to think homeopaths really just make money out of the gullible?

[WidowWadman]

A remedy made from diluted bits of the Berlin Wall - seriously, that's surely just a test to find out how far they can push it, isn't?

The argument that conventional medicine has harmed more people than homeopathy is like saying that driving a car is more dangerous than jumping off the Empore State Building. Far far more people have died in car accidents than jumping from the Empire State building, but that doesn't make the jumping safer. It's all down to numbers. Very few people have had adverse outcomes from homeopathy because very few people use it for anything other than mild or self-limiting conditions. Pretty straightforward really.

Thank you, this has been a great thread. (speaking from the pro-modernity camp)

I always thought it was rubbish. I remember when my mum got into it and a bottle of something for colds and every time we started to get one, she'd urge us to to put two drops of the stuff onto our tongues. Slipperly elm bark tincture or somesuch. Always did think it was just water. It never did anything but then she got into vitamins and recommended large doses of Vitamin C and those did help . I'm sure slippery elm has it's uses as a vitamin but not in the diluted form of a tincture.

Trouble is, LaQueen it perpetuates uncritical thought and acceptance of pseudoscience and magical thinking as being in some way valid. Leading to all the detoxing, immune-system-boosting, colonic-irrigating, crystal-healing, ear-candling, tuning-into-vibrations, kinesiology, medical-establishment-conspiracy-theory bollocks. That makes me stabby.

Crumbled It is 'A little learning is a dangerous thing'.

YANBU. The only science involved is that of preying on the desperate.

Mimishimi Did you read the article in the Guardian magazine last weekend about the dangers of large doses of vitamins esp Vit C? It made sobering reading

How large a dose? Vitamin C is water-soluble so excess amounts are peed away and it's pretty hard to overdose on it.

It amazes me that some people wonder what the problem is with irrationality and disinformation. Should we abandon education so that people can think 2+2 can equal anything they like? (sadly we seem to have made a start on this) When the guy fixes your car do you want someone who understands the internal combustion engine or someone who has a really shiny crystal to wave over it?

By learning what works we moved out of the caves. Nearly everything we do is possible because someone worked out how things really work. This is also known as science.

Think about how many woo powered mobile phones, DVD players and space shuttles there are...

There! that's didn't take long did it.

If we let irrationality spread we could have windologists suggesting that people leave upper storey rooms via the window instead of 'conventional stairs'. That's no sillier than calling a priest instead of an ambulance or a homoeopathist instead of a doctor. Though the practitioner would have to be sure to be paid in advance.

Maybe I'll start up a business. I can show statistics on the numbers of people injured by falling down stairs. Also I've seen people leap from high windows without injuring themselves. Granted that was a fictional film, but hey! fiction is just alternative truth isn't it.

Link to Guardian article

Mimishimi Apologies, it merely stated that there was no benefit in taking it and absolutley no effect on the prevention, duration or severity of the common cold or indeed other upper respiratory chest infections. It did however talk about the increased risk of dying from cancer (spec lung cancer) and heart disease from taking extra doses of Vit A, E and Beta Carotene.

The article was an extract last saturday from 'Killing us softly; the Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine' by Dr Paul Offit. It's published on 20th June by Fouth Estate, if anyone's interested

Thank you for the link, Bore

I'll certainly lookout for the book - looks like it focuses on one of my other favourite bugbears - the "If it's natural it must be good" bollocking bollocks.

Bot bore at least natural stuff doesn't have "chemicals" in it

That's true, Gracelo, no chemicals whatsoever. Oh No. All good and natural.

Sometimes I despair at the lack of very basic scientific knowledge, I really do.

"energy" is really my big bugbear. You always know when the term energy is mentioned in a woo context that it's bollocks.

Only if it's negative energy, though, eh, Gracelo?

To echo Balaboosta, this has been a great thread, nothing has ever (other than vaccination threads) kept me so attached to the screen and keyboard. Thanks WidowWadman

You need to unblock your energy fields.

Oh Dystopian, you really should have been on the Young Earth Creationist Threads!

I so do bore

How does energy become blocked?
Is this a new branch of physics?
Why hasn't this utter rubbish died a quiet death yet? I worry that it's going to get worse, with science teaching deteriorating.