Another child has died because of homeopathy

Homeopathy is harmless; after all, the typical homeopathic remedy contains no active ingredient! Such claims can be seen abundantly. Sadly, however, they are not true. The remedies might be mostly (but, depending on potency and proper quality control, not totally) risk-free, yet homeopathy can and does kill patients. There is a depressingly long list of […]

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Chiropractors still ‘happily promote bogus treatments’ for infants

Chiropractors, I have repeatedly found, are somewhat slow at learning lessons even from their biggest mistakes. A new paper seem to confirm my suspicion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the report by mothers of their infants’ condition before and after a trial of care provided by chiropractors in addition to ratings of satisfaction, […]

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INSPIRAL PAEDIATRIC SEMINARS … chiropractic quackery at its most obvious

Chiropractic for kids? Yes, many chiropractors advocate (and earn good money with) it, yet it has been pointed out ad nauseam that the claim of being able of treating paediatric conditions is bogus (in fact, the BCA even lost a famous court case over this issue). But evidence does rarely seem to stop a chiro […]

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The death of a diabetic child: God had guided the herbalist to use herbs rather than conventional medicine

Newsweek recently reported that a herbalist has been charged with the death of a 13-year-old diabetic boy. Allegedly, the therapist replaced the boy’s insulin with herbal remedies. Tim Morrow, 83, was charged with

1. child abuse causing death
2. and with practising medicine without a license. 

Morrow stated that god had guided him to use herbs rather than […]

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This RCT of a Chinese herbal mixture makes a mockery of science and medical ethics

Difficulties breastfeeding?

Some say that Chinese herbal medicine offers a solution.

This Chinese multi-centre RCT included 588 mothers considering breastfeeding. The intervention group received the Chinese herbal mixture Zengru Gao, while the control group received no therapy. The primary outcomes were the percentages of fully and partially breastfeeding mothers, and a secondary outcome was baby’s […]

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Manual therapies for infant colic? A very sore point in the history of chiropractic

Some of you will remember the saga of the British Chiropractic Association suing my friend and co-author Simon Singh (eventually losing the case, lots of money and all respect). One of the ‘hot potatoes’ in this case was the question whether chiropractic is effective for infant colic. This question is settled, I thought: IT HAS […]

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Homeopathic child abuse of the worst kind

Brace yourself: the wonders of homeopathy seem to be without limits. You can even increase the height of your children with homeopathy!

This website explains in some detail:
SBL Rite-Hite Tablets growth promoter homeopathic medicine is indicated for children who do not grow or develop satisfactorily, suffer feeble digestion & imperfect assimilation, anemia, lack of […]

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Chiropractors and naturopaths should keep their hands off our kids, if you ask me

This survey assessed chiropractic (DC) and naturopathic “doctors”‘ (ND) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour with respect to the pediatric patients in their practice. Cross-sectional surveys were developed in collaboration with DC and ND educators. Surveys were sent to randomly selected DCs and NDs in Ontario, Canada in 2004, and a national online survey was conducted in […]

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Christopher Robin: a sad story

Jump to follow-up Today we went to see the film, Goodbye Christopher Robin.  It was very good. I, like most children, read Pooh books as a child.  Image from Wikipedia I got interested in their Author, A.A. Milne, when I discovered that he’d done a mathematics degree at Cambridge. So had [...]

DC's Improbable Science: Truth, falsehood and evidence: investigations of dubious and dishonest science

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How The Parents Of Autistic Children Are Being Targeted By Misinformation Online

It started simply enough – with suggestions that her child should follow an unremarkable-sounding special diet. “They did these tests: a stool test and a urine test,” Layla (not her real name) tells BuzzFeed News. “I can’t remember where they were from – not the NHS, obviously, but some lab. The results had all these red markers.” The tests, from an alternative medicine practitioner who was recommended by and paid for by a major charity, apparently showed that Layla’s son, an autistic boy who was 3 at the time, had various issues with his gut and his metabolism. “I was shocked,” says Layla. “I didn’t realise – my son had all these deficiencies, these toxins in his system.”[...]

Read full exposé: How The Parents Of Autistic Children Are Being Targeted By Misinformation Online

Chiropractic for kids: a pack of offensive lies

It is bad enough to mislead adult patients into believing that chiropractic is effective for conditions for which it is clearly not. However, it is far worse, in my view, to do that for paediatric conditions.

There is no doubt that chiropractors continue to treat children and advertise their services for childhood conditions. I am […]

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FDA: homeopathic teething remedies were toxic

I am sure this  FDA press-release will interest many readers (we reported about this case before):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that its laboratory analysis found inconsistent amounts of belladonna, a toxic substance, in certain homeopathic teething tablets, sometimes far exceeding the amount claimed on the label. The agency is warning consumers that homeopathic teething tablets containing belladonna pose an unnecessary risk to infants and children and urges consumers not to use these products...

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If your baby is crying. what do you do? Stick pins in it

This piece is almost identical with today’s Spectator Health article. 

This week there has been enormously wide coverage in the press for one of the worst papers on acupuncture that I’ve come across. As so often, the paper showed the opposite of what its title and press release, claimed. For another stunning example of this sleight [...]

Read the rest at: If your baby is crying. what do you do? Stick pins in it

DC's Improbable Science: Truth, falsehood and evidence: investigations of dubious and dishonest science

Acupuncture study on colicky kids shows the opposite of what the authors conclude

This new RCT was embargoed until today; so, I had to wait until I was able to publish my comments. Here are the essentials of the study:

The Swedish investigators compared the effect of two types of acupuncture versus no acupuncture in infants with colic in public child health centres (CHCs). The study was designed as a multicentre, randomised controlled, single-blind, three-armed trial (ACU-COL) comparing two styles of acupuncture with no acupuncture, as an adjunct to standard care. Among 426 infants whose parents sought help for colic and registered their child’s fussing/crying in a diary, 157 fulfilled the criteria for colic and 147 started the intervention...

Read on: Acupuncture study on colicky kids shows the opposite of what the authors conclude

Homeopathy for the common cold: is this another case of scientific misconduct?

The common cold is one of the indications for which homeopathy is deemed to be effective… by homeopaths that is! Non-homeopaths are understandably critical about this claim, not least because there is no good evidence for it. But, hold on, there is a new study which might change all this.

This study was recently published in COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES IN MEDICINE which is supposed to be one of the better journals in this area. According to its authors, it was conducted “to determine if a homeopathic syrup was effective in treating cold symptoms in preschool children”...

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FDA safety alert about homeopathic teething remedies | Edzard Ernst

Homeopathic products are safe! 

At least this is what the homeopathy-lobby tries to make us believe. On this blog, we have repeatedly questioned this notion, and recently it was reported by several sources, for instance this website, that the FDA has taken action against one specific homeopathic remedy over safety concerns:

Some homeopathic tablets and gels aimed […]

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Aromatherapy: pleasant enough, but what are the risks? | Edzard Ernst

AROMATHERAPY is one of the most popular alternative therapies. The experience is usually pleasant enough, but what are the risks? None!!! At least this is what the therapists would claim. But is this true? Perhaps not. According to a recent press-release, the risks might be considerable.

Officials with the Tennessee Poison Control Center (TPC) are warning that they are seeing an […]

Read on: Aromatherapy: pleasant enough, but what are the risks?

Chiropractic treatment of childhood ear infections – and the inability of a profession to reform | Edzard Ernst

In 2010, we published an investigation of 200 chiropractor websites and 9 chiropractic associations’ World Wide Web claims in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The outcome measure was claims (either direct or indirect) regarding the eight reviewed conditions, made in the context of chiropractic treatment.

We found evidence that […]

Read on: Chiropractic treatment of childhood ear infections – and the inability of a profession to reform

Naturopaths should not treat children | Edzard Ernst

This is the conclusion Britt Hermes draws in her new blog post about US naturopaths claiming to be competent to treat children.

Britt is a most remarkable and courageous woman. She clearly knows what she is talking about:

“My experience puts me in a unique position to show what naturopathic training looks like from the […]

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What are the competencies of a ‘certified paediatric doctor of chiropractic’? | Edzard Ernst

A 2016 article set out to define the minimum core competencies expected from a certified paediatric doctor of chiropractic using a Delphi consensus process. The initial set of seed statements and sub-statements was modelled on competency documents used by organizations that oversee chiropractic and medical education. The statements were then distributed to the Delphi panel, reaching […]

Read on: What are the competencies of a ‘certified paediatric doctor of chiropractic’?