Magnet Therapy to be given on the NHS.

[Admin]

See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2058902,00.html


NHS accountants are so impressed by the cost-effectiveness of a “magnetic leg wrap” called 4UlcerCare that from Wednesday doctors will be allowed to prescribe it to patients.

Accountants? So the accountants are now deciding which treatments to use based on how cheap they are!


Critics of magnetic therapy say it is no more effective than a placebo, however. Only last month a paper in the British Medical Journal by Professor Leonard Finegold, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Professor Bruce Flamm, from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, California, cast doubt on the treatment.

And many more. There are, of course, some positive results too; however, there's always the problem of blinding in these studies. Patients can test whether their device is magnetic or not quite easily, so they know if they are in the treatment group or the control group.


It is not known exactly how magnets work. Adherents believe they improve circulation because they attract the iron in blood towards them and, in doing so, increase the supply of oxygen to the wound. They may also reduce painful acidity in tissue.

"It is not known exactly how magnets work." - It has never been shown that they do work. Even if they did work, it's not because they attract Iron in blood towards them. Haemoglobin is not ferromagnetic. Also, even for hip and knee problems, the bracelets are usually worn around the wrists (although not in this case).

Remember, this is taxpayers' money that is being used. Our money. There's not just a money issue involved here - it's a value for money issue. There's no value given when the treatment being used is inefficacious.

Incidentally, isn't it deemed unethical for doctors to knowingly prescribe placebo treatments? I'd like to see the NICE appraisal of magnet therapy that shows that it works.

There's more good comment here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/quack.html#mag1

[David Colquhoun]

There has been quite a lot of discssion of the magnets scam on Ben Goldacre's Badscience site (http://www.badscience.net/?p=220).
On that site there was a posting from Michael King, who is Director of Planning and Corporate Affairs at the Perscriptioin Pricing Authority PPA

I've been trying to find out from the PPA how it is that they can judge cost-effectiveness, without knowing whether the magnets are effective or not.

Progress has been slow, but Michael King of the PPA has replied to my question be email, and has been helpful on the phone.

I’ve posted what I learned so far at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/quack.html#mag2

Thus far, it does not look good for the PPA.

[Admin]

This issue is more important than it may at first seem to many. Accepting a medical device like this simply because it is cheap could be the start of a slippery slope.

I noticed that last year's efforts by Prince Charles (including the Smallwood report) to promote the integration of CAM into the NHS were based largely on the premise that such alternative treatments are cost-effective. By cost-effective, however, they actually mean cheap.

There's little to no attention paid to efficacy of these remedies. The benefit/cost ratio is always going to be around zero (no matter how cheap treatments are) if the benefit is at, or very close to, zero.

I think that it's important that these moves to include treatments solely on their cost should be resisted as strongly as possible.

[David Colquhoun]

The whole magnet saga is as good an example as any of double standards in the NHS.

No form of CAM has ever been referred to NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), they tell me. The best chance of getting something done might be a NICE assessment. The decision of whether or not to recommend anything to NICE rests, unfortunately, with the Department of Health, BUT anyone can suggest a topic.

I have just suggested that homeopathy as a whole be referred to NICE. The objection is likely to be that there is not a suffciently good evidence base for NICE to deal with it. That, of course, is exactly why NICE should deliver a verdict. To say otherwise is to perpetuate the existing double-standard. I tried to counter this argument in the comment section.

The best chance of success is probably for them to get a flood of requests.
I suggest you all go to http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=topicsuggest and suggest homeopathy, and get all you friends to do the same.

[Admin]

I'll do that today David. O0


Another problem with the NHS dabbling in this area is that it gives an air of legitimacy to the pushers of these devices and those who promote them.

Here's an example from ITV's This Morning: http://www.itv-thismorning.co.uk/HealthArticle.aspx?fid=708&tid=1

No question as to whether they work or not. They are available on the NHS and they wouldn't be if they didn't work, right?

This is an example of how the "magnetic therapy works" gets into the minds of the general public. Even those who don't use the device still get the message.

[Admin]

This is an example of the type of products sold at hugely inflated prices to those who believe in magnet therapy: http://www.biomag.co.nz/

Companies like this one will be delighted that the NHS has embraced this form of quackery.

_________________________________________________

This is interesting however:

The OFT has issued High Court proceedings against Magno-Pulse Limited, and its officers Derek and Wendy Price. It is seeking an injunction against them under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.

Based in Bristol, Magno-Pulse Limited is a manufacturer and retailer of magnetic therapy products for humans and animals, including back and neck wraps, magnetic drinking coasters and pet beds. The OFT is seeking an injunction preventing publication of advertisements making the following claims about the company’s products:


the products have a therapeutic effect, caused by a specified physiological mechanism, due to the magnets they contain
the therapeutic effect of the products, due to the magnets they contain, is clinically proven or established by scientific trials, or is widely accepted in the scientific or medical communities
unqualified claims the products have a therapeutic effect and/or that wearing products containing magnets will always produce such an effect, due to their magnets
that products magnetise or ionise water as a result of the magnets they contain.


Magno-Pulse Limited contends that the advertisements are not misleading and has refused to stop publishing adverts making these kinds of claims. Accordingly, the OFT has issued proceedings so the courts can decide the matter. Magno-Pulse Limited has indicated it intends to defend the proceedings.

Source: http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2006/47-06.htm

[David Colquhoun]

The magnet thing is not going away, (quite rightly)
I got an incredible brush off from the PPA when I asked for information about their decision under the Freedom of Information Act. They say they have no records of anything -see their letter at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/quack.html#foi1.

I had slightly more success with the costs of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/quack.html#rlhh2), but astonishingly the 'indirect costs' are not known.

Congratulations on spotting the OFT's action, Normally they, and still more the Advertising Standards Authority, are pretty toothless, so good for the OFT.

[Aardvark]

Magnet brewery is still going strong in Tadcaster. ;)

Where can I get my pint of John Smiths on the NHS. 8)

It will do me more bloody good than this load of old tosh O0