A Lot of Fuss about Absolutely Nothing

This is a rant, not my usual photoblog and it won't even include any photos. It's about a subject very close to my heart. 

Pseudoscience. Woo. Quackery. Or as proponents like to call it: CAM or Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Let's start by getting one thing clear. CAM is NOT medicine (alternative medicine that works is simply called medicine) and it is NOT complementary, it adds absolutely zilch to conventional treatment. It is, in fact, anti-medicine.

Now I completely understand that some choose to believe that it works. Either by being misinformed, by being ignorant of the facts, or because of grasping at straws. I truly understand that. But it is unforgivable when those that know better pretend that it works. 

I belong to a small and privileged profession. We are generally well respected and trusted. This puts us into a position of power. Clients trust us. This give us the power to do great good.

I get incredibly angry when members of my profession abuse that trust. There are only a small number of us who do this, but they do exist and they know who they are. 

Three years ago I started to fight this in a small way. I have only now reached some kind of closure.

There are a number of vets that use CAM. Most use homeopathy, one of the most transparent and ridiculous attempts to con people ever invented. I won't bore you with the full details here, but it is just water. Simply water. Water and nothing else but water. If you are prepared to believe that small amounts of pure water will cure you of all kinds of ailments, then that is your choice. As described above, I understand. But heavens above, it is just bloody water! It will however decrease the weight of your wallet.

Fine to use on yourself, good luck to you, but please don't use it on those that depend on you. That includes both your family and your pets. Giving plain water to your pets instead of evidence based medication may assuage your guilt, may even make you think you're doing some good (the care-giver placebo effect), but all you do is increase the suffering of your loved one.

That is not a good thing.

So, three years ago I queried how a website such as natural healing solutions can exist in today's world. The profession remained quiet. The Advertising Standards Association were behind me, the Nightingale Collaboration were behind me, but our governing body (the RCVS) remained silent.

I wrote to the veterinary surgeon who owned the site, a Mr Roger Meacock, asking how he could brazenly advertise such things as a product called 'Aerobic Oxygen' and:

(a)       that Aerobic Oxygen has been found to have a wide range of health benefits;

(b)       that only 10 drops of Aerobic Oxygen will increase the oxygen content of a 8oz glass of water by 440%;

(c)       that Aerobic Oxygen will kill anaerobic bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites while boosting the immune system;

(d)       that Aerobic Oxygen will reduce the  load on the heart;

(e)       that Aerobic Oxygen will reduce degenerative diseases;

(f)        that Aerobic Oxygen will improve energy levels;

(g)       that Aerobic Oxygen can help normalise cellular function and allow the body to reverse degenerative diseases such as arthritis, adult onset diabetes;

(h)       that Aerobic Oxygen can support poor circulation and help the body fight blood disorders;

(i)         that Aerobic Oxygen can take the strain off the lungs for asthma and emphysema;

(j)         that Aerobic Oxygen supports brain and nerve function including memory, headaches, Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, Parkinson’s;

(k)       that Aerobic Oxygen can improve digestive function;

(l)         that Aerobic Oxygen improves candida;

(m)      that Aerobic Oxygen can reduce tooth decay;

(n)       that Aerobic Oxygen reduces altitude sickness.

This is just CRAZY!!! But there is more!!!

A product called Quinton Marine Plasma:-

(a)       that the innate ability of seawater to support the body through recovery to optimal health is once again being backed by science;

(b)       that Quinton Marine Plasma allows the body to recover from a wide range of medical diseases;

(c)       that Quinton Marine Plasma was successfully used primarily in France to treat Flu epidemics, cholera, TB, eczema, psoriasis and liver disease;

(d)       that Quinton Marine Plasma nasal sprays are excellent for allergies and sinusitis.

IT'S JUST SEA WATER FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!

And then...

A product called the Russian Healing Blanket:-

(a)       that the specific properties of the localised environment created by the  Russian Healing Blanket around the patient’s body provide the desired activation of the body’s self-regulatory and self-recovery mechanisms;

(b)       that through balancing the meridians etc the Russian Healing Blanket enables the body to correct the overall homeostasis of the organism;

(c)       that recent research has discovered that the timing of treatment during the day can be critical to maximising the success of the treatment;

(d)       that there are now much more successful regimes for using the Multilayer Healing Blanket to treat stress and other psychological issues, weight loss and performance optimisation.

 

Seriously?

And then...

A machine called e-Lybra Bio-Resonance Technology:-

(a)       that, in achieving the energetically balanced individual from a general holistic perspective or more specifically addressing individual or combinations of symptoms, the e-Lybra9 remedies better enable the individual to eliminate and resist disease of all types;

(b)       that e-Lybra9 reveals weaknesses in the immune system and strengthens it to increase resistance to disease;

(c)       that e-Lybra9 enables the creation of bacterial, viral, fungal, enzyme, protein/peptide and pharmaceutical drug remedies.

This little miracle can diagnose over 100,000 illnesses, none of which in reality exist, and then prescribe the 'correct' homeopathic remedy, e.g. water...

COMPLETE BLOODY INSANITY!!!'

And yet there was much more like this. 

He didn't respond to me. 

After complaining to the RCVS, and waiting a little while. Then a little while longer.... After twelve months, the RCVS finally (lost emails, lost will to live) got into motion and sent my queries to this charlatan, and he finally responded to me!

He unfortunately did not answer even one query, but set out on a four page diatribe slinging personal insults at me. After concluding that I was both an extremist zealot and a dinosaur, he finished with a counter claim against me, stating that I was bullying him and could have caused him to kill himself.

Give me strength.

And so the slow process of the Preliminary Investigation Committee of the RCVS was unleashed upon him.

Yawn.

Eighteem months later they finally realised that they weren't going to get anywhere with this guy, and he was sent to the Disciplinary Comittee. Essentially a court.

That was last week. I spent a couple of days in London to watch this spectacle, which, after three years, was something of an anticlimax. The first day was spent out of court with the various solicitors doing their thing, then the next day they appeared in court to state that Mr Meacock had been persuaded to come clean, and remove all the offending material etc etc.

I await with baited breath.

So did I achieve anything? Well, apart from testing my patience to the extreme, I think we can now say that the RCVS will not put up with pseudoscience and quackery. I think. We now need to test this to see if similar websites are removed. 

Have I got what I wanted?

No.

All I want, all I really really want, is for the RCVS to man-up, and stand up to say that pseudoscience and quackery including homeopathy DOES NOT WORK. 

Simple.

You would think...