You may recall I wrote a post about Islington Homeopathy Clinic (IHC) and their violations of the ASA Code of Practise. If you don't recall, here it is.
Turns out I'm not the first person to mention this to the ASA as the IHC is already on the ASA's 'Compliance' list. This is a list of all homeopathic providers to check that they are doing what they should be doing, which in this case is not claiming their magic sugar pills can cure serious medical conditions.
Nancy Malik originally said the IHC was 'defying' the ASA. Well it urns out they probably haven't been told off yet, so just one more thing 'Dr' Malik is wrong about. Maybe the ASA's judgment was too watered-down to make them pay attention.
For those that are reading this and it all seems like a bit of a waste of my time, I'd encourage you to think differently. What if the ASA wasn't aware? What if the IHC had already told to desist and hadn't? That would've been a very good thing to tell the ASA about. And even if they already know about it, it's always good to remind them that there are concerned citizens who care about honest advertising. It's rare that a big organisation holds an openly skeptical worldview, the ASA is one of them; let's use that to our advantage.
Showing posts with label homeopathy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeopathy. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 September 2014
Sunday, 31 August 2014
More Drivel From A Homeopathy Supporter
Two posts in one day? I must be on crack. Anyway, I came across an article called 'Proof that Homeopathy Skeptics are Still Losing the Debate'. Apparently, 13 reasons why skeptics haven't convinced people homeopathy is bollocks (my words not hers). Lets see what Sandra Courtney has to say for herself.
1) Health care consumers have not been convinced that "real drugs" (versus "sugar pills") are a better option
Maybe you haven't, but the majority of people go to their doctor when they are ill. Surprisng that.
(For the record, I'm quoting select treats from the article. I'd be sorting through slurry until next week otherwise)
2) Perhaps a bit trite, but still significant when one considers sales and market trends, the number of books about the effectiveness and theory of homeopathy for sale on Amazon at the time of this writing is 2,772.
There are over 400,000 results for the term 'medicine'. 2772 is not significant in comparison to this.
3) Every state in the U.S. now recognizes the practice of homeopathy and homeopathic doctors.
7 states make it illegal for atheists to hold office in the US. In 31 states, gay marriage is illegal. Recognition or non-recognition by government does not make something true
4) The number of online and campus setting teaching courses in all the CAM practices, including homeopathy, is steadily growing.
Scientology claims to be growing as well.
5) The number of cancer research and treatment centers in the U.S. that are using integrative medicine, including homeopathy is also expanding
If true, this is a little bit terrifying.
6) If one multiplies $5.35 billion by just 1.25% annually, without adjustment for inflation, one gets a $1.1 trillion dollar global market by 2035.
If Miss Courtney thinks this will actually happen, she's on more drugs than I've had cups of coffee.
7) Homoeopathy is the third most popular method of healing in India, after conventional medicine and Ayurveda
So homeopathy isn't even the most popular type of woo in India. Fantastic outcome there.
8) There are growing numbers of research studies and controlled clinical trials proving the efficacy of homeopathy dating back to January,1988.
Here's the Cochrane Library results for 'homeopathy'. I'm willing to bet most, if not all, are not in homeopathy's favour.
9) The homeopathy skeptics are coming under fire. (It's about time). One of the skeptics' top personalities, Brian Dunning was indicted for fraud.
Dana Ullman was arrested for practicing medicine without a license.
10) Generic argument against Edzard Ernst, who is apparently 'not a credible source on homeopathy'. The only source for why is a dead link. For reference, Edzard Ernst was the first ever professor for complementary medicine in the UK.
11) The quackbusters were soundly, and publicly, beaten in this courtroom.
A court case on America in which someone didn't successfully sue a homeopathic manufacturer for fraud. What strong evidence you have.
12) Your stupidity is boundless and it is no surprise that you believe in magic pills. So what do you ultimately hope to achieve, Sandra? If your objective is to demonstrate the rank idiocy and nastiness of followers of cult of homeopathy, then please carry on because it is behaviour like yours that keeps me going.
This is a comment from Ms Courtney's blog. Not sure I'd have put it in quite these words but it pretty much sums up what I think of her too. The whole rant is spectacular, especially the use of 'excrementum caninum' to treat 'shit-for-brains' syndrome.
13) The medical journalist and author Jerome Burne of the UK had this to say about the "arrogant batty" (Mr. Burne's terminology) skeptics, particularly the Nightingale Collaboration.
One man's opinion about skeptics? Well that definitely proves skeptics are losing the argument. SPeaking of losing arguments, follow me on Twitter and there's a couple of homeopaths who are having a good go at the 'not answer any questions directly game'.
1) Health care consumers have not been convinced that "real drugs" (versus "sugar pills") are a better option
Maybe you haven't, but the majority of people go to their doctor when they are ill. Surprisng that.
(For the record, I'm quoting select treats from the article. I'd be sorting through slurry until next week otherwise)
2) Perhaps a bit trite, but still significant when one considers sales and market trends, the number of books about the effectiveness and theory of homeopathy for sale on Amazon at the time of this writing is 2,772.
There are over 400,000 results for the term 'medicine'. 2772 is not significant in comparison to this.
3) Every state in the U.S. now recognizes the practice of homeopathy and homeopathic doctors.
7 states make it illegal for atheists to hold office in the US. In 31 states, gay marriage is illegal. Recognition or non-recognition by government does not make something true
4) The number of online and campus setting teaching courses in all the CAM practices, including homeopathy, is steadily growing.
Scientology claims to be growing as well.
5) The number of cancer research and treatment centers in the U.S. that are using integrative medicine, including homeopathy is also expanding
If true, this is a little bit terrifying.
6) If one multiplies $5.35 billion by just 1.25% annually, without adjustment for inflation, one gets a $1.1 trillion dollar global market by 2035.
If Miss Courtney thinks this will actually happen, she's on more drugs than I've had cups of coffee.
7) Homoeopathy is the third most popular method of healing in India, after conventional medicine and Ayurveda
So homeopathy isn't even the most popular type of woo in India. Fantastic outcome there.
8) There are growing numbers of research studies and controlled clinical trials proving the efficacy of homeopathy dating back to January,1988.
Here's the Cochrane Library results for 'homeopathy'. I'm willing to bet most, if not all, are not in homeopathy's favour.
9) The homeopathy skeptics are coming under fire. (It's about time). One of the skeptics' top personalities, Brian Dunning was indicted for fraud.
Dana Ullman was arrested for practicing medicine without a license.
10) Generic argument against Edzard Ernst, who is apparently 'not a credible source on homeopathy'. The only source for why is a dead link. For reference, Edzard Ernst was the first ever professor for complementary medicine in the UK.
11) The quackbusters were soundly, and publicly, beaten in this courtroom.
A court case on America in which someone didn't successfully sue a homeopathic manufacturer for fraud. What strong evidence you have.
12) Your stupidity is boundless and it is no surprise that you believe in magic pills. So what do you ultimately hope to achieve, Sandra? If your objective is to demonstrate the rank idiocy and nastiness of followers of cult of homeopathy, then please carry on because it is behaviour like yours that keeps me going.
This is a comment from Ms Courtney's blog. Not sure I'd have put it in quite these words but it pretty much sums up what I think of her too. The whole rant is spectacular, especially the use of 'excrementum caninum' to treat 'shit-for-brains' syndrome.
13) The medical journalist and author Jerome Burne of the UK had this to say about the "arrogant batty" (Mr. Burne's terminology) skeptics, particularly the Nightingale Collaboration.
One man's opinion about skeptics? Well that definitely proves skeptics are losing the argument. SPeaking of losing arguments, follow me on Twitter and there's a couple of homeopaths who are having a good go at the 'not answer any questions directly game'.
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Homeopathy Clinic Violating ASA Adjudication
Scrolling through Twitter I saw a gem of a tweet from 'so-called' Evidence Based Homeopathy. Now I'm not going to address all that is wrong with combining 'Evidence-Based' and 'Homeopathy'. Frankly, I have better things to do than say 'THERE'S NO EVIDENCE' in as many ways I can think of.
This is especially true when people such as a little organisation called the Advertising Standards Authority agree with me. Back to the tweet that prompted this:
UK Homeopathy sites which rejected 'ASA private limited' ruling http://www.homeopathyislington.co.uk/ http://www.stevehomeopath.co.uk/Core/steve-homeopath/Pages/Default.aspx …
Yes, that's right - a pro-homeopathy account is telling you who is flouting a rather damning adjudication from the ASA. Naturally being a good little skeptic, I checked out the websites and it turns out Dr Nancy Malik (the lady who runs the account, more on her later) is only half right. The second appears to have cleaned up its act and now tells visitors the conventional medical treatments for the all the conditions it purports to treat.
The first website is less of a happy sight though. 'Homeopathy is a safe and effective treatment' - this is always a bit scary to see but is especially terrifying when the list of conditions homeopathy can apparently treat includes:
Even more terrifying, homeopathy is apparently 'especially suitable for pregnant women, children and newborns'. Given that the ASA specifically warns homeopaths against saying they can treat conditions (beacuse they can't), its particularly ballsy of Islington Homeopathy Clinic to claim their magic water can safely treat three groups of patients that are all at high risk of illness anyway. Especially when underneath a sentence saying '87% of patients reported reducing or stopping prescribed medication', specifically violating the ASA ruling that homeopaths should not discourage people from seeking actual medical help.
Naturally, I have fielded a complaint to the ASA about this website, thank you Dr Nancy Malik for sending in the right direction. Who is Dr Nancy Malik? Well, it turns out she's a Indian homeopath. Here is a quote from a tweet she chose to highlight in her latest blog post.
If a surgeon knows the use of few remedies like veratrum album,arnica and camphora,many deaths from surgical shock can be prevented.
Having shown just how rational and clearly sane Dr Malik is, I think I'll leave it at that.
This is especially true when people such as a little organisation called the Advertising Standards Authority agree with me. Back to the tweet that prompted this:
UK Homeopathy sites which rejected 'ASA private limited' ruling http://www.homeopathyislington.co.uk/ http://www.stevehomeopath.co.uk/Core/steve-homeopath/Pages/Default.aspx …
Yes, that's right - a pro-homeopathy account is telling you who is flouting a rather damning adjudication from the ASA. Naturally being a good little skeptic, I checked out the websites and it turns out Dr Nancy Malik (the lady who runs the account, more on her later) is only half right. The second appears to have cleaned up its act and now tells visitors the conventional medical treatments for the all the conditions it purports to treat.
The first website is less of a happy sight though. 'Homeopathy is a safe and effective treatment' - this is always a bit scary to see but is especially terrifying when the list of conditions homeopathy can apparently treat includes:
- Psoriasis - a potentially lethal skin condition
- Food poisoning - this includes Botulism, a Class A terrorist agent
- Asthma - again a killer
- Lupus - IT'S NEVER LUPUS! But again a killer
- PTSD - pretty serious
- Infertility - maybe see a qualified professional instead
- Mumps, measles, whooping cough - specifically helpful at weeding out immunocompromised infants
- Traumas - seriously, what the actually f**k? Been in a road traffic accident? Here, have a bit of diluted Mondeo. Speaking of diluted Mondeo...
Even more terrifying, homeopathy is apparently 'especially suitable for pregnant women, children and newborns'. Given that the ASA specifically warns homeopaths against saying they can treat conditions (beacuse they can't), its particularly ballsy of Islington Homeopathy Clinic to claim their magic water can safely treat three groups of patients that are all at high risk of illness anyway. Especially when underneath a sentence saying '87% of patients reported reducing or stopping prescribed medication', specifically violating the ASA ruling that homeopaths should not discourage people from seeking actual medical help.
Naturally, I have fielded a complaint to the ASA about this website, thank you Dr Nancy Malik for sending in the right direction. Who is Dr Nancy Malik? Well, it turns out she's a Indian homeopath. Here is a quote from a tweet she chose to highlight in her latest blog post.
If a surgeon knows the use of few remedies like veratrum album,arnica and camphora,many deaths from surgical shock can be prevented.
Having shown just how rational and clearly sane Dr Malik is, I think I'll leave it at that.
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