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Post 1: Musab Nazir - Working Individually

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Post 1: Musab Nazir - Working Individually

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This wall looks at some pseudoscience topics in the field of medicine. Topics such as Homeopathy, Acupuncture and Chakra healing etc.
Various media sources will be discussed and evaluated for each topic that showcase the efficacy of validity of the aforementioned practices.

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This video offers an explanation about what homeopathy is, when the practice began, why it continues today and modern medicine could learn form it.

Summary Homeopathy works on the principle that like cures like. For example if something causes fever in healthy humans, that can be used to cure fever in others suffering from it. The second principle is of potentization, the idea that the more dilute a mixture is, the more potent it becomes.

Red flags and Reasons for belief:
There are numerous red flags and reasons for belief associated with homeopathy. One of the primary red flags can be seen in second principle of 'potentization'. The reason the dilute solutions are believed to be more potent is because of the active ingredients releasing their 'vital energy' and that the water retains a 'memory' of the original ingredient. This closely relates to the mystical energy red flag. Furthermore homeopathy is proven to only have a placebo effect which can lead people to believe in it through correlation and causation as they might have begun to heal on their own (our bodies fight fever naturally for example) yet they believe that homeopathy caused the healing. There is confirmation bias at play here. We may only look for supporting evidence where homeopathic treatment worked and leave out all the meta analysis and cross referenced studies that show its lack of efficacy.

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Homeopathy Explained – Gentle Healing or Reckless Fraud?

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Summary: Dr Peter Fisher, the Royal Family Physician and the Director of Research at the Royal London Hospital suggests that the medical community is biased against the alleged implausibility of homeopathy and that the practice is misunderstood. He advocates for homeopathy to be used in conjunction with conventional medicine.

Red Flag:
Appeal to Authority is a very obvious red flag in this scenario as an esteemed physician of the royal family no less, advocates for something.

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"Doctors should put aside bias based on the alleged implausibility of homeopathy. When integrated with standard care homeopathy is safe, popular with patients, improves clinical outcomes without increasing costs, and reduces the use of potentially hazardous drugs, including antimicrobials.

"Health professionals trained in homeopathy do not oppose the use of conventional treatments, including immunisation."

Supporters claim that homeopathy can treat everything from depression to hay fever, the theory being that substances that produce the symptoms of an ailment can cure it once they have been watered down many times to reduce their strength.

Advocates of the practice claim the water retains a "memory" of the original substance.

But although it has prominent supporters including the Prince of Wales, and Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, NHS trusts have largely stopped funding treatments, with prescriptions falling by 94 per cent in the last 20 years.

The government's Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has branded alternative medicine as 'rubbish.'

In 2010 the British Medical Association passed a motion denouncing the use of the alternative medicine, saying taxpayers should not foot the bill for remedies with no scientific basis to support them. The BMA's junior doctor's committee went further, likening homeopathy to witchcraft and saying it was a disgrace that it was still being funded by the NHS.

Refuting Dr Fisher's comments in the BMJ, Edzard Ernst, Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter, said the assumptions underlying homeopathy "fly in the face of science." And warned that it could be deadly if replacing an effective therapy.

"Several deaths that have occurred in this unnecessary way," he added. "Homeopathy's mode of action has no rational explanation."

"The axioms of homeopathy are implausible, it's benefits do not outweigh its risks, and its costs and opportunity costs are considerable.

"Therefore, it seems unreasonable, even unethical, for healthcare professionals to recommend its use."

The Royal Family has supported homeopathy for generations and there is still a court homeopath. In 1993, the Prince of Wales set up the Foundation for Integrated Health, a charity that lobbied for homeopathy to be considered alongside mainstream medicine in hospitals.

It argued that embracing such treatments would benefit patients and save money, cutting prescription drugs bills by up to 50 per cent.

But in 2010, the charity closed, later admitting that allegations of fraud and the arrest of a former official were to blame, and reopened that same year under the banner of the College of Medicine.

Dr Fisher and Prof Ernst were writing in the British Medical Journal.

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Queen's physician calls for more homeopathy on NHS

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"Doctors should put aside bias based on the alleged implausibility of homeopathy. When integrated with standard care homeopathy is safe, popular with patients, improves clinical outcomes without increasing costs, and reduces the use of potentially hazardous drugs, including antimicrobials. "Health professionals trained in homeopathy do not oppose the use of conventional treatments, including immunisation."

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Summary: The video acts as an ad for acupuncture claiming how it is twice as effective than regular medication all the while being more safer due to not relying on drugs.

Red Flags and Reasons for Belief:
There are a lot of red flags and reasons for belief here. First among them is Ancient Wisdom, the video mentions how acupuncture has been used for more than 2000 years and is still used today. This implies that because ancient people used it, it has to be worth practising. A reason for such a belief can be associated with acupuncture being unknown, according to the video, "there is still confusion on how acupuncture works". A major argument for acupuncture being safer than conventional medicine is that it is all natural and doesn't rely on powerful drug treatment.

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Acupuncture: Twice as Effective and Safer

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The image below is an infographic that contains some statistics about acupuncture and its prevalence and use.

Red Flags and Reasons to Belief:
Most stats used in the image are subjective and based on patient's opinions and feelings. For example if someone says that the use of acupuncture brought "major life changes" that is a subjective statement based on their perception. People can attribute pain relief and life changes to acupuncture maybe because it offers a simple explanation on why those things changed when in reality it could be other factors that go along with treatment like exercise or eating well etc.

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Post 6: All Natural Alternative Medicine (Website)

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Post 6: All Natural Alternative Medicine (Website)

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The website offers a "Cancer Cleanse" program that claims to cure you of cancer using natural fruits and vegetables and doing certain things like epsom salt baths and oil pulling (another alternative medicine itself). It is run by a person who only has a chiropractic degree and no other medical qualification.

Red Flag and Reasons for Belief:
Starting from the most obvious, the "All Natural" aspect of this treatment is at the forefront of its marketing. It claims to be an evidence based approach to cleansing the body but no actual evidence is provided to would be clients before they sign up. There is just one testimonial provided. Additionally, despite lacking a Medical Doctorate (M.D) the creator of the program calls himself a doctor to Appeal to Authority and fake some legitimacy. In the "Why I created this program section" he describes him and his grandfather suffering from skin cancer. We can see that people might be moved to believe in this treatment because of an emotional connection that is established.

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INSTANT Access to these Two Special Gifts& to Get Exclusive, First-Access to the Cancer Cleanse Program.

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Post 7: Natural Detoxification (Website)

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Post 7: Natural Detoxification (Website)

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The attached link is to a product on a website that sells natural herbal remedies. The specific product is for detoxification and cleansing purposes using only natural herbs.

Red Flags and Reasons for belief:
Most natural remedies ride on the fact that their ingredients are All Natural, however the efficacy of said ingredients in achieving the claimed results is backed up with evidence. With claims like "purify the blood" and "cleanse kidney waste" it needs to have more specific information as to what exact waste needs to be cleanses from the blood or kidneys and how these natural ingredients help.

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Flor*Essence - Herbal Cleanse (500 ml) - Flora

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Flor*Essence - Herbal Cleanse (500 ml) - Flora

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Oil pulling is a folk remedy where oil is "swished" or "held" in the mouth for up to 20 minutes with the goal of improving oral as well as systemic health. It is said that this technique "pulls out" toxins from the body, and is claimed to be able to treat a plethora of other conditions as well.

Red Flags and Reasons for Belief:
There is no good evidence that oil pulling has any benefit for oral health and what benefit it does have is due to the mechanical action or swishing the fluid in the mouth. Opposed to what the practitioners of oil pulling claim, there is no evidence that the oil 'pulls out' any toxins or bacteria. It is Natural, cost effective and the simplicity of the practice makes it popular in the 21st century.

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Chakra is believed to be a centre or culmination of the body's  psychic-energy.  The concept is found dating back hundreds of years in Hinduism, Bhuddism and Jainism. These energy wheels (chakras) are supposed to be of seven different types of and all align with the spinal cord. Each type being associated with a different part of a person's physiology. The image shows all seven focal points.
Red Flags and Reasons for belief:
Due to how far back in history this practice originated and is still carried out, Ancient Wisdom seems to be the biggest red flag here. Through meditation and special crystals one can harness this Mystical energy and heal oneself. Because this practice runs within multiple religions the ideological support garnered by this leads people to continue the practice even though there is no reason to believe that such energy centres are real and that ancient people would have not only proven their existence but learned to harness this psychic-energy

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The following video is from an CNN interview where Jenny McCarthy (actress, activist) voices her opinions on vaccines causing autism in children and how she cured her son's autism using biomedical treatment like altering his diet.
Red Flags and Reason for Belief:
In the interview Jenny claims that the reason we continue to use vaccines is because of the money involved for the pharmaceutical industry. This Suppression by authorities is the cause for why the truth about the dangers of vaccination isn't coming out.
Another red flag apparent here is Causation and correlation. Jenny states that the frequent doctors visits accelerated the autism in her son, but fails to recognise that other factors like her son's age maybe a factor. Maybe he was going to get worse even faster without the vaccination? Maybe it was some other drug he was being given. It is confirmation bias to only see the evidence that supports her preconceived notion about vaccines.
Despite the tons of research that has since been done and is currently taking place that shows no link between autism and vaccination rates, many people will believe this because of the emotional connection Jenny makes with all other parents that have a child with autism.

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Jenny McCarthy talks to CNN on how she cured her sons Autism caused by VACCINATIONS!