People seem to forget that there’s actually an easy way to rid your body of toxic substances, metabolic byproducts, pharmaceuticals and other substances.  Foot pad and, herbal remedies and even enemas all claim to do the trick, but there’s a much easier way to get those substances out of your body and restore balance.   It’s all natural too!

I’ve been thinking it’s about time someone made an ad to promote real natural detox.

Best to just flush it when done though.   Some quacks actually recommend drinking it (the logic is lost on me, since it’s something your body is trying to get rid of).   Don’t do that though.  For one thing, it’s just nasty.

What can you do with a huge array of mirrors mounted on a precise optical-tracking platform?    You could make a telescope for one thing.   That would sure be useful.

This, however, is not…

Moonlight, by the way, is almost entirely composed of sunlight that is reflected from the moon, with negligible amounts coming from starlight or lights from the earth.   It’s not a perfect reflection like a mirror, but rather it’s a diffuse reflection, like you get when you illuminate something that is opaque but not shiny.   Because the moon is basically devoid of color, the light it reflects back is also basically white.   The fact that the moon sometimes appears red or orange is entirely due to the earth’s atmosphere.

It has no health benefits.  Sorry.   In fact, your body can’t tell the difference between moonlight, sunlight and the light from a good full-spectrum source of artificial light. Moonlight does not in any way dictate your body’s rhythms. Your daily cycle is largely governed by light, but what tells your body it’s time to sleep is not the presence of moonlight but rather the lack of sunlight. Of course, artificial light can interfere with this. If this is the case, the best advice is to stop staying up late and keeping large electric lights on late at night. Moonlight will do nothing to help.

Moonlight has long been given mystical powers by various folk tales and religions.  This includes such things as stories of werewolves or claims that the moon has some kind of astrological significance.  The fact is moonlight is just like any other light.   There’s nothing special about it.

Homeopathic products are often pointed to as scams for being a complete waste of money or damaging to health by displacing real medicine, but generally they are harmless because the active ingredients are so dilute that there’s less than a 50% chance that even a single molecule is present in the final product.

So how can this be?

Via WebMD:

Study Links Zinc Nose Sprays, Loss of Smell

Zicam Zinc Nasal Products Removed From Shelves Last Year
July 19, 2010 — Just over a year ago, the FDA warned that zinc-containing intranasal cold remedies might cause loss of sense of smell.

Now a researcher who has long argued that the sprays were harmful says he has scientific evidence to back up the claim.

Last summer, the FDA warned consumers to stop using three zinc-containing Zicam products: Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs for kids. The federal regulators cited 130 reports of loss of sense of smell among users of the products.

Zicam manufacturer Matrixx Initiatives pulled the three products from the shelves, but the company maintains that there is no link between their use and loss of smell.

In the newly reported analysis, researchers applied a statistical method used to establish a cause-and-effect link between an environmental exposure and development of a disease in an effort to confirm that zinc-containing nasal products can cause loss of sense of smell, known medically as anosmia.

University of California, San Diego professor Terence M. Davidson, MD, says the analysis supports the hypothesis.

He adds that the effectiveness of zinc-containing products for preventing or shortening the duration of colds has never been proven.

“Given that they do absolutely no good for colds and given that there is potential for harm, I see no point in putting any zinc gluconate products in the nose,” Davidson tells WebMD.

But… Zicam is homeopathic, right? Well, no, not really. In this case, the product is being sold as “homeopathic” and in doing so managed to avoid all the scrutiny, testing and regulation that over-the-counter drugs normally would receive. However, the dilution of the zinc in Zicam is only x2, meaning about one part per 100 parts of solvent. This is generally not what you find in homeopathic remedies, which are diluted to 30x or more (one part per 10^30.)

So what happened here? Simply put, the makers claimed that since the active ingredient was dilute it qualified as being homeopathic and simply by calling it homeopathic they avoided all regulation.   They just fudged the definition of how much “dilution” the zinc compound, zinc gluconate, need to be homeopathic, and since homeopathic groups are pretty dishonest to begin with, nobody raised any objection.

As it turns out, the concentration of zinc gluconate in the remedy – which may or may not have any effect on the cold virus – can most definitely have an effect on the scent receptors in the nose.  Worst still, the damage may be permanent, making it impossible for a person to enjoy the smells of fresh cut grass, apple pie or perfume and also preventing them from being able to detect odors like the smell of smoke or leaking gas.  And since taste relies heavily on smell, those with damaged senses of smell lose all but the most basic ability to taste food, being able to tell if the food is salty or sweet, but not being able to discern more complex flavors.

There is one bit of good news here, though.  It seems that the company that makes Zicam is large enough and has enough asserts to make it worth going after in civil court.  They’ve already settled quite a few lawsuits, but more are on the way. I hope they get taken to the cleaners, because it’s about time some of these fraud operations were made into examples.    Perhaps if enough attention is given it could actually lead to regulatory changes, which are so sorely needed!

Most quack products are fairly harmless in and of themselves.  Homeopathy, for example, may displace legitimate treatments but will not cause harm on its own, since it’s just water.  Herbal remedies sometimes do cause harm due to impurities from shoddy manufacturing or the occasional allergic reaction, but this is rare.  Normally products that can harm or kill when used as instructed don’t manage to stay on the shelves long.

Of course, there are a few that are very dangerous and a product called “Miracle Mineral” has recently been cited for its extraordinarily dangerous formula.   Doctor David Kroll at Science Based Medicine called it “one of the most egregious and obscene product cases I have seen in 15 years of teaching on botanical and non-botanical products.”

(more…)

If we only had such fervor for actual science and debunking unfounded claims:

Click here for story text or if your browser does not support the embedded video.

So the guy had brain cancer.  That’s too bad, really it is, and I don’t mean to say that sarcastically.  Luckily he lived through it, no doubt thanks to modern medicine and cancer treatment.    The fact that he survived cancer makes him a sympathetic character, but it doesn’t actually make him an expert on anything.

So why is this couple “convinced” that cell phones caused his brain cancer or cancer in general?   It may come down to seeking an explanation for what caused his cancer.   The vast majority of cancers have no attributable cause and cancer can strike anyone, healthy or not without warning.   It’s comforting to think have some kind of control, and for someone who suffered through brain cancer, blaming it on cell phones is a way to make sense of the events and feel like there is something to fight back against.   Given the attention it gets in the media, it also is the most obvious scapegoat.
(more…)

For a good while it looked like funding of homeopathy through NHS, the national government-sponsored health-care system in the UK was going to finally end.   An MP report on the subject was predictably very strongly against continued funding, nearly every member of the medical establishment who commented on the issue was firmly against homeopathy and various British skeptic and pro-science groups seized the moment to show how worthless homeopathy is.  The British Medical Association firmly backed the removal of funding for homeopathy by government programs.

The big blow to homeopathy came earlier this year when a select committee of the British Parliament published their findings, concluding that homeopathy is no more useful than placebo and does not deserve continued funding.  (Well, yeah, thanks Captain Obvious.)

Yes, it looked like the tax payers of the UK would finally be able to avoid paying for expensive water in perfume bottles.  Or so it seemed…

Via OnMedica:

DH commits to continue NHS funding of homeopathy
NHS funding for homeopathic treatments will continue, despite a highly critical report published by MPs earlier this year.

MPs on the parliamentary science and technology select committee published a report on homeopathy in February, which urged the government to withdraw NHS funding for such treatments and for the medicines regulator to stop licensing homeopathic products.

Both proposals were rejected this week by the Department of Health as it published its official response to the report.

Homeopathy has been funded on the NHS since the service began in 1948 and there are four homeopathic hospitals in the UK, in London, Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow.

It is estimated that the NHS spends around £4 million a year on homeopathy.

The select committee’s report said there was no conclusive evidence that homeopathic drugs were any more effective than a placebo and given that existing scientific literature showed no good evidence of efficacy, further clinical trials of homeopathy could not be justified.

The committee said it believed homeopathy was a placebo treatment.

To prescribe these treatments was damaging the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship and because the effect of homeopathy was unreliable and unpredictable, it should not form the sole basis of any treatment on the NHS.

The MPs also wanted the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to stop licensing homeopathic products because they were allowing these products to make medical claims without evidence of efficacy.

The BMA at its annual conference in June voted overwhelmingly for a motion that said homeopathic remedies should be banned on the NHS and taken off pharmacy shelves where they are sold as medicines.

(more…)

What can I say?   This is absolutely sickening.  Granted that those who oppose vaccination and spread lies in an attempt to stop vaccination of children takes a very perverted and unethical kind of person.   Still, the very idea that they could be so committed to trying to further their own agenda that they would actually confront and harass the parents of a child who had just died of an infectious disease takes things to a new level of cruelty.

Perhaps the leadership of the AVN really is insane enough to believe what they are saying.   However, even if that is so, it in no way justifies attacking people who have just gone through the kind of loss and pain most of us could never even imagine.   Their motive is clear and could not be more callous or self-serving – to try to preserve any credibility they think they still have by going after their opponents, regardless of who they are or how much they have suffered already.

This kind of behavior transcended the issue of bad science and incorrect medical advice.  It shocks and offends the conscious of any person with a sense of decency.  It offends the values of humanity and sympathy.   This is intolerable and just plain wrong. No person who engages in such actions should ever be seem as anything other than a sociopath and a self-serving, callous fraud.

There can be no doubt that this is simply a very dishonest operation run by a very dishonest woman who does not care what she says or does to promote herself. And all this comes from a group which touts itself as being a sympathetic, pro-family and pro-health organization.

It’s revolting.   It does, however, remind me of another post on here a while ago.

Oh I just love seeing a post like this on a site like “Age Of Autism”, an anti-vaccine, anti-science site that promotes every wacky idea on how to treat autism and what causes it.

Health Fascism in Australia.

The sinister Skeptics group, agents of what used to be CSICOP now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) organised from the US and linked to the major corporate lobby groups, American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and American Council Against Health Fraud (ACAHF), which is in turn linked to the Australian CAHF) are making ground in Australia. Supported by authoritarian ideological influences in government and Big Pharma, the Skeptics are running constant attacks on homeopathy, natural cancer treatments, those who question vaccination and those who support any form of alternative medicine.

With the present world fiscal crisis, all those linked to Big Pharma and Science are fighting a bitter battle to preserve drug company competitiveness. But where fascist influences in government and health with most force come together is in attacking anyone who speaks out about freedom of choice and expression in relation to vaccination.

Over the last year the international corporate lobby Skeptics, have been behind a campaign against the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN). In 2009, one of their trolls, a lay person with no standing in medicine or government complained about the web site of the AVN to the office of the State Government funded Health Care Complaints commission (HCCC) an organisation that accepts complaints against groups found be giving out false information about health.

The remit of the HCCC, did not actually cover parent groups which discussed the pros and cons of vaccination, so the State government slightly changed the remit to satisfy the Skeptics. The government then proceeded with a year long investigation into Meryl Dorey the woman who established and runs the AVN and the AVN itself.

Dorey was asked to answer their first 30 odd page report against her and the organisation, within a few weeks. She did this with a magnificent document that argued every point with brilliance. The complaint investigation actually argued against almost every sentence that had appeared on the AVN web site. If the AVN had said that vaccines contained toxic elements, such as mecury and aluminuim the HCCC argued with pseudo science that this was not true, giving pages of bogus evidence to support the vaccine manufacturers.

Oh how very sinister!
(more…)

A story out of Australia that is both tragic and revealing has recently been making the rounds in the media, involving the death of Penelope Dingle, a woman who died of cancer in 2005.   Penelope had been married to Dr. Peter Dingle, a small time celebrity in Western Australia.

Peter Dingle is an Australian media personality and alternative medicine advocate. For those not familiar with him, his style is a little bit like that of Andrew Weil. Although Dingle does have a bonafied Ph.D., his books and lectures have been generally quite fringe and focus heavily on inflated claims of dangers from environmental toxins and modern society.   Some media outlets have stated that Dr. dingle is a “Toxicologist,” but he is not one in the medical sense.  His degree is in “environmental sciences,” and he describes his expertise as being “indoor air quality.”

Dingle is best known for his books, lecture tours and as a frequent guest on Australian daytime talk shows.  He is a regular on the breakfast television show “Wake Up! WA.” He has also endorsed a number of health products such as nutrition supplements and various “natural” remedies.

Recently it has come to light that Penelope Dingle’s death occurred after nearly two years of treatment with homeopathic remedies for rectal cancer that was first diagnosed in 2003.   When the cancer was first found it was likely that it could have been successfully treated by removing the cancerous tumor by surgery.  However, by the time Dingle finally began using mainstream medicine, it was far too late.

Now the local coroner is looking at whether her death is a criminal matter.
(more…)

I’m not sure exactly where the following video comes from.   The narration implies it’s Canadian.  The narration implies it’s Canadian, but wherever this guy is from, he’s a complete and utter idiot who has no idea how vaccines are manufactured or the amount of science and testing that goes into formulating them.   They are most certainly not thrown together nor is the virus obtained by having some random guy cough on it.

Although the virus may be obtained from cultures from infected humans, it’s cultured and analyzed before the vaccine is prepared.  Indeed, a major challenge for flu vaccine development is that the predominant strain changes each year and researchers must look at thousands of cultures from around the world to determine the best candidate for that year’s vaccine.  The formulation of the vaccine must be developed, tested and sent off to full scale production with very tight time constraints.

In addition to being insulting to the entire science of microbiology and all those who spent years in higher education and research to get into it, the video isn’t even funny.  Nobody is laughing.  That’s just a canned laugh track, and a very poor use of one at that.   (You’re supposed to fade it in and out with audience noise more subtly to make it seem like it might really be people.)

It is absolutely no secret EXACTLY what is in the influenza vaccine.   All substances, including those found in only trace amounts and even those which may or may not be present (such as those which are filtered out but may sometimes still have trace levels remaining) are listed on the package insert that is shipped with each dose of the vaccine.  Whether you receive your vaccine from a doctor or a public vaccine clinic, you can always ask to see the insert.

This information is also available online. The CDC maintains extensive information on all the ingredients approved for use in vaccines and which have been used in vaccines in the United States.   If you do not live in the United States, this information is still valid as these ingredients are fairly standard for all vaccines and are common to formulas found both in the US and most other countries.  You can also visit sites such as the websites of the companies that manufacture the vaccines or the respective health agencies the country you live in.

What is actually in a flu shot:

(more…)