The Wonderful World of Tong Ren Therapy - Plague of Mice

Tong Ren therapy, or the art of hitting dolls with hammers to magically cure all sorts of Stuff because of the Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things. This started out as a bit of light relief for a hot and muggy day enlivened by a splitting ophthalmic headache. I should have stuck with the headache.

I’ve covered this lunatic therapy before. For those who missed the previous episode and can’t be arsed to go back and read it, here’s a fresh presentation of this most egregious fuckwittery..

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Recklessly stupid TCM-promotion by the ‘Daily Mail’

The ‘Daily Mail’ is not a paper famed for its objective reporting. In politics, this can influence elections; in medicine, it can endanger public health. A recent article is a case in point, I think. 

START OF QUOTE 

Traditional Chinese medicines could help prevent heart disease and the progression of pre-diabetes, according to research. Some herbal […]

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Quackademia down under

Quackademia is an apt term for the teaching or promotion of quackery in universities. Sadly, this is a serious problem, and we have therefore discussed it already several times (see here, here and here). If you have read my memoir, you know that I had my fair share of quackademia ‘hands-on’, so to speak. This article from Australia has more on the subject […]

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Shamefully misleading drivel about homeopathy by the German BPI

According to Wikipedia, “the Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie (BPI) with headquarters in Berlin is an Eingetragener Verein and the German industry association/trade group for the pharmaceutical industry. It represents 240 German pharmaceutical and Biotech companies in with altogether approximately 70,000 employees. BPI has an office in Brussels. The focus of the BPI is on political […]

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Post number 1000 !!!

Yes, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true: this is the 1000th post on this blog. Form the outset, I intended to critically comment on as many alternative modalities (treatments and diagnostic methods) as I can. This is the (probably not totally complete) list of what we covered:

• Acupressure
• Acupuncture
• Agrohomeopathy
• Anthroposophic medicine
• Alexander technique […]

Read the rest here: Post number 1000 !!!

How to protect yourself from bogus claims about so-called alternative medicine

Currently, over 50 000 000 websites promote alternative medicine, and consumers are bombarded with information not just via the Internet, but also via newspapers, magazines and other sources. This has the potential of needlessly separating them from their cash or even seriously harming their health. As there is little that protects us from greedy entrepreneurs and over-enthusiastic therapists, we should think about protecting ourselves. Here I will provide five simple tips that may fortify you against fake news in the realm of alternative medicine […]

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Six reasons to AVOID a wheatgrass colonic

The title of the article actually was ‘SIX REASONS TO TRY A WHEATGRASS COLONIC’. I will only repeat parts of the introduction, but please do take the time to read the full text, particularly if you feel sad or depressed – it is hilarious!

START OF QUOTE If you’ve ever had a colonoscopy, then you […]

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Dlisted | Goopy Paltrow Admits That She Doesn’t Know What The Hell Goop Is Talking About

Organic, cruelty-free snake oil saleslady Goopy Paltrow was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night to push her latest scheme, $90 vitamin subscriptions. Since she was there to talk about Goop, Jimmy Kimmel brought up a few of the crazy/dumb/fucked-up/all-of-the-above things that her site has suggested that their readers do. Things like walk barefoot on the earth, squat pee and shove a jade egg up their cooze. Jimmy Kimmel wanted Goopy to explain some of that shit, and with one of them, she couldn’t, because she knew nothing about it. Bless the Goop fans who struggled while holding a jade egg in their cooch as they squat peed into a dirt hole with their bare feet on the soil because they believe Goopy herself did that too...

Read on: Dlisted | Goopy Paltrow Admits That She Doesn’t Know What The Hell Goop Is Talking About (NFSW - swearing by Paltrow)

The “other medicine” … how shall we call it?

In their now famous 1998 NEJM editorial about alternative medicine, Angell and Kassirer concluded that “It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine — conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, […]

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Are alternative practitioners fear-mongers?

Since more than 20 years, I have been writing about the risks of alternative therapies. One of my first papers on this issue was published in 1995 and focused on acupuncture. Here is its abstract: 

The use of acupuncture is widespread. The procedure is often claimed to be totally, or at least reasonably, safe. The […]

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An Open Letter To Gwyneth Paltrow About GOOP | HuffPost

This is the article that started it all:

I’m pretty sure you don’t mean comment on your recipes but rather the growing exasperation from medical professionals and journalists alike at the almost constant debunking of the health “advice” and all around medical bullshit that you and your pals at GOOP promote and sell. No, we don’t have adrenal fatigue we have goopitis.

When I tell you that alcohol is a toxin I am not f*cking with you I am being factual. Do you really think everything in the world is a toxin except alcohol and botulinum toxin...

Read on: An Open Letter To Gwyneth Paltrow About GOOP | HuffPost

Fifteen Children in South Sudan Die During Vaccine Campaign

The Associated Press is reporting that 15 children have died as a result of a vaccination campaign in South Sudan. According to the report:
“Fifteen young children have died in a botched measles vaccination campaign that saw people as young as 12 years old administering the vaccines, South Sudan’s government announced Friday. The United Nations […]

Read more at: Fifteen Children in South Sudan Die During Vaccine Campaign by Reuben

INFORMED CONSENT IN ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: ethical imperative + practical impossibility

Before starting to treat a patient, all health care professionals – including of course alternative practitioners – have to obtain informed consent. This is not optional but an ethical and legal imperative. Informed consent must usually include full information on: 

• the diagnosis 
• its natural history 
• the most effective treatment options available 
• the proposed therapy 
• its effectiveness […]

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Peter Doshi is at it again with (anti?) vaccine article

Remember Peter Doshi? The researcher whose shocking (it isn’t) opinion pieces are used by anti-vaccine zealots almost on a yearly basis? The researcher who presented at an anti-vaccine conference hosted by the notoriously misnamed National Vaccine Information Center? Yeah, you remember. Well, he’s back.

This time, he is apparently outraged that there is a glitch in how certain browsers handle the web address for the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System […]

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Olivia Newton-John, cancer and alternative medicine

Olivia Newton-John is postponing her June U.S. and Canadian concert tour dates, as the back pain that initially caused her to postpone the first half of her concert tour, has been diagnosed as bone metastases form her earlier breast cancer. She now intends to complete a short course of photon radiation therapy along with alternative […]

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