For anyone wanting to make sense of what the homeopathy denialists are saying about homeopathy, the following 'tweet' from a denialist may be informative. It can be found at www.twitter.com/crispian_jago
'Right we've done Spine Wizards & Dilution Druids. While my torch is still
burning, and my pitch fork's still sharp, who's next?'
'Can we do Reiki next? Can we? Go on. Lets have a go at Reiki Masters, Eh. Go on. It'll be fun.'
So Crispian Jago believes that the health debate is fun, something to do to have a laugh.
How very sad! Homeopaths, chiropractors and Reiki Masters take health far more seriously.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Friday, 29 January 2010
The homeopathy denialists, and a 'mass overdose'
There is to be an anti-homeopathy demonstration outside several Boots stores on Saturday (30th January). They are trying to prove that homeopathic remedies don't do anything, regardless of how much you take. This blog is based on a press release I sent to all mainstream news media outlets on behalf of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths today.
"Homeopathic remedies are safe to take. You cannot ‘overdose’ on them. The demonstration by a small group of anti-homeopathy skeptics, perhaps more accurately described as ‘homeopathy denialists’, will have proved this point quite conclusively.
It is a pity the denialists know so little about the system of medicine they seek to denigrate. Whilst understanding they speak for the Pharmaceutical Drugs industry, any homeopath could have told them that homeopathy works only when there is a close similarity between the symptoms of the patient’s illness, and the known therapeutics of a particular homeopathic remedy.
If there is no match there will be no reaction.
The real question that needs to be addressed is not the safety of homeopathy, but why homeopathy is such an effective medical therapy, and why so many people throughout the world, and for over two centuries now, have used it with such success.
There are numerous high quality scientific studies that clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathy. The challenge facing the bona- fide scientific community is to discover why homeopathy is so effective.
"Homeopathic remedies are safe to take. You cannot ‘overdose’ on them. The demonstration by a small group of anti-homeopathy skeptics, perhaps more accurately described as ‘homeopathy denialists’, will have proved this point quite conclusively.
It is a pity the denialists know so little about the system of medicine they seek to denigrate. Whilst understanding they speak for the Pharmaceutical Drugs industry, any homeopath could have told them that homeopathy works only when there is a close similarity between the symptoms of the patient’s illness, and the known therapeutics of a particular homeopathic remedy.
If there is no match there will be no reaction.
The real question that needs to be addressed is not the safety of homeopathy, but why homeopathy is such an effective medical therapy, and why so many people throughout the world, and for over two centuries now, have used it with such success.
There are numerous high quality scientific studies that clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathy. The challenge facing the bona- fide scientific community is to discover why homeopathy is so effective.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Reductil (Sibutramine) - another tested drug banned
The European Medicines Agency has suspended authorisation for this drug, Reductil (also known as Reduxade and Zelium) across the European Union. It is known as Meridia in the USA. The Agency now believe the risks of these drugs to be 'greater than the benefits'.
http://www.ema.europa.eu/pdfs/human/referral/sibutramine/3940810en.pdf.
The drugs have been widely used to treat obesity, and of course, highly profitable, but have been found to cause increased risk of serious, non-fatal cardiovascular events, such as stroke or heart attack. The Agency also concluded that the benefits of the drug were 'modest', and were not maintained when patients stopped taking it.
The withdrawal of 'wonder drugs' is, of course, a regular event.
Patients searching for safe medicine, however, should notice that the mainstream media does not publish this. It rarely does. In fact, no-one tells us; not the government, the NHS, or our doctors. Patients have been, or will be advised to see their doctors privately - but the media's silence on these matters indicates not only that mainstream drugs are dangerous, but that we don't realise it, and the mainstream media sources are reluctant to inform their readers/viewers/listeners. We are to be left in ignorance rather than the media running the risk of upsetting a major source of advertising!
Also, if you go to the manufacturers website, http://www.reductil.co.uk/ukreductil.html, you will see that the news has not reached there either as yet! This is what the website still says
"UK Reductil slimming pills, have proved to be an effective prescription weight loss pill. Reductil just works to promote fast weight loss. More doctors prescribe Reductil in the UK then all the other weight loss pills combined".
Nor can I see, on a site offering to sell the drug, any mention of the DIEs (disease inducing effects; I refuse to call strokes and heart attacks side-effects) which have been known for many years.
Reductil, and its related drugs, were fully tested, and of course found to be both effective and safe for use. It was licensed in 1999. So much for the safeguards of 'science', at least the chequebook, 'junk' science the Pharmaceutical Companies use to promote their wares.
http://www.ema.europa.eu/pdfs/human/referral/sibutramine/3940810en.pdf.
The drugs have been widely used to treat obesity, and of course, highly profitable, but have been found to cause increased risk of serious, non-fatal cardiovascular events, such as stroke or heart attack. The Agency also concluded that the benefits of the drug were 'modest', and were not maintained when patients stopped taking it.
The withdrawal of 'wonder drugs' is, of course, a regular event.
Patients searching for safe medicine, however, should notice that the mainstream media does not publish this. It rarely does. In fact, no-one tells us; not the government, the NHS, or our doctors. Patients have been, or will be advised to see their doctors privately - but the media's silence on these matters indicates not only that mainstream drugs are dangerous, but that we don't realise it, and the mainstream media sources are reluctant to inform their readers/viewers/listeners. We are to be left in ignorance rather than the media running the risk of upsetting a major source of advertising!
Also, if you go to the manufacturers website, http://www.reductil.co.uk/ukreductil.html, you will see that the news has not reached there either as yet! This is what the website still says
"UK Reductil slimming pills, have proved to be an effective prescription weight loss pill. Reductil just works to promote fast weight loss. More doctors prescribe Reductil in the UK then all the other weight loss pills combined".
Nor can I see, on a site offering to sell the drug, any mention of the DIEs (disease inducing effects; I refuse to call strokes and heart attacks side-effects) which have been known for many years.
Reductil, and its related drugs, were fully tested, and of course found to be both effective and safe for use. It was licensed in 1999. So much for the safeguards of 'science', at least the chequebook, 'junk' science the Pharmaceutical Companies use to promote their wares.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
The absurdity of the denialists
Readers of this blog will notice than whenever a posting is made, there are people responding whose sole intention is to rubbish homeopathy as a safe and effective medical therapy. We call them denialists. What they are doing has been described very effectively at the following website. Please take a look.
http://www.1023homeopathy.org.uk/1/post/2010/01/the-absurdity-of-the-denialists.html
http://www.1023homeopathy.org.uk/1/post/2010/01/the-absurdity-of-the-denialists.html
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Thomas Jefferson and Medical Tyranny
Given that the homeopathy denialists are determined to attack our safe and effective therapy at every opportunity, and the Conventional Medical Establishment seems intent on forcing their vaccines and drugs on us, these words by Thomas Jefferson are as true, if not truer today than when he spoke them.
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."
Gout and Homeopathy
As this article states, homeopathy has a long and successful history of treating gout - safely and effectively. Anyone suffering from this painful condition should check out homeopathic treatment - so thanks to Natural News (a wonderful source of news on health not covered in the mainstream media) for publishing it.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/027957_gout_homeopathy.html
And more sensible advice can be found on the Dr Mercola site, who suggests many life-style strategies, and emphasises that drug treatment should be avoided.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/19/Five-Steps-to-Overcoming-Gout-Naturally.aspx
http://www.NaturalNews.com/027957_gout_homeopathy.html
And more sensible advice can be found on the Dr Mercola site, who suggests many life-style strategies, and emphasises that drug treatment should be avoided.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/19/Five-Steps-to-Overcoming-Gout-Naturally.aspx
Thursday, 14 January 2010
NICE Chair criticises RCTs
Sir Michael Rawlins has been chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) since its inception in 1999. He has attacked traditional ways of assessing medical evidence, particularly for pharmaceutical drugs.
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/royal-college-physicians-sir-michael-rawlins-attacks-traditional-ways-assessing-evidence-$1245035$365674.htm
In particular, he is critical of Randomised Controlled Test (RCT's), for so long the main totem for homeopathy denialists, and the chief means of testing pharmaceutical drugs. Sir Michael outlines the limitations of RCTs in several key areas:
# Impossible - for treatments for very rare diseases where the number of patients is too limited.
# Unnecessary - when a treatment produces a "dramatic" benefit - imatinib (Glivec) for chronic myeloid leukaemia.
# Stopping trials early - interim analyses of trials are now commonly undertaken to assess whether the treatment is showing benefit and if the trial can be stopped early. Around 30% of recent trials in oncology have been stopped early for apparent benefit. Although the desire to stop trials early is understandable, the possibility that an interim analysis is a "random high" may be difficult to avoid - especially as there is no consensus among statisticians as to how best to handle this problem.
# Resources - the costs of RCTs are substantial in money, time and energy - a recent study of 153 trials completed in 2005 and 2006 showed a median cost of over £3 million and with one trial costing £95 million. One manufacturer has estimated that the average cost per patient increased from £6,300 in 2005 to £9,900 in 2007
# Generalisability - RCTs are often carried out on specific types of patients for a relatively short period of time, whereas in clinical practice the treatment will be used on a much greater variety of patients - often suffering from other medical conditions - and for much longer. There is a presumption that, in general, the benefits shown in an RCT can be extrapolated to a wide population; but there is abundant evidence to show that the harmfulness of an intervention is often missed in RCTs.
Far better, perhaps, to rely on a medical therapy like homeoopathy, with its long history of effective treatment, and safety.
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/royal-college-physicians-sir-michael-rawlins-attacks-traditional-ways-assessing-evidence-$1245035$365674.htm
In particular, he is critical of Randomised Controlled Test (RCT's), for so long the main totem for homeopathy denialists, and the chief means of testing pharmaceutical drugs. Sir Michael outlines the limitations of RCTs in several key areas:
# Impossible - for treatments for very rare diseases where the number of patients is too limited.
# Unnecessary - when a treatment produces a "dramatic" benefit - imatinib (Glivec) for chronic myeloid leukaemia.
# Stopping trials early - interim analyses of trials are now commonly undertaken to assess whether the treatment is showing benefit and if the trial can be stopped early. Around 30% of recent trials in oncology have been stopped early for apparent benefit. Although the desire to stop trials early is understandable, the possibility that an interim analysis is a "random high" may be difficult to avoid - especially as there is no consensus among statisticians as to how best to handle this problem.
# Resources - the costs of RCTs are substantial in money, time and energy - a recent study of 153 trials completed in 2005 and 2006 showed a median cost of over £3 million and with one trial costing £95 million. One manufacturer has estimated that the average cost per patient increased from £6,300 in 2005 to £9,900 in 2007
# Generalisability - RCTs are often carried out on specific types of patients for a relatively short period of time, whereas in clinical practice the treatment will be used on a much greater variety of patients - often suffering from other medical conditions - and for much longer. There is a presumption that, in general, the benefits shown in an RCT can be extrapolated to a wide population; but there is abundant evidence to show that the harmfulness of an intervention is often missed in RCTs.
Far better, perhaps, to rely on a medical therapy like homeoopathy, with its long history of effective treatment, and safety.
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