Claiming to be able to cure cancer with magic water

[SidDithers]

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/04/25/claiming-to-be-able-to-cure-cancer-with-magic-water/

I’ve written about naturopathy many times before. The reasons that it interests me are several. First, it amazes me how any one “discipline” (if you want to call it that) can encompass so many forms of quackery, some of which are mutually contradictory. (For instance, how can homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine both be true?) Also, it’s amazing how deeply steeped in prescientific vitalism naturopathy is. Then, of course, there’s its tight embrace of The One Quackery To Rule Them All, homeopathy. There are times when I feel as though it’s just too easy, as homeopathy is nothing more than water, any “remedy” that had been there having been diluted to nonexistence, but, as has been pointed out to me before, homeopathy is a highly useful tool with which to teach critical thinking skills. It’s also just such obvious quackery that it’s even sometimes rather fun to deconstruct. I won’t say I never get tired of it. I do sometimes. On the other hand, sadly homeopathy is not going anywhere, and it appears impossible to point out too much just why homeopathy is about as pure a form of quackery as there is, just as pure as pure, pure water.

Normally, homeopathy is used in a way that is probably relatively harmless, for example, to treat someone with a vague sense of unease, or a touch of the nerves, or just more money than sense (as Mitchell and Webb so famously put it in their classic parody of homeopathy)

However, every so often, I come across someone who wants to use homeopathy to treat conditions that are not self-limited or just a “case of the nerves.” The results can be potentially disastrous, or, as Mitchell and Webb put it, “OK, so you kill the odd patient with cancer or heart disease or bronchitis, flu, chicken pox, or measles.” Of course, this about sums it up.

So why is the Welsh Conference of Homeopathy hosting Dr. A. U. Ramakrishnans, a man who treats cancer with homeopathy? I kid you not. Look:

Homoeopathic Case-taking with cancer. Types of Cancer & Prognosis Specifics of Treatment for the different stages of cancer Homoeopathy as a primary therapy Homoeopathy in conjunction with Western Medicine. Materia Medica of cancer. Ramakrishnan method of administering remedies.

More delightful skewering from Orac at the link above.

Sid