"Trick or Treatment....

[bindeweede]

.....Alternative Medicine on Trial".

My copy of the new book by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst arrived today. I thought this was quite sweet.....


"Dedicated to


HRH The Prince of Wales"

[Blue Wode]

I wonder if they sent a signed copy to HRH’s office at Clarence House – and if they did, I wonder what was said in the letter of acknowledgement that they’d receive?

I haven’t started to read the book yet since my copy only arrived earlier this afternoon. However, having had a quick skim through it, it looks great. There’s quite a bit in the ‘Truth about chiropractic therapy’ section that I wasn’t aware of, so no doubt there’ll be lots of other interesting goodies in store throughout the other chapters.

For those interested, there’s been more coverage of the book’s publication in the press today:

Complementary therapies: The big con?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/complementary-therapies-the-big-con-813248.html

And there was also this article which was published yesterday

Note to Prince Charles: ‘You’re Wrong’
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Popcult_45/Note_to_Prince_Charles_You_re_wrong.asp

which concludes with this short interview with Prof. Ernst:



What was your goal with this book?

The public is genuinely confused about alternative medicine: what works, what does not, what is dangerous, what is safe. There is so much vague commentary, misleading information and clever marketing that the public doesn’t know what to believe.

We wanted to look at all the evidence and present the most accurate, fair and honest view of alternative medicine.

In general, many of our conclusions are critical of alternative medicine, but when we encounter alternative therapies that work based on scientific testing, such as some herbal remedies, then we happily declare this to be the case.

Can you provide some key findings on which alternative treatments work and which don't? Would it be possible to get the top line on a just a few key ones?

In some cases, the picture is complicated.

Chiropractic is effective for some back problems, but no more effective than conventional treatments. Moreover, particular manipulations of the spine can cause strokes in rare cases, but this might be enough to make you think twice before visiting a chiropractor. Also, all the other claims made by chiropractors concerning conditions unrelated to the back (e.g., ear infections, colic) are not based in any evidence.

This is obviously a highly controversial area. Do you feel that your book has presented enough evidence to help move the arguments over efficacy forward?

There have been literally thousands of clinical trials relating to alternative medicine, so the evidence exists to make some fairly firm statements. The difficult job is collating and sifting through that evidence. But it can be done, and we have presented the final conclusions of this mountain of research.

Why do you think that people are so willing to use such a wide range of alternative treatments despite the fact that there is little proof that many of them work?

I think people turn to alternative medicine for all sorts of reasons, but at the heart of it there is the belief that the treatment will be effective.

In some cases, such as homeopathy, this is completely untrue. Two years of testing has failed to demonstrate that homeopathic pills are anything other than a placebo. On the other hand, placebos can be effective--faith in a medicine can have real benefits--but conventional medicines that are known to be effective also carry the placebo effect. So why on earth would you give a patient a pure placebo when they can have a real medicine plus a placebo?

What do you think the future is for alternative medicine?

For us, there is no such thing as alternative medicine.

There is either medicine that is effective or not, medicine that is safe or not. So-called alternative therapies need to be assessed and then classified as good medicines or bogus medicines.

Hopefully, in the future, the good medicines will be embraced within conventional medicine and the bogus medicines will be abandoned.

What was your aim in writing your letter to the Times? What do you think about Prince Charles' involvement in the area of alternative medicine generally?

Prince Charles is a hugely influential voice in this debate, for obvious reasons, so we wanted him to realize that he has a responsibility to base his statements on the latest and best evidence.

I know doctors and medical researchers who have devoted their lives to healing the sick and developing new medicines, and Prince Charles needs to listen to these people.

The letter brought a good deal of publicity about your book. Was that your goal?

The prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health has published "Complementary Health Care: A Guide for Patients," which makes numerous misleading claims. Inaccurate claims in medicine can be dangerous, so we want this publication to be corrected or withdrawn.

We believe our book is more accurate, and we advise people to rely on it rather the prince’s pamphlet or his speeches or clever marketing from the alternative medicine industry. By all means people can buy the book, but you can just as easily borrow it from a friend or the library, or read extracts online.

Our message is be aware of the facts and avoid the hype surrounding alternative medicine.


Also, for anyone who may have missed it, David Colquhoun has produced a blog post in which he examines some of the alt-med crowd’s reaction to the book’s publication. Particularly interesting are his comments about Kim Lavely, Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH):
http://dcscience.net/?p=228

[bindeweede]

Blue Wode

Thanks for those links - they are useful, as I'm compiling a list of articles about homeopathy and TCM, both of which MIND, for reasons I totally do not understand, is positively promoting on their website. In my view, the articles are inaccurate, misleading and dangerous, and I'm a very angry bunny>:-).

[Blue Wode]

It’s interesting that the Foundation for Integrated Health has completely ignored the current avalanche of negative publicity about it in the media. Here’s its News Index page:

http://www.fih.org.uk/news/news_index_page.html (http://www.fih.org.uk/news/news_index_page.html)

[Julia]

Why stop at medicine? Let's have integrated astronomy and astrology, integrated chemistry and alchemy, untegrated archeaology and ley line studies...

And that's another cracking avatar, Bindeweede!

[bindeweede]

Why stop at medicine? Let's have integrated astronomy and astrology, integrated chemistry and alchemy, untegrated archeaology and ley line studies...

And that's another cracking avatar, Bindeweede!

Julia,

I must say I feel like giving something a good thump at the moment.

I'd like to make the avatar bigger, but "they" have got at my CP and limited me to 19.5Kb. I bet it's MI5 or somebody.>:-)

[Julia]

Yes, MI5 are notorious for that sort of thing - although we mustn't rule out the Illuminati, the reptilian shape-shifters, the Men in Black or indeed the Mormons. Earlier today I had a visit from two of the latter, >:-) a very brief visit - just long enough for me to say "No thanks, I'm not interested" and shut the door in their shining morning faces.

But it's not the size of your avatar that counts, of course - it's the cuteness of the cats contained therein! ;)

[Blue Wode]

A quick heads up for anyone who is lucky enough to be in London today:



Science Museum Signing & Lecture

It is very short notice, but if you are in London today then I [Simon Singh] will be signing books at Waterstones bookshop at the Science Museum (020-7942 4481, London SW7) from 3.30pm until 4pm.

Please come along and say hello if you are in the neighbourhood. And, of course, the museum has free admission, so you can check out the Making of the Modern World gallery or explore the revamped Launch Pad, which is full of interactive exhibits.

In particular, if you are an alternative therapist who has been annoyed by ‘Trick or Treatment’ or any of my recent articles, then please come along for a chat and we can talk about the evidence for and against alternative medicine.

http://skeptic.org.uk/news/?p=1115