I’m soon to trek back to the US (for the third time this year) to attend a conference on BMAA and MND, a project I am enjoying working on immensely. I’ve written about this before over at Skeptic Zoners and talked about it on ABC Radio if you are interested to hear more details. No doubt I will have more to report from the picturesque Jackson Hole in Wyoming in early October when I meet with collaborators for the 7th Annual BMAA conference.

In the meantime, I have several manuscripts on the cusp of being returned for final review, after additional experiments were completed to satisfy reviewers’ comments. For a humorous take on how (not to) respond to these critiques, see PhD Comics Addressing Reviewers’ Comments, a copy of which is permanently taped in close proximity to my laptop.

I’m currently also in the midst of doing some research for another unrelated project (the details which I am unable to reveal just yet) and as such have been sorting through my stash of pamphlets, flyers and brochures collected from multiple trips to Mind Body Wallet festivals.

I just came across this one and simply had to share it. It’s a derivative of the old adage of “Things your doctor won’t tell you!!!” or “What the pharmaceutical industry is hiding!!!”. You know the type of screed that steals all the exclamation marks from the internetz.

It’s from a photocopied document entitled “Know Miracle II” which contains some garden variety woo about alkaline water curing everything. It then details how amazing this stuff is, and all the things it can cure. You know the phrase you couldn’t make this shit up? Well don’t worry readers, you don’t have to cause it’s already written here for you!

Okay, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.  Enjoy. My comments follow in blue.

• Human bodies that have been been on Miracle-II (M-2) have been checked through esoteric programs via MD and naturopath….with the report, “Best results of any tests, regardless of age!”

Esoteric? Best results? Wha?

• Radionics machines find M-2 off the chart

Jibberish

• Independent university testing by NE Louisiana University five years ago determined that M-2 neutralizer neutralizes cobra venom and anthrax.

Citation needed

• World governments have contacted the formulator, taking samples home, in an attempt to break the formula….North Korea, China, the President and Health Minister of Liberia, and most recently, a team from Israel.

Jebus, all these scary governments have scary water with an alkaline pH? ARGHH.

But this one truly takes the cake.

• US Biological and Germ Warfare has contacted the formulator demanding he reveal the formula. His answer. “God told me not to tell anyone” still stands.

WTF.

There’s more, but I’m on the floor and unable to breathe.

Her story was featured on Channel 7s Sunday Night and I previously blogged about it here.

Well, today I was informed that tragically Tamar succumbed to her cancer on November 12th, 2009 in San Salvador where she was undergoing treatment with natural therapies, including hours of mud-wraps. There is little information on this at the time of going to press, except to say that my source tells me they contacted a journalist involved in the story, who confirmed this was the case and that Tamar passed in hospital. Google searches are also turning up very little, however I did find a comment from someone on a news site, dated December 31 st 2009, stating

“Tamar died a month or so ago in el Salvador. Towards the end the mother was taking her for chemo treatment but it was too late. Her death was reported on the news here two days ago – the hospital in el salvador has confirmed it.”

According to the 3news.co.nz story from October 12th 3009, doctors in Perth

“say a seven week course of chemotherapy will give Tamar a 50 to 60 percent chance of survival. Without it she will suffer a long and painful death.”

But her parents are devout Christians, and say God will decide her fate.

“I don’t want to lose my daughter, but it is God’s decision,” says Tamar’s father Trevor Stitt.

“Who am I to fight against it?”

Trevor also left a comment on the same website stating;

14 Oct 2009 8:17p.m.

Hello to all of you, yes I am Tamar’s Father.Channel 7 came into our lives to supposedly portray 2 sides of the story, sadly they’ve lied and left out half the truth that they filmed. They were supposed to interview people (Doctors)and natural healers who’ve cured people of cancer successfully, but “pulled the pin” on the interviews because it would topple their one-sided story.They also ommited to say that I trained at Guy’s Hospital, London and worked as an Operating Dept Practitioner in Anaesthesia in the UK for 10 years before coming to Oz in 1998,worked at Royal Marsden cancer hospital in London and so have quite good research engines at my disposal. I have seen “clay wraps” cure my Tamar of asthma at 2 yrs when PMH only offered steroidal inhalers, she’s never had an attack since.If 7 had’ve told the truth about what they saw without overdramatising the San Salvador situation and others for sensationalism, then maybe folks would know more of what we are doing for Tamar, who IS getting a little better each day.I have to say I don’t really know who you are Josie, you say you know us,do you have another name?
I guess the struggle is just beginning (and I don’t speak about Tamar’s condition here)those “orthodox”people will not be happy, google Roy Rife, see what happened to him.Remember Patch Adams? (a true story)didn’t fit in to orthodox practice, too happy,he had a proper bedside manner (taboo in today’s conventional medicine). “There are none so blind as those who will not see”- with the eye of faith you don’t only see, you begin to LIVE!Thanks to All who support us and also to those who don’t.

This is a terribly tragic case, especially if it is true that Tamar’s mother did eventually take her for chemotherapy, as suggested by the comment above. Even more so, because her father apparently has a medical background including working “…as an Operating Dept Practitioner in Anaesthesia in the UK for 10 years before coming to Oz in 1998,worked at Royal Marsden cancer hospital in London……so have quite good research engines at my disposal.” (see above). Despite this, Tamar’s parents still chose to seek out alternative remedies as oppose to those supported by evidence.

Cases such as these where religious beliefs and faith in alternative medicine result in (often) avoidable deaths are tragically, not uncommon. It is also important to consider the desperation and vulnerability of a person faced with the imminent death of their daughter, therefore one can sympathise that you might be inclined to try anything. Similar to my Mum’s friend who passed 6 months ago from cancer also, but in her final months fell victim to all kinds of useless therapies including hair analysis which I have previously blogged about here and here and vega testing.

It reminds me of a quote from an essay written by Michael Baum and Edzard Ernst in the book “Healing, Hype or Harm” about ethics in alternative medicine;

“Even treatments which by themselves are not harmful, will become life threatening if they are used as an alternative to effective treatments of serious diseases.”

Cancer Victoria produces a booklet warning cancer patients about “quack” therapies. You can read about it here.

Several sources have advised me that there will be a follow up story on Today Tonight this coming week.

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Thanks to Tony for letting me know about this. Please see Tim Farley’s comprehensive website What’s the Harm? for more such cases.

Women with a genetic disposition or familial history need to begin screening at a younger age, some as early as 20 years of age, because they often develop cancer earlier than women of average risk. Since every medical intervention is associated with risks, there was some concern the low levels of radiation emitted during the mammogram may be a cancer risk. And because science is self correcting, (unlike some other types of self proclaimed “health care”) studies were conducted to test the hypothesis.

One such study, described in a press release on EurekAlert! (and I’ll explain why I’m discussing a study from a press release in a moment) reported that women at high risk of early onset breast cancer receiving annual mammograms showed an average increased cancer risk 1.5 times greater than that of high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Breast cancer is second only to lung cancers as the biggest cancer risk for women, so health authorities take such findings very seriously. Even if, in this case the authors warned that the study was a small sample size and should be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, the American Cancer Society recommends that some women at high risk (greater than 20 percent lifetime risk) should have MR imaging (MRI) or ultrasound every year, typically beginning at age 30, instead of mammograms.

But one newsgroup is not treating these findings with caution. The alternative medicine website “Natural News” reported today that “Study verifies mammography screenings cause cancer “. Not only is the headline misleading but the text, adapted from the press release is rather inaccurate.

Take this line from the press release published on EurekAlert!;

Alternative screening methods such as ultrasound and MRI may be made available to younger women, but are generally used as an adjunct to mammography.

Which was reported by Natural News as;

Ultrasounds, MRIs, and heat thermography screenings are some alternatives that do not expose patients to radiation.

Somehow thermography was slipped in there are as a valid alternative to mammograms, even though it is not mentioned in the press release.

In fact, thermography is not recommended by the following cancer bodies (as of May 2007) as a tool for diagnosing breast cancer.
- BreastScreen Australia
- National Breast Cancer Centre
- Royal College of Radiologists of Australia and New Zealand
- American Medical Association
- American Cancer Society
- Cancer Research UK
- Mayo Clinic, USA
- Australian Therapeutics Goods Administration
- Medicare Australia.

This however, is simply more evidence for Mike the Health Ranger, author of the story (who by the way is not an oncologist, a doctor, or a scientist) that

…mammograms are really “repeat business machines” for the cancer industry.

He declares that this small scale, preliminary study is evidence that there is

…no reason for any women to ever receive a mammogram ever again.

And that;

Ultrasound and thermography should now be the new standard for breast cancer detection screenings, as they do not subject women to excess radiation.

Thanks for the medical advice Mike. Seems like the thermography business now stands to make a packet load. But he’s not finished yet,

In fact, mammograms represent the slickest marketing gimmick we’ve ever seen in modern medicine. It’s a technology that recruits new patients by actually causing the disease is claims to “detect.”

Well then it’s not doing a very good job, since this only works for women at high risk already.

But, there is a very good reason why thermography is not the preferred method for detection of breast cancers and no Mike, it’s not because of the “Big Cancer” wanting to line it’s pockets. It’s because it it not a very sensitive technique, therefore it can miss cancers.

In line with this, the following statement appears on the Breast Screen website

“Studies have shown that a tumour has to be large (several centimetres in diameter) before it can be detected by thermography (Homer 1985). Screening mammograms have the ability to detect breast cancer at a much smaller size, and therefore to reduce deaths from breast cancer. Less than 50% of breast cancers detected by mammography screening have an abnormal thermogram (Martin 1983).”

So it appears that if women only use thermography, there is a much greater risk that their cancer will be missed.

The final word goes to the study:

In general, early detection with mammography and prompt treatment can significantly improve a woman’s chances of survival. More than 90 percent of women whose breast cancer is found in an early stage will survive. For young, high-risk women and their doctors, it is important to weigh the benefits against any potential risk when making a decision about annual breast cancer screening with mammography.

So whilst mammograms may best be avoided if you are a woman in a high risk group, for others they are the most sensitive technique currently available for early breast cancer detection. This study certainly does not say they “cause cancer” and you should certainly not be taking advice from an alt. med. website or from a guy who makes his living from pimping alt. med. products.

And likewise, don’t take advice from me. Talk to your doctor.

References: Homer MJ 1985: “Breast Imaging: Pitfalls, controversies and some practical thoughts” Radiological Clinics of North America 23: 459-471. Martin JE 1983: “Breast imaging techniques, mammography, ultrasonography, computed tomography, thermography and transillumination” Radiological Clinics of North America 21: 149-153

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Listen to Dr Rachie reports this week on the Zone for more information about thermography for breast cancer. Woo!

A jury deemed them to be sentenced to a minimum of 6 years for the father (Thomas Sam) and 4 years for the mother (Manju Sam).

This story came to the attention of the public earlier this year, when we heard about the tragic death of Gloria Sam aged 9 months, from complications as a result of an allergic skin condition, eczema.

Gloria died as a result of a lack of conventional treatment for eczema, a skin disorder that makes the skin dry and itchy and when scratched, weep and bleed. The common treatment is hydrocortisone cream for mild cases but in severe cases, oral steroids in a tablet form are prescribed. As a result of the associated wheeping with severe cases of eczema, dehydration is often a problem, with patients losing large amounts of fluids.

I myself suffer from eczema and have had to take oral steroids on occasion. Eczema has a genetic link and accordingly, my mum suffered attacks so debilitating that she was airlifted from Papua New Guinea in the late 60s to Australia and spent extensive time in hospital, coated in hydrocortisone creme and wrapped in plastic to restore her fluids. She came very close to dying.

My Mum was advised to soak in baths of salt water, and these days pine tar is also touted, but in my experience none of these work. I have been tested for allergies to strawberries, wheat, the usual suspects, but it appears my IgE response is to blame. I even visited a naturopath, who told me to stop eating dairy. Guess what? No change.

During the hearing for this case there was evidence presented from observers on a Qantas flight on which Gloria was a passenger, describing her cries for lengthy periods, indicative of a serious problem. One passenger described her covered in red blotches and appearing as if she were burned.

Fortunately, I have not had a flare of eczema of late but I know when I do, I have conventional medicine to relieve my pain, at least temporarily. However, when I am out of Diprosone (the commonly prescribed cortisone cream) I am in much pain. The worst thing is scratching in your sleep and waking up with bloodied bedding not knowing what you did. This is why my Mum often slept with gloves to avoid tearing her already tender skin away. Years of steroid application also increase the likelihood that your skin becomes thinner and more prone to breakage.

Being the beast that a hypersensitivity disorder is, I need to manage it with lots of sleep, not too much stress and avoiding late nights. These things are not always easy to correct. But as an adult, I make the decision about when and where I receive treatment.

Unfortunately, Gloria did not have that option.

Neither had I until recently, when Ben Goldacre Tweeted to a story which appeared in the UK Telegraph.

Now this immediately caught my attention, since it involved diagnosing illnesses using hair. Readers may recall I have written about hair analysis for the diagnosis of allergies previously here and here.

But radionics is more than just sticking a piece of hair in a beaker and making lights flash and dials flicker. Radionics is described by the Telegraph as, “the largely unexplained art of healing someone you’ve never met, who is hundreds, even thousands of miles away”. Sounds suspicious already. But before you go write this off in the realms of butt candles, there is a UK Radionics Association, which represents approximately 80 practitioners and produces the quarterly Radionics Journal.

How does radionics work?
Radionic practitioners claim to be able to diagnose illnesses from a patient sample, (hence hair), from a distance. Practitioners describe this as

“a challenging concept, but it is entirely compatible with modern physics and also with the ancient mystic teaching that at some level we are all one, and that at this level exchanges of healing energy can occur”.

Pardon? The concept of modern day radionics involves holding a pendulum over the hair sample (or “witness”, as it’s called), and “dowsing” to get information about that state of the patient’s health.

“We get the information by interrogating the witness,” they say. “I will ask question after question, some looking for a yes or no answer, some looking for an answer that will quantify the health or otherwise of the patient’s various physiological systems [aural, visual, skeletal].”

So, as well as rotating the pendulum in a clockwise direction for “yes”, and anticlockwise for “no”, it also gives scores out of 100 when placed over a sort of “healthometer” chart.

Many practitioners in holistic health employ radionics to identify and rectify the subtle energy imbalances that are associated with disease in the physical body. Radionics shares the same “energetic” world view recognized by acupuncturists, homeopathists, and reiki practitioners. (Radionics is especially compatible with homeopathy; radionic instruments can be used to make homeopathic potencies.)

Radionics is also used by agriculturalists and animal nutritionists, to pinpoint nutrient imbalances in plants and animals. It can also be used to select the optimal feeds, fertilizers, and supplements to rectify the imbalances. And reportedly, geologists use Radionic techniques to analyze ore specimens or to locate mineral veins.

The history of radionics

Radionics was founded by Dr Albert Abrams (1863-1924), a native of San Francisco, under the original name of ERA – Electronic Reactions of Abrams. Abrams believed that diseased body tissue affected the nervous system and gave forth ‘dull emanations’. Abrams believed electronic phenomena were involved with this, and he invented a variable resistance instrument called a ‘black box’ to measure the ohm resistance of different diseases on an electronic circuit. He found for example, that cancer produced a 50 ohm resistance, while syphilis had a 55 ohm resistance.

Abrams later modified his technique so he could take readings from a drop of blood. In 1924 a committee established by the Royal Society of Medicine investigated Abrams techniques and were favourably impressed. Today Radionics and its cousin Radiesthesia (medical dowsing) are recognised in Europe as legitimate medical procedures.

However the commercial practice of radionics is banned in the United States. One website I came across had this to offer as an explanation:

1.  It works, but not in a way totally understood, either by the academic community or by the practitioners themselves.

2.  It works and produces miracle cures in man, plants, animals and outdates existing sciences if it is understood. Therefore, the ‘lobbies’ in Washington representing the commercial applications of existing sciences force laws against Radionics to preserve existing sciences and the large sums of money invested in them to create our present technology and preserve the jobs of millions which might be lost if indeed Radionics was used to achieve the same results.

According the website; “Diagnosis by dowsing requires the use and interplay of both the intellectual and the intuitive faculties, The intellect and the concrete knowledge which supports it are used to frame questions relevant to the correct understanding of the problem. Obtaining answers via the pendulum however requires a suspension of the intellectual process and an activation of the (higher) intuition.

How can you become a radionic practitioner?

The Radionic association offers 6 month courses which includes 2 study weekends and other tutorials and results in the title of MRadA. Once qualified, you can treat ANIMALS, SOIL and CROPS (postgraduate courses for animal treatment are available). Interestingly, the website of the radionics association specifies that you must be able to dowse before you can take the course in radionics.

The course itself consists of 2 study weekends, the first being training in;
1. Making a radionic analysis through dowsing
2. Radionic rates and how to use them for simple treatments
3. Basic subtle anatomy of the chakras and subtle bodies and its importance in radionics
4. How practitioners work, including grounding and protection

Weekend 2 involves
1. Using subtle anatomy to interpret the analysis
2. Further treatments for common conditions
3. The use of vitamins, minerals and colour radionically

And this from a radionics website
“Researchers and practitioners estimate that at least 80% or better of the population have the innate ability to do Radionics and dowsing work.

And then this;

People who cannot do this sort of work are generally those who have suffered certain kinds of neurological damage, severe mental or emotional disorders, have drug or alcohol problems, or have established a mental block against radionics, dowsing, and the alternative reality they represent”.

So, there you go sceptics, if you can’t dowse or do radionics, you have brain damage. Or other severe mental problems. And I guess that includes me, and I’m fine with that.

Today’s alternative medicine smack-down comes to you courtesy of a sceptical colleague, Michael, who submitted a complaint to our government regulator, The Complaints Resolution Panel, several months ago. Michael’s complaints pertained to a homeopathy website, arnicamontana.com.au which was spruiking all manner of dubious products and making equally dubious claims.

Arnica Montana sell homeopathic first aid kits, homeopathic remedies for emergencies, makes claims that homeopathy is useful for serious health conditions and also tow the anti-vax line, in articles promoting the AVN and bragging about refusing the whooping cough vaccine.

This week Michael was advised that all his complaints were upheld and as a result, Arnica Montana were instructed to comply with the following sanctions: Withdrawal of Advertisement, Withdrawal of Representation and Publication of Retraction.

Regular listeners to the Zone may remember I called these people out back in February, just after the Victorian bush fires, after a listener alerted me to a passage on their website which said the following;

“In the light of recent events in Bali and the bush fires in the Eastern States of Australia information about the use of Homeopathy by the ordinary person is knowledge that should be shared.”

I called this claim offensive, not only to the deceased in Bali and Victoria, but also to the skilled health professionals working tirelessly with the burns victims using medicine and science, not magic water. Indeed, these particular claims were questioned by Michael and upheld by The Panel. You can see the full list below.

The advertiser was given an opportunity to respond to the criticisms, and rejected the allegation that there was “anything deceptive or misleading” in the advertisement/website. They claimed that the website was “intended to be an information website to educate the public about the use of homeopathic remedies” but not to the exclusion of any other system of medicine.

But the Panel deemed the website breached sections of the code which prohibit advertisements for products that;

“abuse the trust or exploit the knowledge of consumers” and was “likely to arouse unwarranted and unrealistic expectations of product effectiveness”.

This was based on the panel’s finding that “….no persuasive evidence was provided that the advertised products could have benefits in relation to the wide range of conditions referred to”.

In response the advertiser stated that “controlled trials cannot be used for homeopathy but [that] there is a mass of unpublished evidence”. (Is this because when they are used, they almost always turn up negative?).

In any case, there have testimonials all over the website…isn’t this evidence enough? Not for the Panel, who also called these into question, by stating that the advertiser did not provide evidence that any of the testimonials in the advertisement were genuine.

According to the advertising code; testimonials “must be documented, genuine, not misleading and illustrate typical cases only”. The panel cited this testimonial as an example of a breach;

“the calendula cream I make is specific to cancer skin keratoses and I have successfully treated many of these and established melanonas by using the sage cream at night and the calendula during the day”.

Overall, Michael received 9 pages of correspondence and I waded through all of it, which I’m very glad I did because buried deep in the text was this.

The Panel noted that the advertisement breached section 4(5) of the code; “..by implying that other therapeutic goods (namely vaccines and sunscreens) could be harmful….”

So it is unlawful to imply that other therapeutic goods are harmful, like vaccines? I wonder where this places the AVN? (Although given that they do not sell therapeutic goods, to the best of my knowledge, then I don’t think they are breaching this section of the code). This is a very interesting piece of legislation and one that I will file away for future reference.

One of the big things about the decision was that The Panel deemed the entire website to be an advertisement.

Since it was clear that the website offered a range of products for sale, the Panel was satisfied it constituted an advertisement for therapeutic goods. Interestingly, the complaint summary cites the subject matter of the complaint as “website advertisement” and the sanctions as “withdrawal of advertisement”, thus implying the entire website is to be withdrawn. If you go to the website, you will see the published retraction, but the remainder of the website still functions as normal. I wonder when and if we will see the entire website removed.

Not a very happy UK homeopathy week for some…

The tragic death of a toddler in a freak accident at an alt-med clinic.

What makes this story even more sad is that the death occurred in the Favira clinic in Adelaide, which is the home of Elvira Brunt, an alternative therapist who claims to be able to cure cancer with massage. More on this is a moment, but reports say the 18-month-old girl was crushed to death by a massage table while her mother was being treated.

A police inspector who attended the scene said; “A young, 18-month-old child, a girl, has died as a result of being trapped in a component of a massage table…the child was under the table when it started to be lowered.”

Regular readers might remember the Favira alternative medicine clinic from a previous Dr Rachie when I mentioned that she has advised the father of a young girl with leukemia to feed her KFC to get her kidneys functioning again. A current parliamentary enquiry in South Australia had received several submissions from members of the public about the dubious practices of Ms Brunt. Tragically, the enquiry is ongoing, hence Elvira Brunt is still practicing.

On the same day that the child died the Enquiry into Bogus, Unregistered and Deregistered Health Practitioners report named Elvira Brunt, as a person of interest, for allegedly claiming she could cure cancer through abdominal massage, encouraging patients to stop normal treatment and requiring cash payments for services.

Other alternative therapists to be “named and shamed” were ELIZABETH GOLDWAY, for allegedly saying she could cure cancer, charging thousands of dollars for treatment and not providing receipts. MONICA MILKA, for allegedly claiming she could cure cancer with injections to “kill the worms” that were causing the problem. LUBOMIR BATELKA, who allegedly subjected a patient to “vaginal blowing” with an ozone therapy machine, saying it offered a “50 per cent cure” for cancer.

The member of parliament, Ian Hunter who tabled the report said;

“While some . . . practitioners may be delusional – convinced they are able to cure serious medical conditions – the evidence presented to the committee suggested that others are driven by greed and, in some cases, sexual gratification.” “The committee heard shocking stories from people who said their loved ones had been exploited when they were at their most vulnerable, who were given false hope and who wasted thousands of dollars on bogus treatments,” he said.

The committee stated while most practitioners were ethical, proper regulation, monitoring, and exposure of unethical behaviour was needed. The committee recommended the State Government establish legislation, similar to the code of conduct introduced in New South Wales last year, to regulate health practitioners and mechanisms to monitor them.

Although it seems likely that Elvira Brunt will be banned from practicing eventually, it will be too little too late for many, including now an 18-month-old girl. You can read the full story here.

Reproduced from the Sydney Morning Herald from June 9 and 10.

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Treatment is a sore point

Dr Gayle Fischer says eczema is “readily treated” by modern medicine (letters June 8). As the mother of a child who has suffered eczema from six weeks to her current age of 22 I consider this a fantasy of self-belief.

Western medicine does not treat eczema well. Parents who slather their children in Sorbolene, do not use soap and do all the other things they are told to do to “manage” the disease are treated as whingers when they tell doctors the treatment is not working.

They are intimidated from seeking further help until the disease is so out of control that the fear of being labelled a whinger is outstripped by desperate concern for the welfare of their child. The casualty department rides in on a white charger, doses the child up with steroids for a few days and bingo, aren’t we wonderful? Until the next time.

When Western medical practitioners in India saw my daughter had severe eczema they told me to try homeopathy, which has a good record there – a much more honest assessment of the strengths and interests of Western medicine than Dr Fischer’s.

Ellen McEwen Croydon

What is natural about rejecting treatment?

Gayle Fischer is right to be concerned about the disturbing trend of parents shunning effective medical treatments for their children on the basis that “natural” equals good (letters June 9). I recently heard a parent say that vaccination “seems unnatural”. I admit polio is more natural than vaccination, but avoiding a natural case of polio by unnatural means is preferable for the child.

Sadly, a child has died because of her parents’ misguided belief in homeopathy. The authorities seem to be doing nothing about the consistently false claims made by homeopaths. In a few minutes of browsing the internet I found them claiming homeopathy could protect people against swine flu, and that vaccination and anti-viral drugs should be avoided because they weaken the immune system.

Guy Curtis Seven Hills

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Western doctors in India may well have recommended homeopathy to Ellen McEwen (Letters, June 9). But did it work?

Anne Kirman Kellyville

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If you wish to respond to this debate, write to the Sydney Morning Herald, letters to the editor.

In the letter, we pointed out that pharmacies sell a growing number of products for which there is little or no scientific evidence of efficacy. Calling them “alternative” does not make them work. Examples include homeopathic preparations, magnetic pain relief devices, detox programmes, dodgy weight loss products and ear candles. Such products commonly appear in a “Natural Medicine” section of pharmacies but are sometimes displayed alongside real medicines whose benefits are scientifically proven.

With respect to ear candles, we cited peer reviewed studies reporting serious injuries from ear candles, including temporary hearing loss, burns, ear canals blocked by dripping wax and punctured ear drums.

“Ear candling is one of those CAM modalities that clearly does more harm than good… its mechanism of action is first implausible and second, demonstrably wrong… in my view, therefore, it should be banned.” Edzard Ersnt.

We were very pleased to see our open letter was picked up by medindia.net.

You can find a link to the full letter here. Thank you also to our friend Lorreta Maron who got the letter posted on a pharmacists’ website.

But according to the website Alternet Detox, who are flogging detox foot patches, “The sole of the feet, where acupuncture points are concentrated as a reflected area of the whole body, has a great influence on the circulation of the blood as to be called “a second heart”.

These little pillows of woo are allegedly from Korea, and clearly the people at Alternet Detox didn’t bother to translate the Chinglish (Koringlish??) that came with the product. Here’s an example.

The Sap Patch is originated from a folk remedy. Its spirit of trees absorbs accumulated wastes and toxic materials in the body as ointments in oriental medical science do, and radiates negative ion, promoting the circulation of the blood to make your body refreshed and light.

And there’s more

Human beings are destined to have waste-accumulated feet, which support the body. You can see that by daily experiences like stained socks at night and swollen feet when tired. Accumulated wastes in the body can lead to dropsical legs, fatigue, and even disharmony of the body when metabolism doesn’t work well.

They then go on to contradict themselves by saying you must apply it to the sole of the foot for it to work…

In order to enhance the effect of Sap Patch, it is necessary to apply it on the sole of the feet regardless of symptoms…..Toxic matter often stagnates in the feet, and thus the sole of the foot is the best area to apply to experience the effect.

…but show this picture:

After which, things just get a little confusing…

It is ideal to apply it every night until it doesn’t get wet, but, for those who have a serious symptom or took medicine for a long time in the past, SAP Patch tends to get wet continuously. Although the toxic matter is thought to be eliminated when Sap Patch doesn’t get wet, it is better to use Sap Patch once or twice a month even after it doesn’t get wet because toxic matter keep stagnating

And then, just ridiculous…

Ingredients: Tourmaline. This is natural ore produced in Brazil, which forms anion and improves blood circulation of human body by generating infrared rays.

Right…Infrared rays hey? Hmmm, sounds sciencey (read: bullshit) to me!

I dunno, but if you can’t even be bothered to translate your product information correctly, do you really expect me to spend $22.85 on your credulous product? Sorry Alternet Detox, you’re just not trying hard enough.

By the way, in case you were wondering detox foot pads are a scam. To get a full explanation into why, see my other blog here.

Tweet

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Summary:

Edzard Ernst, the professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and co-author of the book Trick or Treatment, published a review article in 2004 in the Journal of Laryngology and Otology entitled: “Ear candles: a triumph of ignorance over science”. He concluded; “Ear candling is one of those CAM modalities that clearly does more harm than good…..it’s mechanism of action is first implausible and second, demonstrably wrong..in my view, therefore, it should be banned (1)”.

Many scientific studies have been conducted on ear candling, several examining the claim that they remove ear wax. In order to do this, they would need to draw a vacuum. A study by Seely et al., (2) using 2 different brands of ear candles, demonstrated this not to be the case.

The Seely study also contains a clinical arm, where 122 ear nose and throat specialists were surveyed. The authors reported 21 cases of serious injury caused by ear candling. In 6 of these cases, patients temporarily lost their hearing. Other problems reported among the group included, 13 cases of burns, 7 cases where the wax from the candle had blocked the ear canal and 1 case of a punctured ear drum (2).

Based on this evidence and studies conducted by their own laboratories, the Canadian authorities have banned ear candles from sale and import into Canada.

When you look at the evidence, ear candling is dangerous. What part of putting burning sticks in your ears sounds like a good idea to you?

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Introducing ear candles!

This week I present to you an alternative modality that encompasses just about every misconception made by CAM, defies the laws of science in every possible way, and above all is dangerous. Most of us would remember our mothers telling us not to put anything in our ears smaller than our elbows rght? I don’t remember her ever mentioning burning sticks, but then why would she, she knew I was not that gullible. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other people….

What is ear candling?

An ear candle, ear cone or Hopi ear candle is a narrow, hollow cone that has been soaked in beeswax or paraffin and allowed to harden. The process of ear candling involves the patient lying on his or her side while someone else inserts the point of the cone inside the ear. The top of the cone is then set on fire and left to burn for 5 – 15 minutes.

The health claim most often made for ear candling is that the flame creates suction, which draws ear wax out of the ear canal. Proponents say the evidence for this is in the candle itself – when you have finished candling, you cut open the candle to expose the brown waxy mush at the bottom which they claim is ear wax and “toxins”. Promoters also say that ear candling can cure a wide range of medical problems, including ear aches, headaches, sinus pain/infections, sinus pressure, tinnitus, vertigo. In addition, they are said to remove impurities from the ear passages by drawing excess yeast, fungus, and bacteria from the sinuses and lymph glands and even revitalize the chakras. Of course, I could go on, but I think you get the idea…

Yet, absolutely none of this is true.

Ear candling does more harm than good.

oooh, yukky ear wax and toxins...oh hang on, it's just candle wax. Science says so.

I’m almost embarrassed to tell you that good science from proper scientists and doctors has been wasted testing these things. The seminal study on the safety and efficacy of ear candles was published in the journal Laryngoscope in 1996. The authors were particularly interested in the claim that the candles create a vacuum so they used a pressure device to measure changes in pressure for the duration of the burn. In 20 trials with 2 different candle types, they detected no negative pressure at any point during the trial.

In a clinical trial also conducted as part of this study, 4 people (2 with ear wax and 2 without), the authors reported the candles did not remove ear wax as proposed and in fact, in some cases candle wax was actually deposited in patient’s ears (2).

The authors also conducted a survey of 122 ear nose and throat specialists and found 21 cases of serious injury caused by ear candling. In 6 of these cases, patients temporarily lost their hearing. Other problems reported among the group included, 13 cases of burns, 7 cases where the wax from the candle had blocked the ear canal and 1 case of a punctured ear drum (2).

Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and co-author of Trick or Treatment, published a review article in 2004 in the Journal of Laryngology and Otology entitled: “Ear candles: a triumph of ignorance over science”. He concluded; “Ear candling is one of those CAM modalities that clearly does more harm than good…..it’s mechanism of action is first implausible and second, demonstrably wrong..in my view, therefore, it should be banned” (1).

The website quackwatch also published a frequently cited article where they illustrate the dangers of ear candling with the following stories;

A Canadian woman who experienced stuffiness in the nose and ear pains while scuba diving went to a local health-food store and was referred to a “qualified” candler. During the “treatment,” she felt an intense burning in her ear. At the emergency room, attempts to remove wax that had dripped from the candle onto her eardrum failed. Surgery was required, and a hole in her eardrum was discovered, which presumably was caused by the procedure. She recovered fully and luckily her hearing was not affected. The practitioner apologized, compensated the woman, and stopped performing ear candling.

In addition, instances of house fires associated with ear candling have been reported in Alaska, one of which led to the user’s death. On January 27, 2005 a 59-year-old woman ignited her bedding when she dropped an ear candle that she was attempting to use the ear without assistance. The candle ignited the bedding then quickly spread to curtains and other combustibles in the room. The woman escaped the fire however, suffered an asthma attack in hospital and later died.

Ear candles are banned for sale or import in Canada, but sold in Australian Pharmacies.

Based on this evidence and studies conducted by their own laboratories, the Canadian authorities banned ear candles from sale and import into Canada. The Health Canada website has this to say about ear candling;

…the sale of this product for therapeutic purposes in Canada is illegal. As well, both Canada and the United States have issued directives that ban the importing of ear candles. Some promoters try to avoid the Regulations by advertising that ear candles are for entertainment purposes only. However, Health Canada maintains that these people are selling the product illegally, for medical purposes, as there is no other reasonable use for ear candles.”

Which makes it even more preposterous that in Australia they are listed with the TGA meaning they can be sold in pharmacies alongside science-based medicine.

This is a complete failure on behalf of the TGA with respect to protecting the public from harm. The Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods Devices lists 13 different types of ear candles including this nonsense, Alternet Detox Spa Series Ear Candles and these from Why Karma Natural Health Products described as “to apply a simple treatment of ear cleansing directly to the ear”. You know, one has to wonder what the role of this clearly constipated government body is in protecting the public from harm when they register this nonsense. You only need make a cursory glance at PubMed, to determine that these things are not only nonsense, but dangerous.

I personally have had experiences with staff in pharmacies regarding these devices, one who old me she wouldn’t recommend then to customers but they sell really well so what can you do, and another who looked at me blankly when I suggested that ear candles have no place in a pharmacy. Of course, I don’t expect a kid with an after school job to know that these things are a scam and worse still, can perforate your eardrums, but I do expect the pharmacist to know. And I do expect the government to not turn a blind eye.

Ear candling does not stem from ancient Indian tribes.

Here’s an example of one ear candle company who have hijacked the history of an ancient Indian tribe to add legitimacy to their product.

The Biosun company claims that their “Hopi Ear Candles are” based on “the formula that is traditional to the Hopi Indians of the USA- cotton, beeswax, honey, sage, chamomile and St John’s Wort. The Hopi who are renowned for their great medicinal knowledge collaborated with Biosun to pass their formula on to the rest of the world”.

Pfft. Well not according to Vanessa Charles, the public relations officer for the Hopi Tribal Council, who has stated there is no such treatment within traditional Hopi healing practices. Vanessa has said that ear candling “is not and has never been a practice conducted by the Hopi tribe or the Hopi people”. And even though The Hopi tribe has repeatedly asked Biosun, to stop using the Hopi name Biosun has not complied with this request and continues to claim that ear candles originated within the Hopi tribe.

If I have still not convinced you that ear candles are a load of rot, why not become an earconologist? Become a Certified Earconologist with a Correspondence Course from The Awareness Institute and perform a wonderful service to yourself and others. “The course consists of learning about the History of Ear Candling, Ear Anatomy, Candling Procedure, Cause and Effect, and much more”.

It just goes to show, people will believe just about any nonsense.

The take home message:

1) EAR CANDLES ARE DANGEROUS AND STUPID.

2) THEY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

3) THEY WILL NOT REMOVE WAX FROM YOUR EARS.

4) IN SOME CASES THEY HAVE DEPOSITED WAX.

5) DON’T USE THEM.

1. The Journal of Laryngology and Otology. “Ear candles: a triumph of ignorance over science”. Ernst, E. (2004) 118: pp 1-2.

2. Seely DR, Quigley SM, Langman AW. Ear candles- efficacy and safety. Laryngoscope. 1996: Oct;106(10):1226-9.