Homeopathy is generally superior to placebo, particularly in immune-related conditions. But it has been discounted by ideologically biased researchers, who have excluded almost all published studies, referring to virtual data, and using inappropriate statistics, writes physician Robert Hahn in a critical analysis in Forschende Komplementärmedizin. Read more
Tags: alternative medicine, bias, CAM, CI, communication, confidence interval, conflict, controversy, David Finer, Edzard Ernst, evidence, Forschende Komplementärmedizin, homeopathy, ideology, odds ratio, OR, placebo, randomized controlled trial, RCT, review, Robert HahnHomeopathic IC´s reporters are not easily daunted. Recently, we reported from the European Sceptics Conference in Stockholm. This time, we have attended the First Nordic Homeopathy Research Conference, held in Gothenburg, Sweden. All with the aim of giving our readers hot news from the frontiers of CAM research and debate. Following on Dr. Peter Fisher´s characterization of Sweden as a “homeopathic desert”, the meeting was a revitalizing oasis, at least for the already converted. Read more
Tags: bias, British Medical Journal, CAM, cost-effectiveness, David Finer, evidence, homeopathy, integrative medicine, meta-analysis, NAFKAM, Peter Fisher, Peter Viksveen, public health, research, skeptics, statistics, Trine Stub, validity, WHOComplementary and alternative medicine slips through the cracks of the government agencies, and consumers have to pay. That is why there is a need for sceptics´and consumer organizations. Molecular cell biologist Professor Dan Larhammar, Uppsala University focused on ineffective and fraudulent alternatives in a lecture on the eve of the 15th European Sceptics Congress in Stockholm recently. Read more
Tags: 15th European Skeptics Congress, Almedalen, alternative medicine, bluff, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM, Christer Fuglesang, Christopher Hitchens, Dan Larhammar, David Finer, dissidents, Edzard Ernst, ethics, European Union, evidence, homeopathy, Integrative Care Science Center, marketing, mobbing, National Board of Health and Welfare, Nobel Prize, Olof Palme, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, persecution, PJ Råsmark, placebo, Police, pseudoscience, Simon Singh, Swedish Food Agency, Swedish Skeptics Association, Trick or Treatment, Vetenskap och Folkbildning, VoFFailure to integrate conventional and complementary medicine will soon be viewed as unethical. The “magical” effects of homeopathy are attributable solely to the patient-provider relationship. All raw CAM research data should be made publically available. These were three provocative statements formulated during a popular “soapbox” session at the ICCMR 2013 research meeting in London recently. […] Read more
Tags: Andrew Weil, CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, controversy, David Finer, ethics, George Lewith, healthcare crisis, homeopathy, ICCMR, informed consent, integrative care, magic, patient-provider, priorities, research, Torkel FalkenbergIn Switzerland, patients will be able to get CAM treatments under the auspices of state-funded health care, at least through the year 2018. This is a result of new scientific studies and a referendum. There has been quite a heated debate going on in Switzerland the last few years as to whether certain CAM methods […] Read more
Tags: CAM, David Finer, Health Technology Assessment, herbal, holistic medicine, homeopathy, HTA, Johann hök, Klaus von Ammon, neural therapy, Switzerland, TCMDuring the last decade CAM methods have become increasingly common features in the health care systems of Norway and Denmark. This may be explained by evidence and by the influence of motivated individual. Researchers report a survey study of the use of CAM methods at 99 Norwegian and 126 Danish hospitals in the journal BMC […] Read more
Tags: acupuncture, aroma therapy, art therapy, biofeedback, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM, Denmark, gestalt therapy, herbal, homeopathy, hypnosis, light therapy, NAFKAM, Norway, pilates, tai chi, yoga