Comments on: Parliamentary Science and Technology Select Committee on homeopathy today

By: Windows 7 Professional

Windows 7 Professional — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:35:11 +0000

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By: Pitini

Pitini — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:17:06 +0000

This is gold.

Can anyone tell me if there is a homeopathic contraceptive pill? If not why not?

By: Ekolog

Ekolog — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:26:42 +0000

Hi Ben – maybe a bit late in this topic, but it still relevant. Something from Polish press on homeopathy and ethics in treating people: http://tinyurl.com/polish-homeopath
I want to warn anyone, that it’s originally in Polish and translated roughly into English using Google Translate. I cross-checked and cit’s pretty reliable translation – if anyone is interested in getting explained anything, please email me. I am pretty angry at those homeopaths raising their heads after this case.

By: Pro-reason

Pro-reason — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:03:04 +0000

Ben, it’s ‘licence’ and ‘practice’. I’ll let you have ‘magickal’.

By: Jeffreysnj

Jeffreysnj — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:13:12 +0000

I know there is no point in understanding the mechanism of something that doesn’t work -why bother. However, this is funny:

http://www.homeopathyworldcommunity.com/video/the-mechanism-how-homeopathy

radiation therapy!!

Though the classic is still:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0c5yClip4o

Have fun

By: Jbags

Jbags — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:25:32 +0000

That daily mail article… ok, I usually stay away from the daily mail because its not always politic to burst into a fit of rage at work, but gordon bennet, I am absolutely furious. Comments are closed (looking at the comment scores belies a deceptively liberal readership of the mail’s website, or this article at least), and I’m desperately seeking a better way to harangue this journalist. Where did he get his degree?? “Bachelors R’ Us”?

By: chrisprobert

chrisprobert — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:54:34 +0000

@Grumpy Bob
In case I missed it, no-one mentioned VLC player. Install that and it will solve most, if not all of your m’soft based media concerns. It supports mmc:// streams and wmv files. It certainly worked for this link for me (on ubuntu 9.10, but not the silverlight link, never tried that). Not that this changes the fact that government websites should perhaps use more open source tech in the first place, at least in situations like this where they are supposed to be giving the public access to debate.

P.S. Was quite amazed by the foaming at the mouth of this article, about the chap who seemed to make most sense of the lot.. probably old hat to most of you. But then again I don’t have reason to read the Daily Mail very often:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-490815/Meet-Dr-Death-Lib-Dem-MP-Evan-Harris-backs-embryo-experiments-euthanasia-freer-abortions.html

By: Riffler

Riffler — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:59:33 +0000

If only we had the sort of media that would present Paul Bennett’s “we sell it even though it doesn’t work” comments in the same way as they presented Ratner’s “alot of what we sell is crap” a few years ago.

By: Jut

Jut — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:26:51 +0000

Here’s what pissed me off…
The bare faced cheek of the homeopaths to twist, distort and even outright lie to the chair.
The only question I have is are they knowingly lieing? or do they actually believe the shit they vomit?

On a lighter note, Evan wins the internet for his piss take on shaking at around 1.35.

By: sciencerocks

sciencerocks — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:50:43 +0000

@emen

Watching what was going on behind was certainly very interesting. I had complete sympathy with Tracey Brown, sitting behind the homeopath, as she her held her head in her hands as the homeopath spoke at one point!

I was surprised to learn recently that there are such people as ‘homotoxicologists’: http://www.springerlink.com/content/yv79eh5lkl7y32jr/

This seems to be even more bizzare than homeopathy, if that is possibile. They apparently use homeopathy but not the “like cures like” principle.

By: emen

emen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:35:24 +0000

haha, after the meeting apparently Ben tweeted

“Peter Fisher kept kicking the back of my chair, perhaps he was trying to succuss me”

you see?, he WAS already trying to cure himself of Ben, don’t I just KNOW homeopaths, it’s frightening

By: ch4rl13

ch4rl13 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:56:06 +0000

While I know not to expect much from BBC Breakfast, I was blown away by their section this morning based on Paul Bennett’s comments.
The interviewees being a GP who’s become a homeopathist stating outright that the evidence shows it works, with the ‘balancing’(?) argument provided by a newspaper columnist who sounded like she’s never heard of homeophathy before and thinks its some kind of ‘delicate medicine’, with some comment about it being ‘diluted to 1%’!!!!
The complete lack of awareness of the issues on the part of the anchor people was astounding (but not atypical) and of course not a science or health editor in sight.

In my view this is just another example of dangerously poor reporting and analysis (or perhaps simply trivialising the issue) by the BBC from which there is still a worrying perception of quality and unbiassed current affairs output among the general public.

By: troldman

troldman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:54:36 +0000

All very interesting, but who is the teenager with curly hair giving evidence?

By: PreviousChemist

PreviousChemist — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:35:23 +0000

@quasilobachevski

You are right, quantum gravity is still an unsolved problem. If anything, it reinforces my point. We model gravity quite well (Newton, modified by Einstein) without knowing how it works, and can demonstrate testable predictions of the model, and show repeatable, measurable, predicted effects. Homœopathy cannot show any effect better than placebo.

By: emen

emen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:22:50 +0000

Excellent! Well done, Ben and Tracey Brown and Prof Ernst!

I’m beginning to get worried about Peter Fisher, though – he sits behind Ben and every time Ben says something, he gets himself into a fit of agressive rage, have a look at 54 min.
What he needs is a “like-cures-like” (homeopathic) remedy: Ben needs to be diluted and shaken and diluted and shaken until he becomes potent enough to be a remedy for the poor guy. Goldaceris C30, very good stuff, no side-effects.
(Or, using the “allopathic” approach, Fisher now needs a psychiatrist, in which case I recommend Ben undiluted, for exposure therapy purposes.)

But seriously. Why on earth the NHS should pay for this rubbish, I never understood. Some of us have been lamenting about the lack of resources on the NHS for cancer screening, GP diagnostic tools etc on another thread here – and then this???

By: emen

emen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:02:05 +0000

csrester,

“I though we had decided that a Homeopathic Hospital was just a huge car park with a tiny lego-brick somewhere in the middle.”

hahahahahaaaaaa!
brilliant!!

By: skyesteve

skyesteve — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:39:33 +0000

@csrster – it used to be but in order to make the hospital more effective they took the Lego brick away…

By: rob9son

rob9son — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:11:17 +0000

Did anyone happen to catch BBC breakfast’s horrendous discussion about homeopathy in response to the select committee this morning? A proponent of homeopathy discussed the ‘numerous trials’ that had ‘proven’ it to be effective treatment, while the other side of the debate was provided by a daily telegraph columnist who’s opinion seemed to consist of ‘I wouldn’t try it, I’m too busy’. Pathetic.

By: csrster

csrster — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:07:09 +0000

I though we had decided that a Homeopathic Hospital was just a huge car park with a tiny lego-brick somewhere in the middle.

By: Ian Harvey

Ian Harvey — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:49:39 +0000

Thius Morning on the BBC one of the Magic Water merchants was given a ludicrously easy ride. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8382265.stm I think there may be a drinking game here.