Update on the LBC affair, we get a showing on ITV London!
This week Ben Goldacre did a story on the LBC/Jeni Barnett affair for London tonight on ITV.
Whilst discussing the Streisand effect, following the threat of legal action from LBC, he showed a screen shot of this little ‘ol blog.
Thanks Ben for putting tipping your hat to the pooh-pooh!
See the full clip on YouTube here. We appear at 02:48 minutes.
Miracle patches that cure everything, or do they…
Summary: There is no need to read this entire post, it is long and full of science. If you want the take home message, then here it is. Lifewave patches are placebo. In other words, they are very expensive pieces of gauze with a sticky bit. If someone has told you that they cure certain conditions, then you should ask them for evidence, since there is nothing to show that these patches work, none, ever. They are making it up, or they are deluded, or they are lying. You decide. Search for evidence. I bet you don’t find it.
How would you like your pain reduced by 50 -100% in just 2 minutes?
Increase your energy and strength endurance within minutes of use.
Lose weight fast! Remember, if you are overweight, it is not your fault…
Imagine rapid, drug-free sleep…
Elevate your blood glutathione levels by over a whopping 300% in just 24 hours!
The next miracle cure has arrived. Lifewave miracle patches are currently touring Australia giving seminars on how to become a distributor.
The series of five pads are known as Energy Enhancer, Icewave, Silent Nights, Glutathione and Sp6. And like most miracle cures these guys can treat or “assist with” everything and anything.
For example the energy pads, relieve symptoms of fatigue, loss of sleep, nervousness, exhaustion, muscle weakness, drowsiness etc. and support energy production, breathing and stamina.
Icewave is the pain relief pad, and assists with the temporary relief of arthritis related joint pain, general body aches, stiffness; soreness, swelling & bruising due to falls or blows, headaches due to stress, strain or illness, spasms & cramps due to strain or injury from overexertion.
Silent night plus is for symptomatic relief due to exhaustion; inability to fall asleep, restlessness, tossing and turning, sleeplessness, due to stress or worry. Light sleeping, overactive mind, tension/anxiety, nervous exhaustion, and insomnia.
The glutathione booster is anti-ageing (and anti-autism but more on that later) and Sp6 is a weight loss and appetite control patch.
Who are Lifewave?
David Schmidt, Education: Unknown Degrees: Unknown Previous Employment: Unknown Scientific Background: Unknown Nanotechnology Background: Unknown Previous MLMs: BioForce and Vitagenix
Do a Google search for LifeWave and you get a lot of hits for scam websites, pyramid marketing and multi-level marketing (MLM). On the Worldwide scam network website they get an entire page dedicated to their dubious claims.
Lifewave is headed by the patch inventor and president, David Schmidt. He is not a doctor or a scientist. According to WWSN, he has no apparent history, no formal education, no professional experience in his field, no published peer review of any research into any of the so-called technology associated with his patches or any science whatsoever.
But the health and science director of the company, Dr Steve Haltiwanger is a proper doctor with qualifications from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Haltiwanger has a public record which establishes him as an educated professional with degrees in psychiatry, neurology, medicine, chemistry and pathology, professional memberships, awards, publications, academic appointments, medical licenses, and an impressive work history that spans 34 years. However he also has a wide range of interests that run the gamut of alternative medicine, unconventional therapies, and radical theories.
Evidence that even highly educated people can believe ridiculous things.
How do the patches work?
Firstly, the patches are self adhesive, round and about the size of a nicotine patch. According to the website, they are a “non-transdermal patch that does not put any chemicals or drugs into the body” but “by stimulating acupuncture points on the body with a combination of pressure and infared energy….what that means is they will reflect specific frequencies of infrared light to the body to improve circulation and relieve pain.”
This sounds a lot like someone has put some sciencey words in a hat and pulled them put at random Mr Schmidt.
Let’s look first at the claims about infared light. Photobiomodulation is a term peppered throughout their material and this is in fact, a legitimate scientific technique. It has been shown to be effective in wound healing, but this requires light to be shone on the wound. I can’t see any evidence for light being chanelled into these pads. It just doesn’t make scientific sense.
Whilst infared light does exist and can be used for some therapies, exactly how these pads apparently do this is not explained.
The Energy Enhancer patches apparently “stimulate acupuncture points on the body for improving the flow of energy and producing drug-free energy enhancement within minutes of use”. This apparently has something to do with light being chanelled down the meridian lines.
Well I’m afraid people have been searching for the elusive meridian lines for centuries and we have yet to find them. There is still no physiological evidence that meridian lines exist.
There is also a patch called glutathione which is supposed to be anti-ageing since it will apparently; “elevate your anti-oxidant levels by over 300 percent in one day”. And the website proudly displays a graph demonstrating this increase (see above). There are articles all over the website under the research tag, but none appear in peer reviewed scientific journals. Sorry to be boring Lifewave but as a scientist, I require evidence for such extraordinary claims.
And I’m not sure how “stimulating acupuncture points through light can increase levels of glutathione”. It’s very difficult to critique this statement, because scientifically it just doesn’t make sense.
Of course there are plenty of testimonials from satisfied customers, even some pretty important people like Olympic athletes and National Football League players. But I will get onto this a bit later.
In any case, none of this is important when you discover that LifeWave products are homeopathic. Which means that they likely have nothing in them. So what’s the point in discussing the science if what we really have here is a piece of guaze and some water, maybe. Mr Schmidt claims they contain amino acids, oxygen sugars and water and it’s the amino acids that do all the work. But all I found on the website was a list of homeopathic ingredients.
So if they contain water and oxygen how can they cure autism?
According to an audio testimonial buried in the bowels of the website, the glutathione patch has been helping kids with autism. There are two testimonials, one from a father of a 6 year old boy who says he has tried everything including foot baths (?) and as a last resort sought a blood transfusion for his son, to remove the mercury from his system deposited following immunisation. I assume the reference to mercury comes from the scaremongering about thimerosal, the organomercury compound used as a preservative in some vaccines (but as I discussed last week, thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in the year 2000 as a precaution and recently the Autism Omnibus case in the States ruled there is not link between autism and thimerosal).
You might be wondering how Lifewave get away with making such extraordinary claims about a homeopathic patch that likely contains no active ingredients. Well here’s the trick. They don’t officially claim their glutathione pads assist kids with autism – a couple of satisfied customers do. You won’t find this claim in any of their promotional material or on their website. And whilst it is clear from the testimonial that the client was told this by a Lifewave distributor, Lifewave do not have control over what the their distributors say. Whilst they can request they do not say this, ultimately they do not have control. So that’s them off the legal hook.
Dubious and deceitful. Especially when it come to an emotive and debilitating illness like autism for which there is currently no cure.
Lifewave are currently in Australia doing seminars and recruiting distributors.
Stay well away.
———–
Postscript: According to the WWSN, Lifewave backed out of the JREF 1 million dollar challenge because as they said; “the challenge is for testing claims of the paranormal”. Randi responded, “If this thing works as claimed, it is paranormal. There is no scientific principle by which it can work, so it is – by definition – paranormal. In any case, we agree to accept it as paranormal for purposes of the challenge, without reservation.”
A paper from Dr Steve Haltiwanger, entitled The Science Behind Lifewave Energy Patches, not published in a peer review journal, makes for some fairly entertaining reading.
Death of a 4 week old girl from whooping cough
Source: The Australian
A FOUR-WEEK-OLD girl in northern NSW has died in intensive care after contracting whooping cough, sparking official alarm over a worsening epidemic of the disease.
Free booster shots are being offered to new parents, grandparents and carers of young children in the state in a bid to protect babies too young to have had immunisations of their own.
Health officials are also calling on doctors to bring forward new babies’ first whooping cough jabs. The immunisations are usually given in three doses, at two, four and six months, but NSW Health is asking GPs and parents to consider bringing the first shot forward to six weeks as a result of the latest death.
NSW Health officials said in a statement last night that the baby girl was admitted to an unnamed hospital on the state’s north coast last week, but died on Monday.
It is believed to be the first case of a baby dying from whooping cough in NSW since at least 2000, and nationally since 2004.
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Babies of four weeks are too young to be immunised for whooping cough, however they are more likely to catch it if other people around them are not. This is a very sad example of the damage done by the likes of The Australian Vaccination Network. I blogged about this recently and reported on it for The Skeptic Zone podcast number 19.
More on this story as news comes to hand.
What a tragedy.
Wake up Meryl Dorey.
Cosmetic ad banned for using “waffle” science
In the UK, a television advertisement for Olay Regenerist Face Cream has been banned for using bogus science.
Claims in the ad that “pentapeptides” could reduce the appearance of visible lines and could be used as a substitute for cosmetic surgery were deemed misleading.
In the ad, a voice-over from UK beauty journalist Eve Cameron said: “Women who aren’t ready for cosmetic injections constantly ask me to recommend a skin cream that really works”.
Claims that regenerist cream could substitute for cosmetic surgery were rejected
“So I was excited when this study, revealed at the World Congress of Dermatology, showed that pentapeptides are effective in reducing the appearance of lines and wrinkles.”
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint challenging the evidence for the effectiveness of pentapeptides in skin care products.
However, this is not the first time expensive “cosmeceuticals” have been declared a rip-off.
In 2007, a consumer organisation in the UK known as Which? Magazine found skin care companies were “blinding consumers with science” using terms like nanoparticles, pentapeptides, lipopeptides and hyaluronic acid. These are all legitimate scientific words, and whilst some have been associated with skin repair, others are just there to sound sciencey.
For example, hyaluronic acid is a component of the extracellular matrix, the “scaffolding” which supports the cells, and has been used to assist in the repair of burns and wound healing.
Some studies also show injections of hyaluronic acid can relieve mild arthritis pain but the literature remains divided and further research is required.
Hyaluronic acid has replaced bovine or human collagen as an injectable soft-tissue filler, and there are several types currently licensed by the FDA in America.
Aarathi Prasad, a biologist from Sense About Science, said that the claims for commercially available creams were: insulting to people’s intelligence. “There may be evidence to justify using some of these chemicals — but not in products claiming to improve the signs of ageing or having an active effect on the skin. The companies are taking the real science out of context so it becomes bad science.”
But as for the use of nanoparticles? Well, not even customer service representatives could explain what the hell these were doing in the moisturising cream. Which? Magazine discovered that the use of scientific jargon by skin care products, had become so widespread and complex that these “cosmeceuticals” could no longer be explained by customer service.
They contacted customer service for Garnier, L’Oreal and Olay to ask for explanations of their sciencey sounding products. For example, when asked what was the hyaluronic acid contained in the L’Oréal moisturising cream, the company’s customer service representative incorrectly stated:
“It’s not an actual acid,” before adding, “The product replumps, tautens and illuminates to give a radiance to the skin.”
Gary Moss, a pharmacist from the University of Hertfordshire, dismissed this explanation as “utter waffle”.
Hyaluronic acid is indeed an acid, and there is no evidence that it plumps the skin when applied topically, only when it is injected ala botox.
“Nanoparticles” on the other hand, included in some products may actually be harmful, and should be avoided, dermatologists suggest.
Adding scientific jargon to a tiny bottle of cream, is just another way manufacturers can get away with charging you an arm and a leg for a tub of sorbolene and water with some nice perfume added.
Buyer beware.
—–
Thanks podblack for the tip-off to this story
The Vega test – a spectacular rip-off.
I just had a call from my Mum who had been visiting a friend with cancer.
Despite several rounds of chemotherapy and the best treatment available, her cancer has not regressed and the future does not look good. So, understandably, she is desperate – just the type of person likely to fall victim to unconventional treatments. She has previously been a victim of hair analysis, where she was told tomatoes were the cause of her problems and she could drink gin but not red wine (ridiculous).
Tonight she had a new magic treatment to tell my Mum about – the Vega machine. This thing is so good it can analyse the type of bacteria in your gut by placing an electrode between the toes of your right foot. My Mum called me on the way home to ask me if it was BS. Of course, I strongly suspected immediately that it was, but to be sure in two clicks of a mouse and a 30 sec Google search I was found to be correct.
Vega - the biggest star in the constellation of Lyra. Unlike the Vega machine, a spectacular sight, not a spectacular rip-off.
What is the Vega machine or Vega test?
The apparatus consists of a box containing a galvanometer which compares the resistance between the skin in contact with a hand electrode and the skin tested with a measuring stylus. The other contents of the box are an electrical source. For a more thorough explanation of the electronics behind the Vega machine see here.
Proponents claim; “Over 120 substances which include common foods and drinks and environmental substances are tested during our consultation. The equipment we use is a bio-electronic analyzer which measures the body’s electrical resistance to these substances. If a substance is causing a problem then it there will be a dip or drop in body’s electrical resistance”.
The Vega food sensitivity machine
Does it work? [NO]
A 2003 investigation by the BBC sent subjects to undergo Vega testing at different health food shops in the UK, and reported that test results varied from store to store. The report revealed that one subject was allergic to 33 different types of food, with only three being agreed upon by the testers across stores. Further, one reporter was told he needed to take a total of 20 different vitamins and minerals. But again, the testers couldn’t seem to agree and all three testers advised different supplements.
When the manufacturer, Health Screen International (HSL), were asked to explain themselves they said that the Vega machine is only about 70% accurate and “It does stretch the imagination how the Vega test works…But we have thousands of letters from people saying how much better they feel.”
Oh testimonials, of course. Any regular readers of this blog would know that testimonials do not constitute scientific evidence. The human mind is fallible, memories are remodelled and we sometimes inadvertently attribute an effect of one treatment when our body may have repaired itself naturally. Or we may have done something else to reverse the pain or illness. A red flag should always be raised if you come across a product or service that has no evidence for efficacy apart from testimonials. They are simply unreliable.
Even earlier than the 2003 BBC investigation, a paper was published in the Medical Journal of Australia, which concluded this:
Vega testing (the Vega test method) is an unorthodox method of diagnosing allergic and other diseases. It has no established scientific basis and there are no controlled trials to support its usefulness. Vega testing may lead to inappropriate treatment and expense to the patient and community (1).
And here’s what Quackwatch have to say about the likes of Vega test:
The devices described in this article are used to diagnose nonexistent health problems, select inappropriate treatment, and defraud insurance companies. The practitioners who use them are either delusional, dishonest, or both. These devices should be confiscated and the practitioners who use them should be prosecuted.
At sceptics in the pub on Thursday evening, someone asked me what motivates me to do this stuff, especially since, as he put it, it is largely a thankless task. Well, this is part of the reason. Quacks making a quick buck from sick, vulnerable and desperate individuals really gets my goat.
I know my Mum’s friend – she’s much too vulnerable for me to explain that she is getting scammed. I can only hope that by educating other people like you dear reader, that we can avoid more harm.
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Postscript: Upon reflection, doesn’t this sound quite a lot like the K-test, featured in LBC radio recently and criticised by Ben Goldacre on Bad Science? Whilst it’s not exactly the same, Kymatica still use the food allergy line, but claim to be able to tell the difference between allergies and resistance, which they explain with a lot of jargon about IgG and IgE antibodies. Ooooh, sciencey!
(1) C H Katelaris et al., Med J Aust 1991; 155: 113-114.
For the story of a nurse’s tale about debunking quack devices masquerading as medical diagnostics, see this article from the Skeptic.
How to get the Maternity Immunisation Allowance without getting your kids vaccinated.
Here’s what I turned up about the Maternity Immunisation Allowance.
It was established in 1997 by Dr Michael Wooldridge, the then Federal Minister for Health and Family Services, in response to low levels of immunisation in Australia.
The new initiatives were designed to reach the 97 per cent of parents who are in favour of immunisation, but who did not finish the full vaccination regime.
During the launch, Dr Wooldridge said; “With such a high rate of acceptance of immunisation, it is appalling that only 53 per cent of Australian children are fully immunised for their age. This leaves all children at risk of contracting vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, whooping cough and German measles.”
“Present childhood immunisation rates in Australia are among the worst in western countries and lower than many Third World countries.”
Dr Wooldridge said the Federal Government was so concerned about the low rates of childhood immunisation that it had put its full weight behind an ambitious national strategy to significantly improve immunisation compliance.
This included the introduction of the Maternity Immunisation Allowance, a non-means tested bonus to encourage parents to fully immunise their children and the offer of financial incentives to medical practitioners as part of the Better Practice Program.
The Maternity Immunisation Allowance aims to encourage parents or guardians to fully immunise children in their care. Maternity Immunisation Allowance is a payment for children aged 18 to 24 months who are fully immunised or have an approved exemption from immunisation.
However, you can still get the money even if you don’t get your kids vaccinated. Following is an excerpt from the exemption clause.
a recognised immunisation provider (e.g. your doctor) signs a letter or form saying that:
• they have told you about the benefits and risks of immunising your child and you have a conscientious objection to immunising your child (your provider should complete a Health Insurance Commission Immu-12 form),
• immunising your child with a particular vaccine is medically contraindicated (your provider should use the Health Insurance Commission Immu-11 form),
• the child has a natural immunity to the disease, or
• the vaccine is not available,
• you or your partner are a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist and you have a letter from an official of the Church advising that you are a practising member of the Church.
I find it very interesting that this is never mentioned by the anti-vacc crowd. They are very quick to accuse GPs of being involved in some “big pharma” conspiracy since they also receive financial incentives to vaccinate and talk to parents about immunisation.
Did they forget to mention they also get paid for leeching off the rest of us who do comply thereby benefiting from they herd immunity we provide?
And as my mum who alerted me to this story said, if they are so opposed to vaccination shouldn’t they decline to take the money out of principle?
Government money for conscientious objectors?
Wanna get paid to not vaccinate? Read on…
I just finished a conversation with my school friend who has two girls, one 15 months and the other 3 years, about vaccination. She relayed to me a story about her mothers and babies group where one such mother had steadfastly refused to have her kids immunised and was making a song and dance about the fact. This erked my friend, since she has been vigilant about getting both her girls immunised according to the Australian Government’s recommendations. She informed me that when you get your kids vaccinated in Australia, the government (in fact, Centrelink) send you $200 for the privilege.
It seems they also send this money to conscientious objectors. The objector in question proudly told my friend she had signed a statutory declaration, under the watch of her GP, detailing her reasons for not having her kids vaccinated. Despite this, the Australian government still sent her the $200, normally reserved for those who have their kids immunised. This mother was very proud of the fact, which eventually resulted in her being involved in a rather large argument with the rest of the parents who were essentially protecting her child via herd immunity.
This is interesting to know for me, as a non-parent, and as a person interested in the anti-vacc crowd, since they never seem to mention that you also get money for refusing to get your kids vaccinated. However, they are very quick to mention that doctors get paid for reporting the vaccination of kids.
Hypocrisy? I will do some further research and get back to you, but I smell a rat.
The anti-vacc movement; an Australian perspective.
Basically all medications and drugs and vaccines are supposed to go through a double blind placebo study where one group is given the treatment and another group is given a placebo or like a sugar pill and in over 200 years of vaccine history, this has never been done for any vaccine. So anything we know or think we know about vaccinations is purely guess work.
Meryl Dorey, The Australian Vaccination Network, 2006.
With recent talk about how the anti-vaccine crowd have effected rates of vaccination in the UK and the States, I thought it might be interesting to look closer to home to see how Australia stacks up.
This week Medicare, Australia’s government run health body released figures from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register detailing the rates of immunisation in this country.
The latest figures are from December 2008. On the face of it, it seems we are doing pretty well. For kids aged up to 15 months, the national average for immunisation is 91% with the lowest levels being 89.9% for Western Australia. The national average falls to 88.4 % in the up to 5 years of age group with the lowest compliance of 85.5% in South Australia. When you consider that approximately 90% vaccination is needed to obtain herd immunity, but this depends on the vaccine and the disease, these figures are encouraging.
Rob Menzies, from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said low vaccination rates were often more prevalent where well-educated parents did their own research and believed the myths that vaccines did more harm than good. This was reflected in figures for Sydney’s exclusive Eastern Suburbs, including the harbour view, well-to-do suburbs of Double Bay and Vaucluse, which were ranked the worst, with only 80 per cent of children immunised. This was followed closely by the areas of Lismore, Alstonville and Byron Bay, areas known for “alternative lifestyles” so these figures are not overly surprising.
There has been much discussion and speculation about why the wealthy suburbs are less likely to get their kids vaccinated. One journalist described the parents as, “Selfish dummy mummies need consciences pricked”. Adele Horin, reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald explained; “These are women who spend too many hours on wacky internet health sites and become convinced immunisation is a giant conspiracy”. She further described them as “The educated mother who thinks she knows better than the overwhelming majority of the world’s scientists and doctors…” These statements are supported by Arthur Allen, author of the book Vaccine, A History of Immunisation. He observed that “living in a place with a high percentage of PhDs is a risk factor for whooping cough”.
Scathing stuff indeed. But in a case of backward logic the anti-vaccers have actually claimed this for themselves loudly proclaiming, “parents continue to be accused of being ignorant, uncaring and stupid for refusing vaccines which the medical community claim will keep their children healthy when the truth is older, highly educated parents form the basis of the [sic] anti-immunisation lobby’.
Not something to be proud of I would have thought. However, one wonders if these are the parents glued to morning television when the likes of Meryl Dorey from the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) can regularly be seen, spouting her misinformed anti-vacc. nonsense. She is like a watered down version of Jenny McCarthy, without all the cash and the hilarious boyfriend.
The innocuously titled AVN, fronted by the screeching Meryl Dory, go by the catch phrase, “love them, protect them, never inject them”. Meryl is regularly given a platform on morning television shows in Australia, such as Mornings with Kerri-Anne. In defence of Kerri-Anne, they usually have a representative from the sensible side, in this case Dr Penny Adams. However just like the overseas breeds, Meryl is not shy about exposing her ingnorance to a national audience.
As a demonstration of how little the AVN understand about science and medicine, I will use an article written by them called “10 reasons why parents choose not to vaccinate”.
Reason 1: Vaccines have never been tested.
A true indication of how little AVN know about how the drug development process works. I won’t bore you with the details of this process today, but I will tell you it takes millions of dollars, around 10 years and at least 4 phases of testing, which continues even after the drug is released.
Evidence that this process works can be found in the case of a vaccine for the rotavirus called Rotashield which was released in the US in August 1988. In pre-licensure trials, the vaccine appeared to be safe, but in post-licensure surveillance it was associated with an increased risk of intussusception (a rare form of bowel obstruction occurring in infants). As soon as this problem was discovered, the vaccine was withdrawn from the market. Rotashield® was never released in Australia, and each new rotavirus vaccine has undergone testing in around 70,000 young children to rule out a risk of bowel obstruction.
Reason 2: Vaccines contain toxic additives and heavy metals
Here they are of course scaremongering with thimerosol, a mercury-based preservative that has been used in very small amounts in some vaccines since the 1930s to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination. There is no evidence that thiomersal in vaccines has caused any health problems, except perhaps minor reactions, such as redness at the injection site. THimerosol was removed from childhood vaccines as a precaution in 2000. Some vaccines, such as pneumococcal vaccines, MMR and other live attenuated viral vaccines, never contained thiomersal. Whilst there are certain vaccines for adults that stil contain thimerosol, the levels are extrememly low. Much lower than the level of exposure we get to mercury in our daily lives.
I don’t have time to discuss all their claims, except to day that they are full of accusations and conspiracies we have come to expect from such ignorant people, such as pharmaceutical companies have paid for all the vaccine studies to date, and this outrageous statement;
“Some childhood illnesses have beneficial aspects and therefore prevention may not necessarily be in the interests of the child”
You really think so Meryl Dorey? Why don’t we use one example of a childhood illness, whooping cough, (which can be vaccinated against) and look at whether it’s in the interest of the child to contract it. I chose whooping cough since Australia is currently experiencing an epidemic.
According to some reports, more than 13,000 cases were diagnosed across Australia – a 15 year high. In October 2008, there were more than 40 confirmed cases in the Bega Valley region, most were in school aged children, from the same school and the health service said that most of the cases were in children who have not been immunised.
Whooping cough is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Babies are vaccinated against pertussis at 2 months, then 4 months, 6 months and 4 years. Whooping cough is particularly serious in young children, where one in every 200 babies who contract the infection will die. Some can even crack ribs through violent coughing attacks. A recent report about the current epidemic cited the story of a 14 week old girl, who has had whooping cough since she was two weeks old. Her terrified mother explained how she had turned blue several times, whilst gasping for air following long coughing fits.
The ‘whoop’ (which is not always obvious) is due to a deep breath at the end of a bout of coughing. Vomiting after coughing is common. Severe complications which occur almost exclusively in unvaccinated people include seizures and pneumonia. In babies under 6 months of age the symptoms can be severe or life threatening and include;
• Haemorrhage (bleeding)
• Apnoea (stopping breathing for long periods of time)
• Pneumonia
• Inflammation of the brain
• Convulsions and coma
• Permanent brain damage
• Death.
Whooping cough is not a disease you want to mess with. According to health officials, the recent Australian epidemic of whooping cough is likely a result of a reduction in vaccination. North Coast Area Health Service director of public health, Paul Corben said, “Communities with low vaccination rates have had more than eight times the rate of disease seen in those areas with the highest vaccination rates”.
Although the AVN are a relatively small organisation they are well organised and active, therefore they can do significant damage.
Australian listeners may remember the case of parents who fled hospital and the authorities with their new born in August 2008, to avoid having to have him vaccinated for hepatitis B. The sad thing is the mother has hepatitis B herself. Although it is not compulsory to be vaccinated in Australia, it is health department policy that children born of hepatitis B positive mothers are offered immunoglobulin for the child within 12 hours of birth and four doses of the vaccine over six months. In a tragic tale of ignorance, the mother told reporters that the couple believed aluminium in the vaccine could cause him more damage than the child contracting hepatitis B. And of course the father is a member of the Australian Vaccination Network, by which the couple are now touted as heroes.
Australia also has the usual suspects, the chiropractors who don’t proclaim it from the rooftops but upon questioning will tell you not to vaccinate. They will also follow the MMR-autism line. I had one tell me this at a recent Mothers, Babies, and pregnancy expo. And of course we can’t forget the despicable homeopaths who will also tell you on the sly that you can use homeopathy to vaccinate your kids. (BTW, there is no such thing as a homeopathic vaccine or a process known as homeopathic vaccination. It is called homeopathic immunisation, sometimes known as homeoprophylaxis, according to the irresponsible website homeopathyplus.com.au).
For more information about the myths and realities of vaccinations, see the Australian government’s publication “Vaccination; myths and realities, responding to arguments against immunisation” (see below). This is a thoroughly researched and easy to read resource which addresses fact and fiction about vaccination. Also useful even if you are not in Australia and particularly good for passing on to anyone you know who might have some dodgy ideas about the merits of vaccination.
References and further reading:
Immunisation, myths and realites. Responding to arguments against immunisation. A guide for practitioners. Australian Government Department of Health Ageing. 4th edition.
The MMR Decison Aid from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Australia.
Fact sheet – A guide to homeopathic vaccination.
Only listen to these homeopathy podcasts if you are sitting down. The stupid, it burns.
Homeopathy for burns victims of the Victorian bushfires? Offensive.
This week past, Australia experienced it’s worst peacetime natural disaster in the country’s history. As I write this, the official total for victims is 181. However, police fear the death toll could reach as high as 300 since they have yet to enter some areas. Many people are still classified as missing.
As a country in mourning we have been warned to brace for the death toll to rise steeply. Times such as this, it has been said, bring out the worst and the best in people. In amongst the incredible stories of courage and survival, there will always be the opportunists. These include the arsonists, the despicable looters whom are apparently lurking and the likes of Pastor Danny Nalliah, the leader of the Catch the Fire Ministries, who in a press release, attributed the tragedy to divine retribution for an abortion decriminalisation bill that passed in Victoria in 2008. Nalliah calls Victoria the “baby killing state of Australia.”
Some of the brave firefighters who fought the Victorian bushfires, many of whom are volunteers.
I won’t discuss this further except to say; disgraceful reprehensible and completely inappropriate.
And then there is this..
This appeared on a website selling homeopathic remedies, which then goes on to describe in great detail, how homeopathy can be used to treat burns. But before I share with you some of their wisdom, let me convey to you the shear enormity of the situation facing hospitals and especially the Burns unit at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Dr De Villiers Smit, an emergency physician at The Alfred who worked on the Bali bombings and the current bushfires, told reporters these fires were “by far one of the worst disasters I have ever been involved in”.
The head of the Alfred burns unit Heather Cleland, MBBS, FRACP.
The Alfred Hospital recently opened a new specialist burns unit, staffed by some the best practitioners in Australia.
The head of the Alfred burns unit Heather Cleland said; “The classic burn patterns that we’re seeing are mostly due to people who’ve been forced to run through flames or have been exposed to extremely high radiant heat temperatures, and so….most patients have very significant feet and hand burns as well as involving their arms and lower legs especially”.
All of the bushfire victims at the hospital have burns to more than 30 per cent of their body. Many have burns to their feet and hands inflicted as they ran or crawled through fire to escape. Some also have burnt airways from smoke inhalation. Some may have to have limbs amputated.
Heather Cleland also said; “Burns victims are highly sensitive to infection and must be treated with the highest level of care”.
But according to the homeopathy quacks, you don’t need a top class burns facility staffed by some of the best burns specialists in the world. Here’s what one website recommends for very severe burns.
CANTHARIS (Spanish fly)
(When) There is violent acute inflammation and there may be severe delirium. (When) There is rapid progressive destruction of tissue and the pains are cutting, smarting, burning, and biting. (When) There is also severe kidney involvement, with burning and scalding on the passing of urine. There can be violent burning pain through the whole intestinal tract. There will be a tendency to gangrene with the destruction of the tissue.
It will need to be give frequently at first. External application of Cantharis 1x in ½ litre of water may also be sprayed on the affected site for pain relief.
Cantharis or the Spanish Fly
Cantharis is more commonly known as Spanish fly, which is actually a beetle that produces an irritant so caustic that it makes the skin blister if exposed to it. Whatever Spanish Fly does as an intact beetle is irrelevent in this case, since common preparations of Cantharis are 6C.
In homeopathy terms this means the original concentrated solution has been diluted 100 times repeated 6 times. This translates to a dilution of 10 to the 12 or one trillion times. The end result being indistiguisable from water or whatever else it was diluted into.
Let’s take a look at the scientific evidence for the efficacy of a homeopathic preparation of Cantharis. In a study published in the Archives of Emergency Medicine the analgesic action, that is capacity to relieve pain, of the homeopathic preparation Cantharis in the treatment of minor burns, and I emphasize minor here, was assessed in a series of 34 patients. Under double blind conditions no statistically significant difference was found between Cantharis and a placebo.
Which is because it is placebo. Probably water in fact.
I’m certain that the great skill and care currently being provided to the victims of the worst peacetime natural disaster in Australia’s history does not include spraying water on third degree burns. This is an insult to the skills of the surgeons and doctors working tirelessly across the country.
Testament to this nonsense comes from one website spruiking the benefit of Cantharis;
Please remember though, this homeopathy materia medica is provided for information only, with no guarantee of accuracy; it is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, nor as a claim for the effectiveness of Cantharis in treating any of the symptoms below.
Our thoughts are with the families and victims of the Victorian Bushfires as well as the firefighters from Country Fire Association.
You can assist by donating money and blood for the burns victims to the Red Cross.
In Australia call the Victorian Bushfire Appeal 1800 811 700
Join the CFA Facebook Fan page
Thanks to Michael Vagg for the tip-off to this story.
Jeni Barnett’s agent claims she was subject to personal and extremely abusive comments on her blog
A story on journalism.co.uk from Judith Townend reports that Jeni Barnett has received ‘hundreds of extremely personal and abusive comments,’ says her agent, Robert Common.
“[The comments] do not address the debate about the use of MMR and that is the reason for taking the comments off Jeni’s website,” Common said.
Jeni invited people to join the debate about MMR following her controversial broadcast on January 7 th where she spouted misinformation about MMR, autism and vaccinations in general. However, comments posted disagreeing with her stance, no matter how polite, were quickly removed from her blog.
Some of the comments left on the journalism.co.uk blog make this point.
Andy Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Whilst I would not approve of any threatening or abusive comments, the vast majority left on Jeni’s blog were simple and robust criticism of her stance and behaviour. Plus the subsequent behaviour of LBC.
As so many people did take the time to explain quite carefully what was wrong, I have reposted these blogs and comments on my own site. Make your own mind up.
Perhaps Jeni, or her agent Robert common forgot about the internet cache, but Andy from Quackometer.net did not. He has posted all the comments, as they originally appeared for us all to see.
One thing that surprised many people posting on this story, was Jeni’s somewhat hypocritical cry that these comments were abusive personal attacks. This is a bit rich when you consider she herself yelled over the top of Yasmin, now identified as an NHS nurse, then later referred to her as “vicious”.
The Biologista Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
1. Jeni herself described at least one of her pro-MMR callers “vicious” and has been very dismissive of all of her critics. Regardless of the evidence they produced or how mannerly they were, their concerns were regarded as “sarcasm”.
David Jones Says:
February 11th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Most of the messages have been saved and are on the Internet for all to see. None were personally abusive. On the other hand, Barnett described a perfectly reasonable and concerned nurse who called into the show as ‘vicious’, which is simply untrue. The transcripts are available, read them for yourself, see who’s indulging in personal abuse.
This is precisely the point Jeni. You can put all the spin on it you like but the facts remain. The audio, the transcript and the blog comments as they originally appeared are available for us all to see.
In the meantime, Ben has issued a personal plea on his blog to not send abusive emails to Jeni following a phone call from the programme director of LBC.
As the saying goes, if you give people enough rope….
