In the current Private Eye

[Jack of Kent]

There is a good article in the current Private Eye on the propensity of CAM practitioners to sue for libel when being criticised.

The columnist "Ratbiter" usefully brings together the Rath v Goldacre and BCA v Singh cases, as well as Jeremy Sherr's threats to sue for libel.

See Private Eye No 1231 (the one with the prat Goodwin on the cover), page 7.

[Blue Wode]

There is a good article in the current Private Eye on the propensity of CAM practitioners to sue for libel when being criticised.
I see the article's upset the Society of Homeopaths...
http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/whats-new/press-releases.aspx (http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/whats-new/press-releases.aspx)

[Mulder]

"By the end of 2007, 134 randomised controlled trials of homeopathy had been published in peer-reviewed journals. Of these trials, 59 were positive i.e. demonstrating that homeopathy has an effect beyond placebo; eight were negative and the remaining 67 were inconclusive"

Quote from link in previous post. Have the words 'double-blind' gone missing somewhere? In passing, how are placebos created for homeopathy trials - anyone know?

[Mulder]

In passing, how are placebos created for homeopathy trials - anyone know?

For instance, how do that ensure there is no 'memory' of previous molecules in the placebo?

[tolman]

For instance, how do that ensure there is no 'memory' of previous molecules in the placebo?
Presumably, the same way they ensure that there's no similar memory in the water they use to dilute their preparations with - by picking some method that sounds like it could work, and then deciding that it does work.

[Jack of Kent]

Superb spot Blue Wode!

I do like this from a related page on the same site:

"Scientifically it can not yet be explained precisely how it works, but new theories in quantum physics are going some way towards shedding light on the process. What we do know is that a carefully selected homeopathic remedy acts as a trigger to the body’s healing processes."

http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/about-homeopathy/what-is-homeopathy/

Are there two more perfect and elegant sentences in Woo-dom?

[Trinoc]

"Scientifically it can not yet be explained precisely how it works, but new theories in quantum physics are going some way towards shedding light on the process. What we do know is that a carefully selected homeopathic remedy acts as a trigger to the body’s healing processes."

It's the dreaded Lionel Milgrom poking his nose into things he doesn't understand again:

http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?doi=10.1159/000093662

This theory apparently replaces the previous explanation for homeopathy, namely the memory of molecules, which was championed by ... ummm ... Lionel Milgrom:

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/water.memory/milgrom.html

[tolman]

How about this
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2005.11.831
for another instance of Milgrom apparently getting well outside his area of expertise to talk speculative bollocks about homeopathy.

"Are Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) Redundant for Testing the Efficacy of Homeopathy? A Critique of RCT Methodology Based on Entanglement Theory"

seems to translate to:

"I can't give a reasonable explanation of why homeopathy fails in proper trials, so I'm going to completely forget I'm supposed to be a scientist, and just make up something that might sound impressive to the credulous and ignorant."

[Jack of Kent]

There are three follow-on letters (including the one from the Society of Homeopaths) in today's Private Eye.

[farmersboy]

Ah, that should be waiting for me when I get home then. O0

[Mojo]

There are three follow-on letters (including the one from the Society of Homeopaths) in today's Private Eye.
Another of them appears to be from an RSHom.