cam

Ugh, had to visit the college health centre today so I could be examined before an exam - I had the most fortunate good luck to decide to have a particularly nasty throat inflammation before my first exam. Whilst filling out forms and such, previous history and the like, I noticed there was a...

The FDA is gearing up to more closely regulate CAM products! PDF file of docket, although it's not the smoothest read ever. Page where you can comment on the docket (until April 30th). Seen via a dieting site, which referenced this Newstarget.com article (outraged, of course). I'm still...

Apologies if this has come up before, but I just ran into this site by accident. I have send in a complaint. For example, it cites the Benveniste study and neglects to mention it having been discredited and withdrawn by the journal. It's not totally bad, but is very selective with the...

The complementary medicine industry in South Africa is apparently making a call for regulation of sCAM: 'Medicine cowboys' will be made to swallow new rules And why are there no regulations in place? So is this "self-monitoring programme" just an attempt to forestall effective regulation by...

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5007118.stm?dynamic_vote=ON#vote_5007388 Another poll we can watch go down the tubes. Please vote. I'll be back some time monday to see if it ends up 80% Yes this time.

Apparently he’s not going to be mentioning homeopathy, but he will be advocating other sCAM therapies: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article447784.ece

A few years ago, a member of my immediate family, having been inveigled by the charms of a New Ager, began beating the drum for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and disparaging conventional medicine. Others in my circle of family and friends seemed inclined to accept as fact many of...

News item in tomorrow's British Medical Journal "“The Amsterdam Medical Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off one doctor and suspended two others for their exclusive use of complementary treatments— including “vegatests,” homoeopathic medicine, and food supplements—to treat Sylvia Millecam, the...

The NHS Alliance is an umbrella group that claims to be representing primary care trusts and healthcare professionals in the NHS. This is their website: http://www.nhsalliance.org/default.asp It doesn't take long to notice that they are strong advocates of integrating CAM into the NHS. Their...

Are there any other Which? subscribers here who have seen their report on complementary therapies in the February edition? It's very disappointing. I realise that reader recommendations are the backbone of most of their reports, but to include them here without explaining the placebo effect and...

Some of you may have seen this trailed recently. BBC2 on Tuesdays starting 24 January, 9 pm (acupuncture first part, healing second, herbs third). I was contacted by the BBC a few months back, asking for advice, so I was expecting it about now. Don't miss it. Some bits have been leaked, so watch...

This week's BMJ features some articles on SCAM following on from the recent PoWales/Smallwood report, including an editorial which is rather ambivalent, I think http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7521/856 Nothing about establishing whether the things work in the first place I...

I just heard about this, which is a quantum leap in outrageous behaviour by this crowd. The Foundation has hired a market research agency to write a report `proving' that sCAM is cost-effective. They are going round various experts and interviewing them, which is how I heard about it. They...

This pains me... http://nccam.nih.gov/about/offices/od/directortestimony/0305.htm How is this money really going to be spent? What "sound" research and meaningful contribution to the body of medical science has the NCCAM contributed in its five-years? Isn't five years long enough to have...

I would like to open a discussion on what is to be gained by sCAM proponents if they actually do bite the bullet and spend money on research. Personally I am starting from the position that a lot of research has already been done and shows little of no benefit for most therapies, but then there...

Same Newspaper, Two columnists, One week apart: Can you guess which column was written by the M.D. and which was written by the writer whose columns "appear on Wednesdays and Sundays, with a usually lighthearted look at our city, our government and our (or at least HER) family"...

There's a story (http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1414920,00.html) headlined in today's Guardian about a guide to therapies issued by the Foundation for Integrated Health. It is at least largely neutral in tone, although it does include, for example Placebo, anyone? It's...

There is a new function on the NICE site. Anyone can now suggest a topic for appraisal. It is all very well organised, with loads of info to guide us. Why don't we send in some suggestions? We will each have to be very specific, eg homeopathy for flu symptoms etc. They won't look at homeopathy...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144163,00.html This appears to a first step in a long road to an improved situation here. I hope this continues and turns out well.

Have you seen this article in today's Guardian? I think the government should be challenged, because it has steadfastly resisted supporting proper research into the evidence for sCAM, and instead throws money into this facade which exists largely because of an accident of birth. Of the...

This article reports that doctors want more information about CAM. I read that as saying "bring it on", let's properly test these products like we do conventional medicines then we can really judge their role in the treatment of patients. Yet of course the real reason is not to test but to...

I am having an interesting exchange with the chairman of the NHS Trusts Association, Dr David Tod O.B.E., M.B.Ch.B.(Ed.), F.R.C.G.P., Dip.Crim.(Lon.). This is what he said when I asked him about the evidence base for the interesting practices his organisation is promoting at the NHS Directory...

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3979567.stm Well they won't get it from me!

I'm having what might best be called a robust exchange with the chairman of the National Health Service Trusts Association (NHSTA). It has provided "The NHS Directory of Complementary and Alternative Practitioners", which you can find here. It seems there is a quite a CAM mafia involved, with...

Just came across this reference: Vincent C, Furnham A. Complementary Medicine: State of the evidence. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1999;92:170-177. It is being cited in clinical guidance issued by the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excfellence (NICE). The journal doesn't...

I am probably a lap behind on this, as a newcomer, but I just saw this discourse: http://www.rccm.org.uk/static/Principles_Paper.aspx The authors are inviting comment - has anyone from this forum contributed?

In an article in today's Guardian, our factually-challenged heir to the throne is bemoaning the huge rise in allergies in modern times (reasonably) and prescribing that everyone should take alternative medicines to solve the problem (absurdly). He's recommending that CAM should be more widely...

You need to register, but its free www.medscape.com the article is here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465994 As a taster, this is the conclusion: (Article by Kimball C. Atwood IV, MD)

The following quote comes from the page referenced by Ralph Hyatt of Chicago on CAM. Note: >> Absolutely NOTHING to do with curing something or even lessening suffering to any extent. >> One of the primary "strengths" is getting money out of the patients! See my emphasis. >> Otherwise...