95% of respondents indicated they were very or extremely satisfied with the most recent OTC homeopathic medicine they had purchased and used [6]. More than 96% of respondents indicated they were very or extremely satisfied with the results of OTC homeopathic medicines that they had used in general [7]. Over 98% of respondents reported that they were very likely to purchase OTC homeopathic medicines again in the future [8]. More than 97% of respondents indicated that they were very likely to recommend homeopathic medicines to others [9]. Finally, more than 80% of respondents indicated using OTC homeopathic medicines for acute, self-limiting conditions, such as aches and pains; cold and flu symptoms; and digestive upset [10].

Conclusion: These results support anecdotal evidence [11] that homeopathic consumers are satisfied with OTC homeopathic medicines [12], and are using them to treat acute, self-limiting conditions [13]. Additional research is needed to further explore the use of OTC homeopathic medicine in the US for trends, access, and overall awareness about homeopathy [14].

[1] complimentary medicine = healthcare that costs nothing; complementary medicine = healthcare that complements real medicine; homeopathy should belong to the former category because it contains nothing.

[2] please note how ‘anecdotal data’ becomes ‘anecdotal evidence’ by the time we reach the conclusion; little does the author know that THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE IS NOT ‘DATA’ BUT ‘ANECDOTES’!!!

[3] this statement implies that the author cannot cope with a Medline search, because there are plenty of articles on this subject.

[4] ‘nearly 20 000’ perfectly reflects the scientific rigor of this project (is it really too demanding to provide the exact figure?)

[5] how come we do not learn anything about the response rate of this survey (did ‘nearly’ everyone reply? or did ‘nearly’ everyone not reply?)?

[6] considering that only homeopathy-fans were included, this figure should be 100%!

[7] considering that only homeopathy-fans were included, this figure should be 100%!

[8] considering that only homeopathy-fans were included, this figure should be 100%!

[9] considering that only homeopathy-fans were included, this figure should be 100%!

[10] ‘more than 80%’ of an unknown rate of responders is about as much as a tin of peas. But I am nevertheless relieved that the majority used placebos merely for self-limiting conditions; the 20% who might have used it for life-threatening conditions are probably all dead – sad!

[11] see footnote number 2

[12] this is like doing a survey in a hamburger joint concluding that all consumers love to eat hamburgers.

[13] except, of course, the unknown percentage of non-responders who might all be dead.

[14] I would re-phrase this last sentence as follows: MORE SUCH PRESENTATIONS ARE NEEDED TO PROVIDE COMIC RELIEF TO OTHERWISE DRY AND BORING MEETINGS ON PUBLIC HEALTH.

A thorough report by the Australian group ‘friends of science in medicine’ has just been published. It casts considerable doubt about the therapeutic value of acupuncture. As I think it is a report well worth reading, I reproduce (with the permission of the authors) a large section below:

What could be the mechanisms by which acupuncture might work?

The proponents of acupuncture have postulated possible mechanisms involving neurovascular bundles, trigger points, connective tissue fascial planes, electrical impedance, migration of nuclear tracers, and other factors. These studies are flawed, inconclusive, contradict one another, and have not been replicated. However, interest in acupuncture, particularly for analgesia, has been related to the ‘gate control’ theory (R. Melzack and P.D. Wall, “Pain mechanisms: a new theory”). According to this theory, the activation of large sensory fibres (touch pressure and vibration) inhibits transmission of nociceptive  (pain recognising) pathways carried by small unmyelinated nerve fibres. This was postulated to occur in the spinal cord and might explain the effect of ‘rubbing’ the skin to reduce acute pain, the use of ‘counter irritants’, defined by the USA FDA as “externally applied substances that cause irritation or mild inflammation of the skin for the purpose of relieving pain in muscles, joints and viscera distal to the site of application”. It has been suggested that acupuncture could act as a counter irritant. Interest grew, in the 1970s, with the discovery of brain endogenous opioid peptides, which mimic the actions of morphine on pain. These discoveries triggered extensive research, both in China and around the world, on the involvement of endogenous opioid peptides and a plethora of many neuropeptides and purines in acupunctureinduced analgesia (H.M. Langevin et al., “Mechanical signaling through connective tissue: A mechanism for the therapeutic effect of acupuncture,” N. Goldman et al., “Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture,” Z.Q. Zhao “Neural mechanism underlying acupuncture analgesia”.) The discovery of novel neurotransmitters capable of affecting nociception gave extra impetus to explain some analgesic responses to sensory stimulation (e.g. mini-review on “Acupuncture and endorphins” in Neuroscience Letters). However while the concept that sensory stimulation affects pain sensation is well established, efforts to date have not established that this phenomenon is responsible for acupuncture induced analgesia. Although acupuncture is supposed to be a very specific intervention involving skin penetration with needles and manipulation (twirling), many studies include a plethora of other interventions, assumed to be, to a lesser or greater degree, equivalent. These include acupressure, electro-acupuncture, transcutaneous nerve electrical stimulation (TENS), laser acupuncture, tiny gold beads implanted under the skin, and injection of homeopathic remedies into acupoints. Electro-acupuncture, manipulated by passing electric currents through implanted needles, is widely used and allows a more objective control over stimulating parameters. Electro-acupuncture appears to be able to activate or deactivate a variety of brain regions and promote the release of endogenous opioid peptides, which are responsible for mediating its analgesic effects. Other non-penetrating methods include stimulation with sound, pressure, heat (moxibustion, sometimes with deliberate burn injury), electromagnetic frequencies (laser stimulation, capsicum plaster, an acu-stimulation device such as Electro-acupuncture of Voll [EAV]), chemical (capsicum plaster and Sweet Bee Venom Pharmaco-puncture), vacuum (cupping), color, waving hands over acupoints, and striking the appropriate meridian on an acupuncture doll with a metal hammer (Tong Ren). Even some forms of bloodletting are thought to involve activation of acupuncture points. Because of the aforementioned scientific studies on the neuroscience of nociception, acupuncture seemed to gain somewhat more plausibility than other forms of alternative medicine. Acupuncture has even been said to have positive effects on animals’ cognitive functions.

Acupuncture and the proven principles of Brain Science

Any hypothesis on the mechanism of action of acupuncture and equivalent interventions needs to be placed within the well established, proven principles of the brain sciences. Brain activity is due to the activity of billions of nerve cells, each generating small electrical currents which carry signals from one end to the other of each nerve cell; and, due to communication through the release of small amounts of chemicals, called neurotransmitters, with other nerve cells and with muscle and glands. These electrical and chemical aspects of the nervous system represent the most important foundations of modern brain science.  This principle of organisation and function of the nervous system became well-established by the middle of the 20th Century, thanks to the research of the Australian neuroscientist, Sir John Eccles, Nobel prize-winner in Medicine because of this discovery. Since then, a plethora of neurotransmitter substances have been identified in the brain and in peripheral organs. Amongst these are endogenous opioids, as mentioned above, and other neuropeptides; these are recognised as important potential modulators of brain function.  Not surprisingly, the idea that activating sensory inputs might affect central neural circuits and that, in particular, acupuncture might well work for analgesia, has triggered extensive research.  While there is evidence for the release by various sensory stimuli, including manual acupuncture, of some endogenous opioids and other endogenous chemical mediators potentially capable of modifying pain stimuli, there is little evidence that this is a specific effect related to any anatomical organisation which could correspond to the ‘meridians’ of TCM. In most cases, any physical or chemical sensory stimulus is likely to result in the release of some endogenous anti-nociceptive substances. The highest quality studies have shown that it doesn’t matter where you insert the needles (acupoints or non-acupoints), and that it doesn’t matter whether the skin is penetrated (in one study, touching the skin with a toothpick worked just as well). The one thing that does seem to matter is whether the patient believes in acupuncture.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the brain processes underlying the physiological ‘placebo effect’ in reducing pain perception share similar neurochemical mechanisms with the sensory stimulation caused by acupuncture and other sensory stimulations. Thus the placebo effect is likely to explain many of the subjective improvements of many interventions, including acupuncture. This similarity explains, in part, why it has been so difficult, in practice, to perform satisfactory clinical trials to test the effectiveness of acupuncture separate from the placebo effect.   Another myth is that acupuncture must be effective because it works on animals, and they wouldn’t respond to a placebo. But animals can’t talk to tell us to how they feel; their owners must interpret their responses by observing the animal’s behaviour, and the owners are susceptible to suggestion. They might inadvertently influence the animal’s behavior by giving it more attention or treating it differently in some way. They might be convinced that they see a change in the animal’s behavior and think that it means the animal feels better.

Using acupuncture for its placebo effect 

Recently, the weight of evidence has convinced some acupuncturists that acupuncture works no better than placebo, but they still advocate using it for its placebo effect. Medical ethicists universally condemn using placebos intentionally since it amounts to lying and can destroy trust in the doctor/patient relationship. In reality, placebos don’t do much; their effects tend to be small in magnitude and short in duration. Patients who use them might defer or reject necessary effective treatment. Placebos can waste time and money, and harm can result when patients are deluded into thinking they are getting better when they really are not. One study found that patients with asthma had the same positive subjective responses to placebos as to an asthma inhaler; but objectively, only the patients in the asthma inhaler group had improvements in lung function. The response to placebos was no better than that of patients in a no-treatment control group. This could have serious consequences, since difficulty in perceiving the severity of an asthma attack is a risk factor for asthma-related death.

Is there clinical evidence for effectiveness of acupuncture in clinical medicine?

The proponents of acupuncture, whether as part of holistic TCM or as a separate technique, advertise that acupuncture can cure a wide range of diseases. Acupuncture has been claimed to be effective for addiction (such as alcoholism), allergies, asthma, bronchitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, constipation, depression, diarrhoea, endometriosis, facial tics, fibromyalgia, gastro-esophageal reflux, headaches, high blood pressure, infertility, irregular menstrual cycles, kidney infections, memory problems, multiple sclerosis, pre-menstrual syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome, low back pain, menopausal symptoms, menstrual cramps, osteoarthritis, pain of various natures, pharyngitis, post-operative nausea and vomiting, psychological disorders such as anxiety, sciatica, sensory disturbances, sinusitis, spastic colon (often called irritable bowel syndrome), stroke rehabilitation, tendonitis, tennis elbow, tinnitus, urinary problems such as incontinence, sports injuries, sprains, strains, ulcers, and whiplash.

Acupuncture trials and pitfalls 

Clinical research on acupuncture is inherently difficult. The practice of acupuncture is not standardised, and some studies of ‘acupuncture’ are actually of electro-acupuncture, ear acupuncture, or other variants. It’s next to impossible to do double-blind studies, so confounding factors cannot be eliminated. The best studies use a retractable needle in a sheath, so that the patient can’t tell whether the skin has been penetrated or only touched by the needle. The results are highly variable: it’s easy to find studies to support a belief in acupuncture, but it’s even easier to find studies showing that it doesn’t work.  The rationale for acupuncture’s acceptance in some aspects of clinical medicine, particularly in emergency medicine and pain clinics, has begun to crumble on closer examination of the evidence, mostly because of the excessively variable nature of the interventions involved in various studies which did not clarify the nature of the sham interventions used and any placebo effects.   Recent reviews of the effectiveness of  acupuncture on pain in general are rather damning. There have, over several decades, been several thousand acupuncture studies. After all this clinical research, acupuncture has not been clearly demonstrated to be effective for any indication. In short it is more than reasonable to suggest that acupuncture doesn’t work being no more than “a theatrical placebo”.  Traditional Chinese acupuncture is no better for treating menopausal symptoms than a ‘sham’ version using blunt needles, according to a University of Melbourne study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, involving 327 Australian women over 40 who had at least seven moderately hot flushes daily. Half were given ten sessions of standard Chinese medicine acupuncture, where thin needles were inserted into the body at specific points. The others had their skin stimulated with blunt-tipped needles, which had a milder effect without penetrating the skin. After eight weeks of treatment, both had led to a 40% improvement in the severity and frequency of hot flushes; this was sustained six months later. However, there was no statistical difference between the two therapies. The authors said that both groups might have improved as a result of the placebo effect or because attending a clinic to talk about symptoms helped. The authors also noted that hot flushes tended to improve spontaneously with time adding “This was a large and rigorous study, and we are confident there is no additional benefit from inserting needles compared with stimulation from pressuring the blunt needles without skin penetration for hot flushes.”  The most positive results from acupuncture have been for pain and post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV). But even for those, the evidence is unconvincing. For PONV, the most recent meta-analysis indicated a small effect of P6 acupoint stimulation, but it mixed studies of acupuncture with electro-acupuncture, transcutaneous nerve stimulation, laser stimulation, capsicum plaster, an acu-stimulation device, and acupressure. There were questionable randomisation procedures, incomplete data, and the conclusion of the reviewers (that P6 acupoint stimulation “prevented PONV”) was not justified by the data. There is a lot of ‘noise’ in the data from these studies, but there doesn’t appear to be any ‘signal‘ mixed with the ‘noise’.  It has been shown that the analgesic benefits of acupuncture are partially mediated through placebo effects related to the acupuncturist’s behavior. It is becoming increasingly clear that any reported benefits of acupuncture are largely due to the surrounding ritual, the beliefs of patient and practitioner, and the other nonspecific effects of treatment, not to the needles themselves. The team studying PONV also examined ‘Acupuncture for pelvic and back pain in pregnancy: a systematic review’. They concluded “limited evidence supports acupuncture use in treating pregnancy-related pelvic and back pain. Additional high-quality trials are needed to test the existing promising evidence for this relatively safe and popular complementary therapy”.  A systematic review of acupuncture for various pain conditions found a mix of negative, positive and inconclusive results. Out of 57 systematic reviews, there were only 4 pain conditions for which more than one systematic review reached the same conclusion: in 3 cases, they agreed that it was ineffective, and in only one (neck pain) was it agreed that it was effective.  That finding is suspect, because it doesn’t make sense that a treatment could relieve pain only in one part of the body but not elsewhere.  Over the past 10-15 years the Cochrane collaboration has addressed the efficacy of acupuncture for many of these indications. When clinical trials have been performed properly, lack or insufficient evidence of effectiveness for acupuncture was demonstrated in most cases. The following is a list, not exhaustive, of such trials.  In thirty trials for depression, with 2,812 participants, manual and electro acupuncture were compared with medication; they found no difference between the two groups.  A review by the Cochrane Collaboration on the question ‘Do acupuncture and related therapies help smokers who are trying to quit’ “did not find consistent evidence that active acupuncture or related techniques increased the number of people who could successfully quit smoking”.  A study by RMIT researchers in 2016 showed that acupuncture is no better than placebo for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes.  A Cochrane Collaboration study (2014) demonstrated no effects on functional dyspepsia. A similar lack of effect on rheumatoid arthritis was demonstrated in 2005.  Even proponents of acupuncture from the team at the RMIT in Melbourne, in their attempt to prove that acupuncture is effective in a “range of health conditions”, admitted, “No solid conclusion of which design is the most appropriate sham control of Ear-acupuncture/ear-acupressure could be drawn in this review”.  Very clear experimental work performed by a University of Melbourne team on one of the projects funded by the NH&MRC on laser acupuncture, “Acupuncture for Chronic Knee Pain published A Randomized Clinical Trial on chronic knee pain”, showed that neither needle nor laser acupuncture significantly improved pain and concluded that their findings did not support acupuncture for these patients.   A paper in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2008 “Acupuncture to Induce Labor: A Randomized Controlled Trial” concluded “Two sessions of manual acupuncture, using local and distal acupuncture points, administered 2 days before a scheduled induction of labor did not reduce the need for induction methods or the duration of labor for women with a post-term pregnancy”.

Trials not performed sufficiently well and therefore “need to be repeated” 

Despite the several decades of significant funding for, and research on, acupuncture and, in general, on alternative medicines in Australia and around the world, far too often the conclusion from clinical trials is “more research is needed”. The excuses given in the numerous reviews, mostly by the proponents, are  insufficient numbers of patients or trials or insufficient control subjects. The reality is more likely due to the reality that there is an absence of effectiveness. For example, a review on “Acupuncture to treat common reproductive health complaints: An overview of the evidence” concluded “Acupuncture to treat premenstrual syndrome or polycystic ovarian syndrome and other menstrual related symptoms is under-studied, and the evidence for acupuncture to treat these conditions is frequently based on single studies. Conclusion: Further research is needed”. In a review, “Pain Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Australia: A Critical Review”, the authors concluded that, because of the poor design and execution of research papers on pain and alternative medicines, “The quantity and the quality of CAM pain research in Australia is inconsistent with the high utilization of the relevant CAM therapies by Australians. A substantial increase in government funding is required. Collaborative research examining the multimodality or multidisciplinary approach is needed”. It has been claimed that surgery can be performed using only acupuncture anesthesia. A widely publicised picture of a patient allegedly undergoing open-heart surgery under acupuncture anesthesia appears to be a fake: it shows her with an open chest cavity that would make her lungs collapse, she is not on a respirator and a heartbypass machine does not appear to be in use. Also, the incision is in the wrong place for the procedure being described, and the photo is curious in other respects (such as the position of the patient’s head). A recent BBC video of surgery on a conscious patient anaesthetised with acupuncture was similarly misleading. Researchers at the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney, commenting on studies of acupuncture for menstrual problems stated, “Five systematic reviews were included, and six RCTs. The symptoms of the menopause and of dysmenorrhea have been subject to greater clinical evaluation through RCTs, and the evidence summarised in systematic reviews, than any other reproductive health complaint. The evidence for acupuncture to treat dysmenorrhea and menopause remains unclear, due to small study populations and the presence of methodological bias.  For example, a review on “Acupuncture to treat common reproductive health complaints: An overview of the evidence” concluded “Acupuncture to treat premenstrual syndrome or polycystic ovarian syndrome and other menstrual related symptoms is under-studied, and the evidence for acupuncture to treat these conditions is frequently based on single studies. Conclusion: Further research is needed”.  Many other studies by the Cochrane Collaboration concluded that there was insufficient evidence for recommending the use of acupuncture for the conditions investigated, as listed as follow: ADHD in children and adolescents (2011); autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (2011); Bell’s palsy (2010); cancer-related pain (2015); glaucoma (2013); depression (2010); dysphagia in acute stroke (2008); tennis elbow (2002); ‘fibromyalgia’ (2013); induction of labour (2013); menopausal hot flushes (2013); mumps (2014); nearsightedness in children (2011); hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in newborn babies (2013); pain in endometriosis (2011); period pain (2011); chronic asthma (1999); urinary incontinence (2013); stroke rehabilitation (2006); uterine fibroids (2010); labour pains (2011); vascular dementia (2007); nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (2015); obesity (2015). Even TENS appears to give insufficient evidence for improving dementia (2003).

Reasonable trials with evidence for small effects.

A Cochrane study on acupuncture and dry needling for low back pain, based on 35 randomised clinical trials in 2005, reported a very small effect. Another Cochrane study in 2009 suggested that acupuncture should be considered a treatment option for migraine prophylaxis, despite finding that “there was no evidence of an effect of true acupuncture over sham interventions”.  A Cochrane study in 2006 found moderate evidence for a small improvement in chronic neck pain while a review in 2009 suggested that there was benefit from the use of acupuncture to treat Tension-type headache  Almost all trials of alternative medicines seem to end up with the conclusion “more research is needed”. After more than 3,000 trials, we should recognise that the need for more trials is dubious…

Conclusion

Acupuncture has been studied for decades and the evidence that it can provide clinical benefits continues to be weak and inconsistent. There is no longer any justification for more studies. There is already enough evidence to confidently conclude that acupuncture doesn’t work. It is merely a theatrical placebo based on pre-scientific myths.   All health care providers who accept that they should base their treatments on scientific evidence whenever credible evidence is available, but who still include acupuncture as part of their health interventions, should seriously revise their practice.  There is no place for acupuncture in Medicine.

[the original report is fully referenced]

On this blog, I have discussed the lamentable quality of TCM products before (e. g. here, here and here). In a nutshell, far too high percentages of them are contaminated with toxic substances or adulterated with prescription drugs. It is no question: these deficits put many consumers at risk. Equally, there is no question that the problem has been known for decades.

For the Chinese exporters, such issues are a great embarrassment, not least because TCM-products are amongst the most profitable of all the Chinese exports. In the past, Chinese officials have tried to ignore or suppress the subject as much as possible. I presume they fear that their profits might be endangered by being open about the dubious quality of their TCM-exports.

Recently, however, I came across a website where unusually frank and honest statements of Chinese officials appeared about TCM-products. Here is the quote:

China is to unroll the fourth national survey of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) resources to ensure a better development of the industry, said a senior health official…

With the public need for TCM therapies growing, the number of medicine resources has decreased and people have turned to the cultivated ones. However, due to a lack of standards, the cultivated TCM resources are sometimes less effective or even unsafe for human use, said Wang Guoqiang, director of the State Administration of TCM, at a TCM seminar held in Kunming, Yunnan Province in southwest China.

There is a pressing need to protect TCM resources, Wang said. “I’ve heard people saying that medicine quality will spell doom for the TCM industry, which I must admit, is no exaggeration,” he said.

The survey has been piloted in 922 counties in 31 provinces in China since 2011. According to its official website, it will draw a clear picture of the variety, distribution, storage and growth trends of TCM resources, including herbs, animals, minerals and synthetic materials.

TCM includes a range of traditional medical practices originating in China. It includes such treatments as herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (tuina), exercise (qigong) and dietary therapy.

Although well accepted in the mainstream of medical care throughout East Asia, TCM is considered an alternative medical system in much of the western world and has been a source of controversy. A milestone in the recognition of TCM came when Chinese pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou won a Nobel Prize in 2015 for her discovery of Artemisinin, a medicinal herb, to help treat malaria.

END OF QUOTE

Surely, these are remarkable, perhaps even unprecedented statements by Chinese officials:

…cultivated TCM resources are sometimes less effective or even unsafe for human use…

…medicine quality will spell doom for the TCM industry…

Let’s hope that, after such words, there will be appropriate actions… finally.

On a good day, I get several emails from complete strangers; some are complimentary, others are critical, and others again are just strange. Few are stranger than the exchange I am about to disclose.

The author asked me twice to treat his/her emails with ‘trust and confidence’; after the second email, I nevertheless felt that I should not respect this wish but needed to share this brief exchange with my readers. I have, however, erased all the details that would allow an identification of the author.

 

INITIAL EMAIL of 18/7/2016

I am responding to you latest post regarding “Informed Consent”. I have decided to do so because my instincts suggest that we may in fact have an empathy in our individual objective to establish an evidence base for complementary medicine. However, I do not have any empathy with many of the contributors to your blog and especially with those that have a desire to “grind homeopathic vets and feed them to the pigs” Given that you moderate the site, I am surprised that you allowed such a post.

As you are aware, I obtained a copy of your book “A Scientist in Wonderland” which I have read with considerable interest and as you know, I have posted extracts on your blog. In this respect I make the following observations:

1. Your early experiences of homeopathy were positive and on this basis I find great difficulty in accepting that you are as anti-homeopathy as you publically state. From my own experience, this is not logical.

2. I am of the opinion that the sad loss of your Hungarian friend and colleague is an influencing factor, particularly as you avoided any mention of him receiving any form of alternative medicine.

3. I can empathise with your frustration at the lack of support from the alternative medicine community, as I have experienced this in my own efforts.

4. I am inclined to accept the possibility that you are using the blog to deliberately provoke the homeopathic community into action from a long standing but understandable state of complacency. (If you know that something works, then why is there a need to prove it).

5. I find difficulty to believe that you are at home surrounded by such closed minded individuals, because, historically, you have always moved on from such situations. However, I am not sure that you know how you can escape from the trap that you now find yourself in. Is this what you want for the rest of your life?

For a variety of reasons, I embarked on this … venture as a means of finding evidence that these therapies do work and have found that the homeopathy community is somewhat less than supportive in my efforts, so I do understand your potential frustration.

I appreciate that my observations are assumption based and may be wishful thinking on my part; however, if my assumptions have validity, please contact me, otherwise ignore this message.

If you do choose to pursue this conversation, then it must take place under the strict condition of TRUST & CONFIDENCE.

 

MY REPLY of 18/7/2016

thank you for your email. you say you read my memoir; may I suggest you read it again – because the answers to your questions seem to be all in there. your assumptions about me are quite wrong, and I think my book explains why.

best regards
e ernst

 

THE RESPONSE of 21/7/2016

In Britain we have a saying “Don’t mention the war when speaking to a German”, so out of respect I refrained from mentioning the Nazi regime in my last message; however, as you have made an implied reference to it, I will now comment.

I have some six years of close working experience with a large German organisation … so that I am fully aware of the significant differences between the German and British mentality and approach to life. I am therefore able to appreciate many of the difficulties that you will have encountered when arriving in this country to take up the Exeter post, which by definition was designed to advise the UK alternative therapy community how to do things properly!

The Anglo/Germanic axis is a significant challenge under normal circumstances but for you to arrive in this country and make direct comparisons between alternative medicine and the Third Reich in a country that spearheaded the fight against the Nazi’s at a cost of nearly half a million British lives was a fatal mistake on your part.

Having spent some forty years in and around the alternative health world here in Britain, India and the USA I don’t think your view point can be further from the truth. What amazes me is that you do not moderate Nazi type comments such as “grinding homeopaths and feeding them to pigs” from your blog which is a complete contradiction to your reasoning.

Your blog purports to provide cautionary advice to would be patients choosing alternative health options but your band of followers seem to have no understanding whatsoever as to the importance of respect for others. They seem to believe that from the offset, respect has to be earned, which implies judgement. Any doctor or therapist that starts from this view point when dealing with a patient, should not be treating patients at all. Empathy and respect are key factors in the healing process and those that automatically practice this naturally operate under and accept a moral code of ethics which forms part of all training within the main alternative treatments. The fundamental ethic behind all medicine is “first do no harm”. How can this be achieved if you do not respect the patient, regardless of his views?

At a personal level, I am concerned that your early experiences have distorted your views and unfortunately you have managed to alienate yourself from the very form of healthcare that would best resolve these issues without the need for suppressive drugs.

I suggest that you re-read your book and honestly ask yourself if the “peaceful vantage point” referred to on page 170, in any way measures up to the “peaceful, happy time” you mention on page 36.

I again extend my offer of an exploratory conversation in an atmosphere of “trust and confidence”.

END OF QUOTE

I do not feel like adding any comments just now… perhaps just a few questions:

How is it possible that someone who has obviously read quite a bit of what I have published misunderstands so much of it? Deluded? Demented? Or worse?

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