Naturopaths: rubbish at healthcare, excellent at character-assassination | Edzard Ernst

Britt Marie Hermes is a most remarkable women. She is an ex-naturopaths who has the courage to speak out against all that is wrong with naturopathy. 

On her website she writes: I used to be a naturopathic doctor. For 3 years, I practiced naturopathic medicine, licensed in Washington and Arizona. I earned my degree at Bastyr […]

Read on: Naturopaths: rubbish at healthcare, excellent at character-assassination

Another researcher enters THE ALT MED HALL OF FAME | Edzard Ernst

The queue outside my ‘ALT MED HALL OF FAME’ was getting restless because I did not admit any new members for some time. So, I better get cracking! 

You remember, of course, who has been honoured so far; the list of members (main research interest, country) is as follows: 

Nicola Robinson (TCM, UK) 

Peter Fisher (homeopathy, UK) […]

Read on: Another researcher enters THE ALT MED HALL OF FAME

Homeopathy: research is for promotion, not for finding the truth (even if it is unethical) | Edzard Ernst

Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) is a common condition which can considerably reduce the quality of life of sufferers. Homeopathy is often advocated – but does it work? 

A new study was meant to be an “assessment of the clinical effectiveness of homeopathic remedies in the alleviation of hay fever symptoms in a typical clinical setting.” 

The investigator […]

Read on: Homeopathy: research is for promotion, not for finding the truth (even if it is unethical)

Scientists aren’t gods – quite the opposite: they’re fallible and accountable

I don’t know whether ‘Sir’ Simon Jenkins has acquired the clout to by-pass sub-editors and supply the (sub-)headlines to his own articles. If he has, then he palpably lacks the nuance one might fairly expect from a journalist of his seniority and standing, his recent piece – Scientists aren’t gods. They deserve the same scrutiny as anyone else – suggesting he’s not much better than any outrage-provoking, clickbait-generating hack.

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Pharmacists: to sell quackery means you are quacks – or have I got that wrong? | Edzard Ernst

The question whether pharmacists should sell unproven alternative medicines will not go away. On this blog, we have discussed it repeatedly, for instance here, here and here. The Australian Journal of Pharmacy’s latest poll shows that readers have their suspicions about the validity of naturopathic medicines, with a whopping 544 voters choosing the option, “No, there’s […]

Read on: Pharmacists: to sell quackery means you are quacks – or have I got that wrong?

An invitation resulting in a rare insight into the acupuncturists’ mind-set | Edzard Ernst

I am editor in chief of a journal called FACT. It has a large editorial board, and I am always on the look-out for people who might be a good, productive and colourful addition to it. On 3 June, I sent an invitation to Mel Koppelman, who is by now well known to regular readers of this blog. […]

Read on: An invitation resulting in a rare insight into the acupuncturists’ mind-set

Is this the end of homeopathy in Liverpool? | Edzard Ernst

I have previously reported about the issue of homeopathy on the NHS in Liverpool here. Since then, the NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has conducted a consultation on whether to continue funding. Personally, I think such polls are a daft waste of resources. 

Why? 

I will explain in a moment; first read the (slightly shortened) […]

Read on: Is this the end of homeopathy in Liverpool?

Uncharitable charities? The example of ‘YES TO LIFE’ | Edzard Ernst

We tend to trust charities; many of us donate to charities; we think highly of the work they do and the advice they issue. And why shouldn’t we? After all, a ‘charity’ is ‘an institution or organization set up to provide help, money, etc, to those in need’. Not a hint at anything remotely sinister here – charities are good! […]

Read on: Uncharitable charities? The example of ‘YES TO LIFE’

Placebo effects do not turn an ineffective therapy into an effective one | Edzard Ernst

The subject of placebo is a complex but fascinating one, particularly for those interested in alternative medicine. Most sceptics believe that alternative therapies rely heavily, if not entirely, on the placebo effect. Some alternative practitioners, when unable to produce convincing evidence that their treatment is effective, seem to have now settled to admitting that their therapy works (mostly […]

Read on: Placebo effects do not turn an ineffective therapy into an effective one

Conflicts of Interest: Is there a difference between Doctors and Acupuncturists turned researchers? | Edzard Ernst

Guest post by Frank Van der Kooy

Some serious flaws in the scientific reporting of two acupuncture clinical trials, for the treatment of infertility and allergic rhinitis, were recently published on this blog. The overly positive way in which the researchers made their mostly negative results public, was also of concern. Both these studies were published by the researcher of the year, Prof Caroline Smith, of the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), Australia. The stream of comments and discussions that followed made me think of another commonly overlooked aspect when it comes to acupuncture clinical trials. Conflict of interest! In both these studies the authors declared to have no conflicts of interest and in other studies by this author this also seems to be the case. The question can be asked: If you are a practicing acupuncturist who runs a clinical trial of acupuncture, isn’t that, by default, a serious conflict of interest? The intention of this article is not an in-depth discussion of what a conflict of interest is, but rather to compare medical doctors with acupuncturists turned researchers. Let me explain  […]

Frank van der Kooy is a pre-clinical scientist with experience in phyto-chemistry and analytical chemistry with a focus on drug discovery from medicinal plants. He served in the position of senior analytical chemist at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), Australia. 

Read on: Conflicts of Interest: Is there a difference between Doctors and Acupuncturists turned researchers?

Just(in) asking questions

This is probably the last post I’ll write about Justin Kanew. The first post is here, and the second is here. In the first post, I explained to you how Mr. Kanew was slowly descending into anti-vaccine world. In the second, the conversion was nearly complete. So complete, in fact, that Andrew Wakefield was given […]

Read more at: Just(in) asking questions by Reuben

Effectiveness, efficacy and wishful thinking…if all else fails, invent your own definitions! | Edzard Ernst

This post is dedicated to Mel Koppelman. 

Those who followed the recent discussions about acupuncture on this blog will probably know her; she is an acupuncturist who (thinks she) knows a lot about research because she has several higher qualifications (but was unable to show us any research published by herself). Mel seems very quick in lecturing […]

Read on: Effectiveness, efficacy and wishful thinking…if all else fails, invent your own definitions!

Aromatherapy and reflexology are both effective…or aren’t they? | Edzard Ernst

Alternative medicine has no shortage of research that suggests it to be effective. Almost invariably, however, one finds – when looking a bit more carefully at such investigations – that the positive conclusions are not warranted by the data. Here is an excellent, recent example: 

This new study, authored by two Turkish nurses, was an RCT where the patients […]

Read on: Aromatherapy and reflexology are both effective…or aren’t they?

An Interview with Biblenauts’ Tyler Lolong

by @TakeThatDarwin

Hey, Tyler. Thanks for agreeing to answer a few questions about Biblenauts, which gives me an excuse to talk about Biblenauts on my Twitter account, which I enjoy doing.

For the past year and change, you’ve written and drawn Biblenauts, a Monday-Wednesday-Friday webcomic that explores the Old Testament. Is this your first webcomic? How do you stick to your schedule so — ah ha ha — religiously? And how did you decide that a webcomic was the best means of exploring the Bible in this way?…

Continue reading → An Interview with Biblenauts’ Tyler Lolong

The "Take This" blog is written by a collective of skeptics hunting down misleading, uninformed and sometimes outright insane claims on social media.

Are nonsense ‘cures’ for cancer a ‘soft target’?

I confess to wondering whether Edzard Ernst’s recent increased activity at The Spectator website has arisen due to the latter’s cynical recognition (following the lengthy reaction to Tarek Arab’s naïve, quackery-appeasing dreck) of his sure-fire clickbait potential. Certainly, a run of homeopathy-centric articles this month (May 2016) provoked some of the harpies who descend on these things in order to promote their cult to potential converts. And, inevitably, this draws reaction from those of a sceptical bent.


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