detox
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) tends to prioritize inherent general immunity instead of vaccination, thereby contributing to widespread vaccine hesitancy or refusal amidst the general public. The objective of this investigation was to furnish evidence regarding the profiles and drivers of seasonal influenza vaccine hesitancy (IVH) among TCM clinicians. Between January and May 2022, the Chinese researchers conducted a nationwide survey in China with embedded an influenza vaccine hesitancy scale to 3085 registered clinicians (1013 TCM and 2072 Western medicine (WM) clinicians).
The results suggest that TCM clinicians exhibit lower possibility of influenza vaccine uptake and are less likely to recommend the immunisation to the patients. 58.3 % TCM clinicians and 52.3 % WM clinicians were categorized as being influenza vaccine hesitant. Compared to WM clinicians, TCM clinicians have lower confidence in vaccine (p < 0.001) and are less inclined to accept others’ vaccination recommendation (p < 0.001). Higher educational attainment in TCM (postgraduate: OR = 1.98, 95 %CI,1.30–3.02; doctor: OR = 2.20, 95 %CI, 1.28–3.77) and ignorance of influenza vaccination cost policy (OR = 1.76, 95 %CI, 1.18–2.63) are significantly associated with increased influenza vaccine hesitancy.
The authors concluded that the concerns and doubts towards influenza vaccine is highly prevalent in the Chinese clinicians, especially those practicing TCM. High TCM educational degrees and ignorance of influenza vaccination cost policies are two primary risk factors for developing influenza vaccine hesitancy.
The findings are, I think, far from surprising. There is plenty of evidence about the negative stance towards influenza and other vaccination that practitioners or proponents of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) display, e.g.:
- Do views about so-called alternative medicine (SCAM), nature and god influence people’s vaccination intentions?
- Use of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) and its association with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status
- Chiropractors Aren’t The Solution To The Primary Care Shortage: the thorny issue of vaccination
- An osteopath and anti-vaccination activist received a well-deserved and long-overdue indefinite suspension
- Prison sentence for a German HEILPRAKTIKER who issued false vaccination certificates
- Interest in so-called alternative medicine is linked to vaccination coverage
- Naturopath jailed for selling fraudulent vaccination documents
- Vaccination rates of Canadian healthcare professionals: those of chiropractors and naturopaths are at the lowest
- A Professor for Integrative and Anthroposophical Medicine claims that severe adverse effects of COVID vaccinations are 40 times more frequent than officially recognized
- Preference of so-called alternative medicine predicts negative attitudes to vaccination
- Intelligence, Religiosity, SCAM, Vaccination Hesitancy – are there links?
- A well-known opponent of vaccination has died of COVID after self-treatment with MMS
- The International Chiropractors Association’s Statement on Vaccination
- A naturopath promoting fake news about COVID vaccinations
- More information on homeopaths’ and anthroposophic doctors’ attitude towards vaccinations
- The UK Society of Homeopaths, a hub of anti-vaccination activists?
- HOMEOPATHY = “the complete alternative to vaccination” ?!?!
- Are anthroposophy-enthusiasts for or against vaccinations?
- Far too many chiropractors believe that vaccinations do not have a positive effect on public health
- Naturopaths’ counselling against vaccinations could be criminally negligent
- HOMEOPATHS AGAINST VACCINATION: “The decision to vaccinate and how you implement that decision is yours and yours alone”
- Use of alternative medicine is associated with low vaccination rates
- Integrative medicine physicians tend to harbour anti-vaccination views
- Vaccination: chiropractors “espouse views which aren’t evidence based”
With so much evidence and unquestionable serious harm being caused by these SCAM anti-vaxxers, the obvious question is this:
WHY IS SO LITTLE BEING DONE ABOUT IT?
This paper explored the intersection of science and pseudoscience in online discourse about detoxification, investigating how and to what extent they coexist on the web. Drawing on previous studies of internet health scams, it examines the discursive strategies used to either validate or refute alternative detox treatments. Using a corpus-assisted discourse studies approach, the present study analyses a corpus of texts (167,177 tokens) about detoxification randomly collected from the web.
The results show that corrective messages debunking the detox myth make up less than 10% of the corpus. Furthermore, many keywords in the corpus, such as “toxin(s),” are subject to constant renegotiation. Advocates of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) use the term “toxin(s)” to justify detox treatments, while scientists criticize it as pseudoscientific.
The authors conclude thaat their study highlights how terminological ambiguity facilitates the mixing of science and pseudoscience, confusing readers. It also highlights the role of language in health-related misinformation and calls for interdisciplinary research to develop educational tools for health professionals.
Corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADSs) are related historically and methodologically to the discipline of corpus linguistics. Their principal endeavor is the investigation and comparison of features of particular discourse types, integrating into the analysis the techniques and tools developed within corpus linguistics. These include the compilation of specialised corpora and analyses of word and word-cluster frequency lists, comparative keyword lists and, above all, concordances. A broader conceptualisation of corpus-assisted discourse studies would include any study that aims to bring together corpus linguistics and discourse analysis.
The findings of this CADS can hardly surprise anyone who has been following this blog. We have often discussed the problem of pseudo-scientific language and the confusion it creates. Likewise, we have repeatedly dealt with the ‘detox myth’ and how it is being used by advocates of SCAM.
What is new is the finding that only 10% of of the discourse seems to come from people who debunk the ‘detox myth’. This is, of course, disappointing but not really surprising considering how much virtually the entire SCAM business relies on it.
So, to make it clear yet again:
- A toxin is a substance that is poisonous to our body.
- No ‘detox’ method from the realm of SCAM has been shown to remove a toxin from the human body.
As always, I would be delighted to learn more and to correct these statements, provided someone shows me good evidence to the contrary.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is coming out with so much stupidity, ignorance and quackery that it is getting difficult to keep up. A recent article reported that he touted two particular medications that have not been shown to work as first-line treatments for measles:
- the steroid budesonide,
- the antibiotic clarithromycin.
Kennedy claimed on X that the medications had been instrumental in treating around 300 children in Texas, and told Fox News that doctors prescribing them had seen “very, very good results.”
Consequently, families in Texas have turned to questionable remedies — in some cases, also prompted by the recommendation of two Texas doctors, Dr. Ben Edwards and Dr. Richard Bartlett. Kennedy called Edwards and Bartlett “extraordinary healers” who have “treated and healed” hundreds of children with budesonide and clarithromycin, sharing a photo of himself and the doctors with three Mennonite families whose children had become ill. Two of the families had each recently lost a daughter to measles: 6-year-old Kayley Fehr died in February and 8-year-old Daisy Hildebrand died last week. Neither child was vaccinated.
Edwards, a conventionally trained doctor who has shifted to promoting natural remedies and prayer, has been operating a makeshift clinic in Seminole, offering children these unproven treatments — including, according to a video posted by an anti-vaccine group, while he said he was sick with measles. Edwards has allied himself with the anti-vaccine movement in recent months, hosting influencers and activists on his podcast, including Andrew Wakefield.
“There is no evidence to support the use of either aerosolized budesonide or clarithromycin for treatment of children with measles,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Prescribing treatments that have not been vetted in clinical trials amounts to experimenting on patients, added Dr. Susan McLellan, a professor in the infectious diseases division at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
During the measles outbreak, both Edwards and Bartlett have each warned of risks associated with the MMR vaccine: Edwards claimed, falsely, that it causes “potentially” hundreds of deaths a year and Bartlett has said that the complications caused by measles, including brain swelling and pneumonia, can also be caused by the vaccine. In reality, the MMR vaccine, which is only given to children with healthy immune systems, has been overwhelmingly safe since its approval more than five decades ago, and has saved an estimated 94 million lives worldwide.
Public health experts said touting these medications as first-line treatments sends the wrong message. “By mentioning such treatments without that context, RFK Jr. continues to distract away from the prevention measure that incontrovertibly works — the vaccine,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
A national public health organization is calling for RFK Jr. to resign citing “implicit and explicit bias and complete disregard for science.” Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said in a statement that concerns raised during Kennedy’s confirmation hearing last month have been realized, followed by massive reductions in staff at key health agencies.
What’s next? I aslk myself.
Perhaps homeopathy as a savior of the US healthcare system?
Watch this space.
As we all know, the FDA cannot require that dietary supplements be proven effective before they are sold. Yet, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once said the FDA is exhibiting an “aggressive suppression” of vitamins, dietary supplements, and other substances and that he will end the federal agency’s “war on public health”.
With Kennedy now in the driver’s seat, the supplement industry expects to make bolder health claims for its products and to get the government, private insurers, and flexible spending accounts to pay for supplements, essentially putting them on an equal footing with FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.
The day Kennedy was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump issued a “Make America Healthy Again” agenda instructing health regulatory agencies to “ensure the availability of expanded treatment options and the flexibility for health insurance coverage to provide benefits that support beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention.” Kennedy added that dietary supplements are one key to good health. Supplement makers now want programs like health savings accounts, Medicare, and even benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to pay for vitamins, fish oil, protein powders, herbal remedies and probiotics.
In speeches and in a pamphlet called “The MAHA Mandate,” Emord and alliance founder Robert Verkerk said Kennedy would free companies to make greater claims for their products’ alleged benefits. Emord said his group was preparing to sue the FDA to prevent it from restricting non-pharmaceutical products.
With their ‘Mandate’ Emord and Verkerk want “to shift the healthcare paradigm towards one that restores the health of the American people through a holistic and individual-centered approach that works with, rather than against, nature”.
But do they ever question whether:
- vitamins do anything at all to people who eat a normal diet?
- fish oil is effective and safe for which conditions?
- protein powders have any effects beyond eating a steak?
- herbal remedies generate more good than harm?
- probiotics work for which conditions?
The short answer is no. To me, it seems that the MAHA are as uninterested in the evidence regarding efficacy and safety (quite possible they know how flimsy it is) as they are keen on the promotion of quackery.
Today is World Cancer Day. It is an international day observed every 4 February to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilise action to address the global cancer epidemic. Cancer and so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) are closely linked, for instance, through the fact that large proportions of desperate cancer patients use SCAM, many in the hope to cure their disease. I have therefore often tried to instill some rational thought into the debate by discussing the emerging, largely negative evidence on SCAM for cancer. Here are just a few recent examples:
- Homeopathy as a therapy for cancer? A new review from India
- Geopathic stress allegedly can cause health issues such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer – BUT, PLEASE, DON’T BELIEVE SUCH NONSENSE!
- Homeopathic Cancer Therapy? No, no and no!
- Medicinal Mushrooms for Cancer?
- Bioenergy therapies for cancer: implausible, ineffective, and an unethical waste of money
- Camel urine as a treatment for cancer patients?
- Homeopathy for cancer? Unsurprisingly, the evidence is not positive.
- When an undercover journalist tests alternative cancer healers
To mark the day, I had a look at what people post on ‘X’ about SCAM and cancer cure. Here are some of the more amazing assumptions, claims and comments that I found (warts and all):
- The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton has been diagnosed with Cancer – there is a high probability she has Turbo Cancer, caused by COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines she took in 2021.
- Blue butterfly pea flowers (Clitoria ternatea) is one of the best CANCER KILLING and CANCER PROTECTIVE plants available to man.
- Dandelion root far more effective in fighting cancer cells than chemotherapy.
- In Kenya, research shows 76% of cancer patient who turn to traditional medicine instead of chemotherapy have drastically improved.
- I’ve just been diagnosed w cancer and will approach it with nutrition, suppl,and cont’d exercise… other alternative therapies as well. Been an RN for decades and have witnessed the horrors and pitfalls of modern medicine. Must b your own best advocate.
- I had a niece, a cousin and a friend die same week of the big C. was an eye-opener for me cause chemo did not help them at all….so looked at the alternative medicine….down in Mexico. but it was too late. cancer spread like wildfire.
- I pray to God that no one has to suffer through cancer but I agree with you 1000% alternative medicine as a matter fact we already know that there are three that can cure cancer. I ivermectin is one and I can’t remember the other two.
- Cancer has been proven to be eliminated with alternative medicine you denounce without a single study. I’m starting to think you hate the American people.
- Next time you or your loved one gets cancer, use “alternative medicine“.
- Most Doctors use drugs for treatment of symptoms because that’s how they are trained. No nutrition or alternative medicine is taught or encouraged. In cancer treat Drs are required to only recommend chemo because they could lose their license for alternative nedicine referrals.
- Spiritual causes of illness, including cancer, are often explored within alternative approaches to healing and holistic philosophies. Although traditional medicine does not recognize spiritual causes, many spiritual traditions and energetic practices.
- I pray that you look to alternative medicine, don’t listen to the current medical model as it is designed to keep people sick, western medicine does not heal. Chinese medicine does like others around the world. A primary cause of cancer is parasites. Western medicine doesn’t look.
- Chemotherapy is brutal, attacking both cancer and healthy cells. Alternative solutions do exist, but mainstream medicine often won’t offer them. Take control of your research, explore your options, and question everything.
- I cured my cancer symptoms using alternative medicine, including Ayurveda. Not drugs.
- I’m a double cancer survivor and I was in a clinical trial testing chemo in 2013-2014. Chemo is poison and big pharma. Alternative medicine is better. Changed must be made. I love that PresidentTtump has done this. And I can’t wait for RFKJr to lead HHS.
- Cancer kills you if you follow the advice of the medical establishment. There are many alternative cures for cancer and even more ways to prevent it in the first place. Do some research into naturopathic medicine if you truly want to be healthy.
- Maybe Trump should redirect that 500 billion to alternative medicine/supplement/ivermectin research that will eradicate cancer. And what is causing cancer. Don’t need a mRNA cancer vaccine. We already have the tools to stop cancer.
- Please get checked for parasites which is what cancer is. Try alternative medicine and see how that works – I bet it does.
- I have a friend who cured her own breast cancer with alternative methods. There are cures out there. Mainstream medicine just won’t recognize them.
- Everything is fake in medical field nowadays. Not only petition but also pathogen hypothesis medical academic papers about virus, cancer etc.. We need to build an alternative medicine field ASAP.
- …
- …
[I could have gone on almost for ever]
I had not expected to find much wisdom on ‘X’, but what I did find truly horrified me. For every sensible Tweet, there seem to be 10 imbecillic and dangerous ones. Imaging a desperate cancer patient reads these lies, misleading claims, nonsensical statements and conspiracy theories!
To set the record straight, let me state these two simple facts:
There is no SCAM that would change the natural history of any form of cancer.
What is more, there never ill be one! As soon as a treatment might look promising as a cancer cure, it will be investigated by mainstream scientists and – if it turns out to be helpful – integrated into conventional oncology. In other words, it will become evidence-based medicine.
You don’t believe me without evidence?
Ok, then please read my book on the subject.
PS
And yes, there are some SCAMs that might have a role in improving QoL, but that’s a different topic.
We had to deal with Hongchi Xiao several times before:
- Slapping therapy? No thanks!
- China Power and Influence
- Slapping therapy: therapist arrested and charged with manslaughter by gross negligence
Slapping therapy is based on the notion that slapping patients at certain points of their body has positive therapeutic effects. Hongchi Xiao, a Chinese-born investment banker, popularised this SCAM which, he claims, is based on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is also known as ‘Paida’—in Chinese, this means ‘to slap your body’. The therapy involves slapping the body surface with a view of stimulating the flow of ‘chi’, the vital energy postulated in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Slapping therapists believe that this ritual restores health and eliminates toxins. They also claim that the bruises which patients tend to develop after the treatment are the visible signs of toxins coming to the surface. Hongchi Xiao advocates slapping as “self-healing method” that should be continued until the skin starts looking bruised. He and his follows conduct workshops and sell books teaching the public which advocate slapping therapy as a panacea, a cure-all. The assumptions of slapping therapy fly in the face of science and are thus not plausible. There is not a single clinical trial testing whether slapping therapy is effective. It must therefore be categorised as unproven.
Now it has been reported that Hongchi Xiao has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the death of a 71-year-old diabetic woman who stopped taking insulin during one of his workshops.
Hongchi Xiao, 61, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence for failing to get medical help for Danielle Carr-Gomm as she howled in pain and frothed at the mouth during the fourth day of a workshop in October 2016. The Californian healer promoted paida lajin therapy which entails getting patients to slap themselves repeatedly to release “poisonous waste” from the body. The technique has its roots in Chinese medicine and has no scientific basis and patients often end up with bruises, bleeding — or worse.
Xiao had extradited from Australia, where he had been convicted of manslaughter after a 6-year-old boy died when his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending one of his workshops in Sydney. “I consider you dangerous even though you do not share the characteristics of most other dangerous offenders,” Justice Robert Bright said during sentencing at Winchester Crown Court. “You knew from late in the afternoon of day one of the fact that Danielle Carr-Gomm had stopped taking her insulin. Furthermore, you made it clear to her you supported this.” Bright added Xiao only made a “token effort” to get Carr-Gomm to take her insulin once it was too late and had shown no sign of remorse as he even continued to promote paida lajin in prison.
Carr-Gomm was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999 and was desperate to find a cure that didn’t involve injecting herself with needles, her son, Matthew, said. She sought out alternative treatments and had attended a previous workshop by Xiao in Bulgaria a few months before her death in which she also became seriously ill after ceasing her medication. However, she recorded a video testimonial, calling Xiao a “messenger sent by God” who was “starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of healthcare.”
Xiao had congratulated Carr-Gomm when she told other participants at the English retreat that she had stopped taking her insulin. By day three, Carr-Gomm was “vomiting, tired and weak, and by the evening she was howling in pain and unable to respond to questions,” prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said.
A chef who wanted to call an ambulance said she deferred to those with holistic healing experience. “Those who had received and accepted the defendant’s teachings misinterpreted Mrs. Carr-Gomm’s condition as a healing crisis,” Atkinson said.
______________
A healing crisis?
A crisis of collective stupidity, I’d say!
More reason to worry about our royal family? Apparently, Camilla (I apologise for calling her thus, as I am never entirely sure whether she is Queen or Queen Consort: Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles, will be formally known as Queen Consort now that her husband is King12. When Camilla and Charles married in a civil ceremony in 2005, it was announced Camilla would become known as Princess Consort – rather than Queen Consort – due to public sensitivity3. However, Queen Elizabeth II granted her the title of Queen Consort in February last year during the Platinum Jubilee45.) has been urged to take more time to recover after a bout of pneumonia.
At the start of November it was announced that she had been diagnosed with a ‘chest infection’ and was under doctors’ supervision. The 77-year-old Camilla was forced to withdraw from her engagements so she could rest at home. She has now revealed that she was suffering from a form of pneumonia.
It is understood Camilla’s condition was viral. She seems to be suffering significantly diminished reserves of energy following her chest infection. This led to her having to pull out of a number of events over recent weeks. Even though the lung infection has now cleared, she says she is still feeling tired. She has been advised by her doctors to take more time to recover. It was confirmed yesterday on the eve of the state visit that the Queen was also reducing her role at the glam state banquet later on Dec. 3 in light of her health.
So, is there anything special that might have triggered this unfortunate turn of events? To answer this question, I refer you to my post of 31 October this year:
… King Charles arrived in Bengaluru directly from Samoa, where he attended the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from October 21-26. His visit to Bengaluru was strictly kept under wraps, and he was directly taken to Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC), where he was also joined by his wife, Camilla.
According to sources, the couple’s day begins with a morning yoga session, followed by breakfast and rejuvenation treatment before lunch. After a brief rest, a second round of therapies follows, ending with a meditation session before dinner and lights out by 9 pm. They have been enjoying long walks around the campus, visiting the organic farm and cattle shed. Considering the high-profile secret visit, a high-security ring was thrown around SIHHC.
The health centre, founded by Dr. Issac Mathai, is located in Samethanahalli, Whitefield, on Bengaluru’s outskirts. This integrative medical facility combines traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Yoga, and Naturopathy, along with over 30 complementary therapies like reflexology, acupuncture, and dietetics.
… The royal couple has earlier taken wellness treatments, including anti-ageing, detoxification and rejuvenation. On November 14, 2019, the couple celebrated the then Prince Charles’ 71st birthday at SIHHC, an event that attracted a lot of publicity, unlike this visit.
Yes, you may well ask: isn’t Ayurvedic medicine supposed:
- to strengthen the immune system,
- to fortify you against infections,
- to replenish your reserves of energy,
- to enable you to recover swiftly from infections?
Of course, I know, correlation is not causation! Perhaps the recent Ayurvedic pampering in India and Camilla’s inability to make a timely recovery from what started merely as a ‘chest infection’ are not at all linked in any way. Yet, it does seem tempting to speculate that the stay in the SIHHC with all the Ayurvedic medicine did her not a lot of good.
Whatever might be the case, I would like to take this opportunity to wish Camilla a full recovery for her condition.
A journalist from the DAILY MAIL alerted me to the fact that yet another celebrity having decided to sell dietary supplements, interviewed me on the subject, and eventually published an article about it. One would not have thought that the Beckhams are short of money – so, why did David Beckham turn into a snake-oil salesman? I am far from being able to answer this question. What I now do know is that, via his firm ‘IM8’, he has started marketing two supplements (one of his slogans is ‘Built by Science, Trusted by Beckham’):
Daily Ultimate Essentials: All-in-One Supplement
This is a ‘multi-everything’ supplement. The only truly remarkable thing about it is its price tag. There are hundreds of similar products on the market. Almost all of them are much cheaper, and none is helpful for anyone who is healthy and consumes a balanced diet, as far as I can see.
Daily Ultimate Longevity: Healthy Aging
The implication here seems to be not a trivial one; the name clearly implies that we live longer, if we regularly bought this supplement. Not onlly that, we would also be healthier! I can see no evidence for either of these claims, yet a simple calculation tells me that we would be considerably poorer, if we fell for this advertising gimmick.
On the website, we learn a bit more:
At IM8, our commitment to science goes beyond innovation—it’s the foundation of everything we do. A world-class team of experts from space science, medicine, and academia has united with one goal: to revolutionize wellness. We’ve pioneered CRT8™ (Cell Rejuvenation Technology 8), designed to enhance cellular rejuvenation and push the limits of what’s possible in health.
Each of our products undergoes rigorous third-party testing and clinical trials, ensuring purity, efficacy, and results you can trust. With IM8, you’re getting scientifically driven core nutrition for optimal health and longevity.
___________________
I feel embarrassed for the ‘world-class team of experts from space science, medicine, and academia’ who give their good name to this hyped up nonsense. Moreover, I ask myself whether David Beckham’s new attempt to increase his wealth might be a case for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
It has been reported that the Dresden Higher Regional Court (OLG) examined the extent to which a doctor must inform his patient, if he/she uses so-called alternative medine (SCAM) that deviates from conventional medicine. To be precise, the case was about a detoxification therapy with so-called chelating agents. A patient had received ‘holistic treatment’ for symptoms of exhaustion with sleep disorders, headaches, concentration problems and general restlessness and became worse and worse during the course of the therapy. Eventually, he sued for compensation for pain and suffering and damages.
Initially, the patient had been treated conservatively with iron supplements. After carrying out ‘provocation test’, the doctor diagnosed a heavy metal load, which he treated with ‘elimination therapy’ in the form of an i.v. “detox therapy” (2-3-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonate (DMPS)). The patient subsequently became increasingly unwell, leading to hospitalisation and treatment for severe thrombocytopenia with moderate liver damage.
The expert opinion obtained in the first-instance of the ensuing legal proceedings considered the cause of the patient’s complaints to be the administration of an inadmissibly excessive amount of alpha-lipoic acid during ‘detoxification therapy’. It became clear that the doctor had not properly informed the patient about this therapy and its risks.
The court considered that the basic information required under German law had not been provided. This basic information gives the patient a general idea of the severity of the procedure and the impact of the associated burdens on their lifestyle. The obligation to provide information also applies to practitioners who use SCAM. A doctor who offers SCAM must therefore clearly inform the patient that they are deviating from a conventional approach. He/she must also explain why he/she is doing this and what advantages and disadvantages the patient can expect as a result.
Detoxification therapy is indisputably such a SCAM, the costs of which are not covered by the health insurance companies. The patient must therefore not only be informed of the risks and the danger of failure of the procedure, but must also be informed that the planned therapy is not standard medical practice and that the effectiveness of the therapy is unproven.
The patient must be able to weigh up whether they want to take the risks of treatment with regard to the prospects of success in view of their state of health before the procedure. Such information was not provided in the present case. For this reason, the Regional Court awarded damages for pain and suffering amounting to EUR 15,000 for the damage to health suffered.
__________________________
On this blog, we have often discussed the problems of informed consent. Informed consent, I have previously stated, must usually include full information on:
- the diagnosis
- its natural history
- the most effective treatment options available
- the proposed therapy
- its effectiveness
- its risks
- its cost
- a rough treatment plan
Only when this information has been transmitted to and understood by the patient can informed consent be considered complete. I do understand why many SCAM practitioners do not like informed consent – it could stop many from practising: they are frequently unable to provide the required information. Yet, ALL clinicians have a moral, ethical and legal duty to obtain informed consent BEFORE starting a therapy. It is reassuring that the German court agrees.
While medical experts across the world have expressed dismay at Trump’s appointment of Robert Kennedy, the ‘International chiropractors Association’ has just published this remarkable note:
Donald J. Trump made it official that he was nominating Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary-designee Kennedy has spent his entire career championing the health of the nation through education, advocacy, research and when needed litigation.
Among his many accomplishments are protecting the environment with Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council His work at Riverkeeper succeeded in setting long-term environmental legal standards. Kennedy won legal battles against large corporate polluters. He became an adjunct professor of environmental law at Pace University School of Law in 1986 and founded the Pace’s Environmental Litigation Clinic which he co-directed for a decade.
It would be in the Pace Law Review that the landmark paper, “Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury” (https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1681&context=pelr) would be published in 2011.
Kennedy became laser focused on the autism epidemic while giving lectures on the dangers of mercury in fish, he was repeatedly approached by the mothers of children born healthy who regressed into autism after suffering adverse reactions from childhood vaccines, including their concern about the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, being used in vaccines including the Hepatitis B vaccine given at birth. Kennedy’s approach to the issue was the same as it always, looking at the science. He assembled a team who gathered all the science and reviewed the issues with him. This resulted in the publication of the book, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak
The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury—a Known Neurotoxin—from Vaccines.
After establishing and leading the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, last year Kennedy stepped back from the organization to throw his hat in the ring to be President. Becoming the embodiment of his uncle John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”, Kennedy reached out to President Trump to form an alliance to focus on the crisis of chronic disease in the United States, and suspended his campaign to focus on the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) Initiative.
ICA President, Dr. Selina Sigafoose Jackson, who is currently in Brazil promoting the protection of chiropractic as a separate and distinct profession stated, “Many ICA members have been supporters of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s philanthropic activities and are all in on the MAHA Initiative. The Mission, Vision, and Values of the ICA align with the stated goals of the MAHA Initiative. We stand ready to provide policy proposals and experts to serve as advisors to the incoming Administration and to Secretary Kennedy upon his swearing in.”
____________________________
Perhaps I am permitted to contrast this with some health-related truths about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (my apologies, if the list is incomplete – please add to it by posting further important issues):
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has, since about 20 years, been a leading figure of the anti-vaccine movement.
- During the epidemic, he pushed the conspiracy theory that “the quarantine” was used as cover to install 5G cell phone networks.
- He claimed that “one out of every six American women has so much mercury in her womb that her children are at risk for a grim inventory of diseases, including autism, blindness, mental retardation and heart, liver and kidney disease.”
- He wrote that, “while people were dying at the rate of 10,000 patients a week, Dr. Fauci declared that hydroxychloroquine should only be used as part of a clinical trial. For the first time in American history, a government official was overruling the medical judgment of thousands of treating physicians, and ordering doctors to stop practicing medicine as they saw fit.”
- He pushed the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 had been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.”
- He claimed in a 2023 podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective”.
- In a 2021 podcast, he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines.
- He founded Children’s Health Defense’ that spreads fear and mistrust in science. One chiropractic group in California had donated $500,000 to this organisation.
- In 2019, he visited Samoa where he became partly responsible for an outbreak of measles, which made 5,700 people sick and killed 83 of them.
- He called mercury-containing vaccines aimed at children a holocaust. In 2015, he compared the horrors committed against Jews to the effects of vaccines on children. “They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone. This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
- He repeatedly alleged that exposure to chemicals — “endocrine disruptors” — is causing gender dysphoria in children and contributing to a rise in LGBTQ-youth. According to him, endocrine disruptors are “chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones and are commonly found in pesticides and plastic.”
- He stated “Telling people to “trust the experts” is either naive or manipulative—or both.”
- He plans to stop water fluoridation.
- He slammed the FDA’s “suppression” of raw milk.
- He said that a worm ate part of his brain which led to long-lasting “brain fog.”
- He has a 14-year-long history of abusing heroin from the age of 15. The police once arrested him for possession; he then faced up to two years in jail for the felony but was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty.
- He stated: “WiFi radiation … does all kinds of bad things, including causing cancer…cell phone tumors behind the ear.”
- He claimed that rates of autism have increased even though “there has been no change in diagnosis and no change in screening either.” Yet, both have changed significantly.
- He wrote: (Fauci’s) “obsequious subservience to the Big Ag, Big Food, and pharmaceutical companies has left our children drowning in a toxic soup of pesticide residues, corn syrup, and processed foods, while also serving as pincushions for 69 mandated vaccine doses by age 18—none of them properly safety tested.”
- He stated that cancer rates are skyrocketing in the young and the old – a statement that is evidently untrue.
- He authored a viral post on X: “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
- He has also aligned himself with special interests groups such as anti-vaccine chiropractors.
- He stated categorically: “You cannot trust medical advice from medical professionals.”
- He said he’s going to put a pause on infectious diseases research for 8 years.
- He promoted the unfounded theory that the CIA killed his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy.
- He linked school shootings to the increased prescription of antidepressants.
- An evaluation of verified Twitter accounts from 2021, found Kennedy’s personal Twitter account to be the top “superspreader” of vaccine misinformation on Twitter, responsible for 13% of all reshares of misinformation, more than three times the second most-retweeted account.
PS
Let me finish with a true statement: The World Health Organization has estimated that global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives in the past 50 years.
