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.

—

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

—

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.

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

———

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

——

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

Anne Kirman Kellyville

——–

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.

The Council was established in 2008, using money from the Department of Health (£900 000) and the King’s Fund (£1 million) with the purpose “to enhance public protection by setting standards” in the area of alternative medicine.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Regulation is something that has been sorely missing from the alternative medicine industry since inception. But wait, before we get too excited let’s examine the “legislation” in more detail.

First problem: A conflict of interest? The CNHC was set-up by the Prince’s Foundation for Integrative Health, in other words, woo ruling on woo. For an hilarious take on this aspect of the policy see this article from the daily mash website.

Second and bigger problem: registering with the CNHC is voluntary. (To add to the incentive, it also costs money). To get on to the government-register, therapists will have to show they have the qualifications and experience, abide by a code of conduct and ensure they have insurance in place.

But importantly, the efficacy of the therapies they are offering will not be addressed. Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter’s Medical School said, “There does need to be more rigour in the regulation of complementary medicine as there will be cowboys out there. However, I have concerns that the regulator does not have mandatory powers and is not looking at the efficacy of these therapies.”

Surely this is just arse-about. Whilst I don’t disagree with the idea of alternative therapists adhering to a code of conduct, I do object to them acquiring some official looking stamp just because they can produce a certificate of attendance for turning up to homeopathy school and pouring water into a little jar. A nod from the government with the addition of a regulator logo to promotional material and shopfronts just adds legitimacy to an industry that sells magic water and farcical “cures”.

Homeopathy is water or sugar pills. Therapeutic touch is made up shit debunked by an 11 year old girl as part of her school science project and published in the Journal of America Medical Association. Ear candles do more harm than good, and are based on lies about the creation of a vacuum and the removal of cerumen or ear wax from the ear canals. Detox can kill you, or give you brain damage.

But let’s not worry about that, as long as you have a certificate in “making-shit-up” we are fine with you chanting or holding your hands over someone’s head to channel energy into their aura. Just as long as you don’t do anything weird like have sex with your patient whilst you align their chakras.

The main plank of the council’s work will be to operate a register of practitioners. It will not judge clinics on whether therapies are effective, but rather on whether they operate a professional and safe business.

Maggie Dunn*, co-chair of the CNHC said the regulator would clean up the industry used by one in five people and she estimated thousands of clinics may go out of business in the process. As applying to the register is voluntary, Ms Dunn accepted that some therapists might not put themselves forward. Ms Dunn said: “It won’t take long for customers to start asking whether a practitioner is registered or searching on our website for ones that are. They will then vote with their feet.”

Whilst some people think those stupid enough to use alternative therapies get what they deserve, I believe governments have some responsibility to protect the public from harm. Especially since (in Australia at least) these “medicines” are approved for sale in pharmacies and drug stores, alongside the science-based medicine, thereby lending them legitimacy.

No one expects (and neither they should) Mr Jo Public to take responsibility for establishing whether these things work or not. If the government is going to set up regulatory bodies at least use them for good, not to give the stamp of approval to magic water and other collective bullshit.

*Interestingly, the board of the CNHC is occupied by woo and lay people. Maggie Dunn was lay Chair of the General Council for Massage Therapy until June 2008; the co-chair Maggie Wallace was lay Chair of the Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths; Jenny Gordon completed her PhD in 2007 which focussed on the use of reflexology as an adjunct to care in the management of childhood idiopathic constipation. The other members appear to be lay people (solicitors), “consumer champions” and a physiotherapist. Medical doctors are conspicuous by their absence.

The main stage, with a hippy banging a drum

Seems only yesterday when I had my first experience with this festival of “woo”. Some of you might recall my run in with a Live Blood Analysis salesperson, detailed on the SkepticZone podcast (episode 2) and the accompanying blog.

And this year looks to be a similar affair. A brief perusal of the programme revealed delights representing a wide spectre of woo, including Tea Cup Readings with Betty (sounds like something straight out of the 1950s), Nana Mays Magic Hands (ditto), the Church of Scientology, and Noseworks Neti Pots (I’m serious – check out the hilarious how-to video on the website).

The amazing computerised horoscope machine - looked like something from a 60s side show alley

Of note are several seminars from our favourite psychics from The One (more on that later) but one that immediately caught my attention was “Psychic Spoon Bending and Egyptian Alchemy” by Elisabeth Jensen. Who is Elisabeth Jensen you ask? Some of you may remember her from this gem of a video, in which she bends spoons with her psychic powers and the muscles in her hands! Seriously folks, her preceeding spiel is a lot of jibberish about meditating and imagining the spoon getting white hot, that there is a candle flame underneath it etc., then she simply physically bends it! I urge you to take a look at the video, you won’t believe your eyes! So I imagine this is what she had planned for MB$ next week. Andy Milman, spoon-bending extraordinaire and myself plan to attend, just to see it for ourselves. (Note: Elisabeth requests that you please bring your own spoons).

Fry and Laurie bend spoons

Next on the schedule is the (Rev Dr) She D’Montford. She is giving a seminar about discovering your own psychic powers so that you too can be “The One”. According to the programme, She will also reveal the secrets of what really happened behind the scenes on “The One”. Hmmm. Sounds intrguing.

Next on the schedule is Ezio De Angelis! His seminar is entitled “Connecting with Spirit”. I anticipate a whole lot of, “Can I come to you my sweets?…is there a problem with the plumbing my love?…” in rapid fire. This guy’s cold reading is a bit like John Edward, fast and furious, thereby increasing the chances of a hit.

Head in on Friday at 4.30 pm to see Mitchell Coombes, “Psychic to the Stars” in “Messages from Beyond”. Yet more cold reading. But cheaper than going to his stadium shows, a bargain at $16 for the festival compared with $35 for his RSL tour.

Some of the other gems making up the free seminars include “Weight loss, causes of weight gain, how to lose (but spelt “loose” in the programme) weight and keep it off” with Natasha Flynn. No information is provided as to Natasha’s qualifications apart from “works alongside Dr Sandra Cabot” who wrote the best selling book, “The Liver Cleansing Diet”. It appears Dr Cabot (or McRae) is a legitimate doctor which makes her promotion of “woo” even more unacceptable. and according to her website she studied medicine at Adelaide Uni, my alma mater (how embarrasing). I’ve got an idea for how to lose weight and keep it off, eat less and move more. Simple. Sheesh.

And yet more nonsense “Food Intolerances, Digestive Enzymes And Alkalisation” presented by Philippe Thebault. This guy has discovered two new enzymes that increase your ability to digest food. BS.

So there we are people, 4 days of nonsense, expensive supplements, magic Goji berries from the Amazon, nose candles (possibly I made this up) plus all the usual suspects like reiki, chiropractic, iridology, magnets, chinese medicine, cleansing etc etc. Fortunately, there is no sign of the Live Blood Analysis people. Shame, these guys really get my goat, they had me shaking in the corner last year (ask Andy Milman if you don’t believe me).

If you be brave and live in Sydney, come join us on Sunday November 9 at 1 pm for a trip to the other side.