Category: Skeptical Article – vic skeptics

July 24, 2010

Anti Vaccination Group Investigated on the ABC

We’ve been quite hard on old aunty ABC lately i.e. the recent post about the pseudoscientific practice of Transcendental Meditation on the ABC TV’s number one science program Catalyst.
It’s time to make up and give the ABC a big kiss for this story about the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN).  We’ve been banging on for years saying the AVN are hiding the fact that they are an anti vaccination organisation with no interest in giving parents balanced information about vaccines.
The NSW, Health Care Complaints Commission’s report on the AVN is due for release soon.  The report was sparked by a courageous complaint by Ken Macleod.
In case you missed it, the Lateline story about the AVN is now up on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29tciApImhI
A great piece of investigative journalism from Steve Cannane.  Promote him to head of ABC science….. please?
Mal

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July 16, 2010

A Review of "Catalyst" on TM

By Dr Stephen Basser
I try not to watch too much ‘tabloid television’ as I find that the way scientific issues are covered is likely to provoke either the tossing of objects in the direction of the television, or the feeling that my blood pressure is rising to dangerous levels. When medical or health issues are being discussed the reaction is usually a combination of the two.
When I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the latest miracle weight loss treatment, or arthritis cure, I escape to a bit of sound scientific reporting by switching over to the ABC, and watch the normally excellent general science program Catalyst. Tonight, though, I momentarily thought I’d turned on the wrong channel, as Catalyst’s first story – on Transcendental Meditation – was right out of the tabloid guide book. View More A Review of "Catalyst" on TM

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July 14, 2010

The Health Care Complaints Commission's Enquiry into the Australian Vaccination Network


by Dr Stephen Basser
The concept of informed consent is an important one in medicine. Modern science based health care is a complex entity and it is the responsibility of those who dispense health care, or communicate about it, to present evidence regarding medical treatments and procedures in a balanced way. This means objectively discussing benefits and risks to assist consumers of health care to make informed decisions about their care. View More The Health Care Complaints Commission's Enquiry into the Australian Vaccination Network

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July 10, 2010

A Critical Look at Homeopathy

Graeme Hanigan of “The Celestial Teapot” reviews Homeopathy.  Graeme writes:
The following explanation for homoeopathy is taken from the Australian Homeopathic Association.

Homeopathy is a complete system of medicine developed by German physician and chemist, Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), based on the principle of “let likes cure likes”. This law or principle is based on a long held belief as far back as Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, and other ancient healers such as Paracelsus, that substances that produce symptoms in a healthy individual can be used to treat similar symptoms in a sick person.

Let’s take a critical look at this statement.

Homeopathy is a complete system of medicine

This is an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence to support it.

… developed by German physician and chemist, Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).

This statement is supported by historical data and can be considered View More A Critical Look at Homeopathy

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June 19, 2010

Australian Skeptics Guide to Numerology

This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet.
The full range of our discussion pamphlets can be downloaded here: http://www.skeptics.com.au/resources/educational/
or by clicking on the “Useful Info” link at the top of this page.

People are all different, with different personalities, talents and desires. Numerology probably harks back to pre-Christian Hebrew mystic writing. That’s not surprising, as back then, the first letter of their alphabet also stood for the number one, and so on. View More Australian Skeptics Guide to Numerology

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June 14, 2010

The Mind Body Wallet experience

Once again the Mind Body Spirit Festival came to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre this long weekend (11 – 14 June 2010).
If you’re a local to Melbourne and that last sentence didn’t make much sense, please let me re-phrase: Mind Body Wallet at Jeff’s Shed. That better?

The sights and sounds are quite extraordinary: crystals, Tantric healing, herbs, cults, self-improvement courses, psychic readings, sometimes many of these mixed together on the one stand.  It’s the most extraordinary View More The Mind Body Wallet experience

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June 6, 2010

Spiral “UFO” reports from the east coast of Australia

It was all over our local news yesterday: the reports of a beautiful spiral seen in the predawn light from most of the east coast of Australia.  Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast were all reportedly excellent viewing locations.
On-line, there are some excellent photos and videos of this event.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XdbkpqtE0Y]
Although the weather was cold and cloudy in Melbourne yesterday, there are reports of some people having seen the same light in the sky from here.
So what was it? View More Spiral “UFO” reports from the east coast of Australia

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June 2, 2010

Acupuncture in the news

In response to a recent ABC “science news” report about acupuncture, Dr Steve Basser writes:
When a skeptic reads that acupuncture ‘works’ the most important question to ask is what specifically the author means by acupuncture?  What exactly is it they are claiming is working, and how have they reached their conclusion?
There have been innumerable papers on acupuncture published over many many years in journals both reputable and less so, but a weakness of many of these is that they do not clearly define what it is they are testing, and fail to detail how they will establish whether it does indeed ‘work’.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture is based upon theories of View More Acupuncture in the news

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