the Skeptic Volume 25 Number 1 - Australian Skeptics Inc...the Skeptic Vol 25, No 2 Winter 2005 ISSN 0726-9897 Editor Barry Williams Contributing Editors Tim Mendham Steve Roberts

the SkepticVol 25, No 2Winter 2005ISSN 0726-9897

EditorBarry Williams

Contributing EditorsTim MendhamSteve Roberts

Technology ConsultantRichard Saunders

Chief InvestigatorIan Bryce

All correspondence to:Australian Skeptics Inc

PO Box 268Roseville NSW 2069

Australia(ABN 90 613 095 379 )

Contact DetailsTel: (02) 9417 2071Fax: (02) 9417 7930

new e-mail: [email protected]

Web PagesAustralian Skeptics

www.skeptics.com.auNo Answers in Genesis

http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/default.htm

the Skeptic is a journal of fact and opinion,published four times per year by AustralianSkeptics Inc. Views and opinions expressedin articles and letters in the Skeptic arethose of the authors, and are not necessarilythose of Australian Skeptics Inc. Articles maybe reprinted with permission and with dueacknowledgement to the Skeptic.

Editorial consultants:Dr Stephen Basser (medicine)Dr Richard Gordon (medicine)Dr William Grey (philosophy)Prof Colin Groves (anthropology)Mr Martin Hadley (law)Dr Colin Keay (astronomy)Dr Mark Newbrook (linguistics)Dr Andrew Parle (physics)Prof Ian Plimer (geology)Dr Trevor Case (psychology)Dr Stephen Mostyn (psychology)Dr Alex Ritchie (palaeontology)Dr Steve Roberts (chemistry)Mr Roland Seidel (mathematics)Branch correspondents:ACT: Mr Peter BarrettGold Coast: Mr John StearHunter: Mr Michael CreechQld: Mr Bob BruceSA: Mr Allan LangTas: Mr Fred ThornettVic: Mr Ken GreatorexWA: Dr Geoff Dean

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Western AustraliaWA Skeptics22 Esperance StreetEast Victoria Park WA 6101Tel: (08) 9448 [email protected]

TasmaniaAustralian Skeptics in TasmaniaPO Box 582North Hobart TAS 7000.Tel: (03) 6234 [email protected]

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Skeptics around Australia

ContentsRegulars ♦ 3 – Editorial — — Barry Williams

♦ 4 – Around the Traps — Bunyip♦ 70 – Letters♦ 73 - Notices

Features♦ 6 - The Amazing Meeting 3 — Karen Stollznow♦ 14 - CAM Use in the Elderly — Geraldine Moses♦ 22 - Preaching to the Un-converted — Lynne Kelly♦ 26 - Correction — Psychics Dealt Out♦ 27 - My Magnetic Personality — Loretta Marron♦ 31 - Nutrition Myth: Spinach is Good for What? — Glenn Cardwell♦ 33 - Life Membership for Colin Keay — Ian Bryce♦ 34 - Some Faculty have Lost their Faculties — Jef Clarke♦ 41 - Anti-Vaccination Ratbaggery — Ken McLeod♦ 44 - A Bunch of Theocrats — Brian Baxter♦ 48 - Welcome to Science — Phil Plait♦ 49 - Psychic or Just Sick — Peter Booth♦ 52 - Chemical Warfare — Loretta Marron♦ 55 - A Skeptics Musical Jamboree — Michael Lucht♦ 56 - Spooked Skeptic — Philip Peters♦ 58 - Homeopathy Exposed - Again — Richard Saunders♦ 60 - Forum: Red Light to the Greenhouse — Mark Lawson♦ 63 - Review: A Fertile Field for Skeptics — Colin Keay♦ 64 - Review: Star Dreams — John Sweatman♦ 65 - Forum: Let the Idiot Kill Himself — Mark Freeman♦ 68 - Forum: Finding the Truth About AltMed — Iolanda Grey

Cover art by Charles Rose of Cogency

the Skeptic, Winter 2005 - Page 3

Editorial

Barry Williams

* A task made no easier by being the object ofdesire of The World’s Most Friendly Cat, whosekeyboard interpolations can render my mostprofound observations into incomprehensiblegibberish — fortunately Shakespeare andDickens didn’t have to put up with this sort ofthing.

Because we are highly vocal in ourSkepticism about what its proponentsstyle ‘Complementary and AlternativeMedicine’ (CAM) our critics from thatsector claim that we are uncritical sup-porters of orthodox (or what they styleallopathic) medical practices. Nothingcould be farther from the truth; recentrevelations about continuing un-healthy interactions between pharma-ceutical companies and some medicalpractitioners, concerns us as much asthey do anyone else.

Proponents of CAM like to use suchrevelations, or the problems in vari-ous state health systems and even thefact that one of the world’s worst massmurderers, Harold Shipman, was adoctor, to assert that the world of or-thodox medicine is incompetent, cor-rupt or worse. And, of course all thesefactors do occur within the practice ofmedicine, just as they do within thepractice of complementary and alter-native medicine — as fallible humanenterprises it would be remarkable ifit were otherwise.

But that is not our argument withCAM; our concern lies not in thefallibilities of the individual practicesor practitioners, but in the underlyingprinciples and methodology by whicheach modality goes about its business.

What we now know about orthodoxmedicine comes at the end of centu-ries of research into physiology, phar-macology and pathology. It has suf-fered from many false starts and tripsdown wrong paths, much has been dis-covered by trial and error, but its suc-cesses have accumulated and, al-though it is still a far from perfectscience, it is nonetheless a scientificenterprise —it is evidence based.

The path taken by CAMs has beenquite different. Usually they beginwith an idea, often postulated by oneindividual, and that idea remains fixedat the core of the modality, rigid and

unchanged by new and better informa-tion. Far from being scientific, it morenearly resembles religious belief — itis faith-based.

The alimentary, cardiovascular andlymphatic systems can be demon-strated to exist; chakras, meridiansand the like cannot. The germ theoryof disease has been established by rig-orous scientific inquiry; the law ofsimilars and the effects of dilutionaided by succussion (at the heart ofhomeopathy) has no such support.

Further potential dangers from un-regulated and untested CAM emergesnot from what their proponents claimto know, but from what the clearly donot know. More and more cases areemerging of people suffering seriouscomplications from the interactionbetween legitimately prescribed medi-cations and self-prescribed ‘alterna-tive’ treatments — people who havebeen misinformed about the effectsand safety of ‘natural’ remedies.

This issue contains many items thataddress these problems and we willcontinue to be highly critical of com-plementary and alternative treat-ments until they are properly regu-lated and their practitioners held tothe same standards of accountabilitythat apply to medical practitioners. Inconscience, we can do no other.

* * *

Eagle-eyed readers will notice some-thing else quite different about thisissue. Skeptics are often characterisedby our opponents (and even, on occa-

sion, by our friends) as “grumpy oldmen with beards”, a charge that is notentirely without foundation (althoughgrumpiness is not necessarily a wide-spread condition among our leadinglights and beards are no longer obliga-tory in the best Skeptical circles).

This issue might help to dissipatethat impression in that almost half ofits content was written by women.This is not an indication that we havesuddenly been stricken by a plague ofpolitical correctness, but simply standsas a tribute to the skills of a numberof very talented and dedicated Skep-tics, none of whom could grow a beardwithout very large infusions of un-natural hormones.

* * *Writing the Editorial is usually themost difficult part of producing eachissue of the Skeptic*, though this is-sue, with its concentration on variousmethods of promoting good health,was not quite as difficult as most.

Editorial writing can, on occasion,bring some degree of personal satis-faction to the writer. Therefore, Iwould like to thank the many kindreaders who communicated compli-mentary comments on the Editorialabout reactions the Boxing Day tsu-nami in the Summer issue.

I would also like to acknowledgethose who drew my attention to myconfusion regarding “complimentary”medicine in the previous issue, whenthe text showed that I obviously meantto say “complementary”. I hope I havegot it right in this one. (I will soon bepetitioning the Department of LexicalAffairs to have one of these confusingwords excised from our language forth-with.)

No Alternative to Medicine

Page 4 - the Skeptic, Winter 2005

Around theTraps

News and Views

Oops!

On the AiG web site, in an article datedApril 12, the Managing Director of theAnswers in Genesis sales and market-ing organisation, Dr Carl Wieland,took it upon himself to deliver anaward winning homily to his faithfulflock under the heading “Rushing in— where wiser heads might not”. Itbegan as follows:

One of the more annoying habits of thevociferous anti-creationist lobby ... isto pontificate on matters concerningcreationists in a way that demon-strates that they have not even readthe leading1 creationist literature (orperhaps they have read it, but thinkthat knocking down straw men is jus-tified to promote their agenda).

His lengthy fulmination about anarticle on the evolution (or otherwise)of the AIDS virus, was not whatprompted our nomination of him foran award. That comes in the finalparagraph of the sermon (or sales pitchas it could more properly be called)which reads:

...I highly recommend the DVD Froma Frog to a Prince. It features bothcreationist and evolutionist experts.This includes the famous (and ar-dently atheistic) evolutionist ProfessorRichard Dawkins. Watch what hap-pens when this ‘Devil’s Disciple’(Dawkin’s [sic] own term for himself)is asked to provide one single exam-

ple of the sort of change in a livingthing which one would expect to havehundreds of examples of, if bacteriareally have turned into basketballplayers.

We passed this libellous twaddle toRichard Dawkins, the distinguishedCharles Simonyi Professor for the Pub-lic Understanding of Science at OxfordUniversity, who responded as follows:

... By the way, the article says I callmyself a ‘Devil’s Disciple’. This is com-pletely untrue. I wrote a book called ADevil’s CHAPLAIN in which I men-tioned, in passing, Bernard Shaw’s‘Devil’s Disciple’. Even my Devil’sChaplain is not me, as I make veryclear in the book itself.

A fact that any astute reader caneasily verify by reading this fine col-lection of essays (Weidenfeld &Nicolson, London, 2003) on creation‘science’ and other idiocies by RichardDawkins, widely applauded as one ofthe most literate of writers on scien-tific subjects. His single mention of a“Devil’s Disciple” comes on p9 in a ref-erence to Shaw’s Preface to Back toMethuselah, while the title of the book(and of the first essay) comes from asentence in a letter Charles Darwinwrote to his friend Sir Joseph DaltonHooker in 1856, which says:

What a book a Devil’s Chaplain mightwrite on the clumsy, wasteful, blun-dering low and horridly cruel worksof nature.

Of course, Shaw and Darwin wereproposing these hypothetical entitiesas purely literary devices, not as state-ments of belief. At no stage has Pro-fessor Dawkins assumed for himselfthe title of Devil’s Disciple, nor indeedof Devil’s Chaplain, which is hardly tobe wondered at; for an atheist it wouldbe highly inconsistent to deny the ex-istence of gods while espousing theexistence of devils.

He went on to suggest:Since the whole point of the article isthat evolutionists misread or don’tread creationist literature, perhapssomething could be made of this?

As we have done here, by nominat-ing Dr Carl Wieland for the inauguralFoot Shooting Pot Kettle Mote BeamOwn Petard Award for pontificatingwhile demonstrating so convincinglythat he has “not even read the litera-ture”.

Notes

1. Readers accustomed to the literarystyle of creationists might here be for-given for assuming that the good doctorcommitted a typographical inexactitude,in neglecting to add a ‘mis’ to the word‘leading’, but we will let that pass2.

2. The above footnote is irrelevant to thestory, but as Dr Wieland chose to includeone in his turgid tract as an explanationof the term “Blind Freddie”, we felt wecould not allow him to stand alone ininterpolating pseudo-academic devices,and have responded in kind.


How humiliating

As Skeptics we have all noticed thephenomenon of most psychics andsimilar necromancers claiming in theirself-promotion to be “the most fa-mous”, “world renowned”, “most accu-rate”, etc, purveyor of their particularpractices. However, not all psychics, itappears, are quite so immodest, asseveral readers have recently broughtto our attention with what appears tobe a new wrinkle in psychic advertis-ing.

This takes the form of an unnamedpractitioner using the tag line “LittleKnown Psychic Humiliates Skeptics”and then going on to claim that shetells you exactly what she sees, evenif they are “facts that you’ll dread”. Aquick straw poll around the SkepticsKremlin reveals that, while she is ac-curate in her self-description as “littleknown” (no one had heard of her), hu-miliation was not among the emotionsfelt— astonishment, perhaps, ennui,almost certainly, but no traces of hu-miliation.

If she is telling the truth (about al-ways telling the truth) we can onlyoffer our congratulations to a psychicfor breaking entirely new ground. Wewould like to check her claims of“amazing accuracy” but at $5.95 perminute, we would far rather spend ourmoney on riotous living.

Balancing act

We don’t much like taking pot-shotsat one of our favourite media outlet(Auntie ABC, in which we have manysupporters), but sometimes it is sadlynecessary. Recently we were talking toone of Auntie’s nephews about aproject, when we happened to mentionthe appalling Second Opinion shownat 6.30 on Tuesday evenings. This bla-tant commercial for untested pseudo-medicine rankles with most Skeptics,but our correspondent said that it wasdone because at the ABC had to “as-pire to balance”.

We are not against balance per se;on balance it could be seen as an ad-mirable trait in a broadcaster, butsurely some common sense must be

applied. So let us test the ABC’s com-mitment to this attribute; any timeyou see or hear a Police Commissioneron air talking about increasing or de-creasing crime rates, please phoneAuntie and demand that equal timebe given to the General Secretary ofthe Amalgamated Burglars andHousebreakers Union, or a spokesmanfrom the Licenced Drug Smugglersand Dealers Association. All in the in-terests of balance, of course.

The games they play

Meanwhile, the denizens of BunyipTowers are anxiously awaiting the be-ginning of the Ashes Series, with acertain apprehension that the broad-cast on SBS TV will be replete withPolish subtitles.

AUTS?

A funny thing happened at SkepticsCentral the other day. Our venerableEditor was busily opening a recalci-trant parcel, using his trusty Swiss AirForce Knife, when the phone rang. Bysome totally inexplicableconcatenation of circumstances thisled to his inflicting a wound on thepoint of his left elbow. In the spirit ofscientific enquiry we have rigorouslyendeavoured to replicate these events,so far without success. A case of Ac-tions Unknown to Science, perhaps?

In passing

Late last year we recorded the pass-ing of a number of individuals fromoverseas with whom Skeptics hadfound themselves in disagreement.

Since then it has continued to be abad time for practitioners of the ‘psy-chic arts’ in Australia, with AthenaStarwoman, Margaret Dent and KerryKulkins all passing into another planesince last December. Each of them hadbeen mentioned in the Skeptic in re-gard to their particular claims andpractices, but we are nevertheless sad-dened by their deaths.

But not rose-coloured

A Skeptic reader, architect Kin Wong,delighted us with this recent wry ob-servation:

Just a note to say that you people lookat the world through skeptacles.

Wish we had thought of that first.

Getting the message out

Of late we have gleaned an unusualnumber of new subscribers fromamong people who have read the Skep-tic in the local library, or in their doc-tor’s waiting room. Never a group toignore new methods of spreading theSkeptical message, we now invitereaders to let us know if their local li-brary would benefit from a gratis sub-scription. Also if you are a doctor, den-tist, bank manager or anyone else whohas a waiting room where thetrepidacious public gather, drop us aline if you would like an extra copy (nocharge) to place therein.

Reflected glory

Medical folk among our readers whosubscribe to Australian Doctor mightbe interested to learn that the face ofthe cheerful young lad (below) who ap-pears in Meat and Livestock Corp ad-vertisements, asking the question, “Isthere something else you should pre-scribe for him?” and extolling the vir-tues of lean meat three times a week,belongs to one Christopher Joyce. Healso happens to be the younger grand-son of our Editor.

Bunyip


And God said, Let there be neonlight: and there was Vegas.

From all over the world, hundreds ofthe faithless made the pilgrimage toLas Vegas to attend The Amaz!ngMeeting 3: From Eve to Newton, theApple of Knowledge. A veritable arkof 562 skeptics congregated insidethe Stardust Resort and Casinoalong The Strip, ready to veneratesuch skeptical icons as RichardDawkins, Michael Shermer and ofcourse, our skeptical God, the Amaz-ing Randi. What follows is a privi-leged account of the proceedings ofthis year’s meeting. A breach of con-fidentiality, as we all know thatwhat happens in Vegas, stays inVegas.

The 2005 meeting was held inconjunction with the Skeptics Soci-ety and promised a most illustriousline-up. It was with much delightthat I seized the opportunity to rep-resent the Australian Skeptics, bysheer grace of my geographical prox-imity (People will look at you verystrangely when you announce thatyou’re going to Vegas… for a confer-ence!)

Despite a lingering cold(strangely, the homeopathic pillsweren’t working), after having aBourbon and Lemonade spilled onme in the aeroplane and spending

five minutes in a smoke-filled casinoI already smelled of Vegas and wasready to take on Sin City! Why, thiswas my second trip here and thistime, I was legal!

Alas, I was only one of four trueblue Australians in attendance butnot the only Aussies in town. Enor-mous billboards promoted the sun-kissed visit of ‘Australia’s Thunderfrom Down Under’ men and theircounterparts, the ‘Aussie Angels -The Wonders From Down Under’. Ihad hoped they would boost theAussie contingent at TAM3 but theymust have misplaced their ticketsduring their act.

The meeting was held over theMartin Luther King Junior holidayand the ‘bright light city’ was bus-tling with life. While the puntersflocked to ‘Lost Wages’, this gam-bling capital of the world, TAM3 wasan ironic shrine to skepticism amidstthe lucky charms and petitioning ofLady Luck. As one R. E. Shay oncesaid, “Depend on the rabbit’s foot ifyou will, but remember it didn’twork for the rabbit.”

ReceptionI arrived just in time for the recep-tion, a lavish banquet for theattendees. With a plate of nibbles, Igravitated towards a lone gentleman

The Amaz!ngMeeting 3

Karen Stollznow, a linguist and committeemember of NSW Skeptics, is presently aResearch Associate at UC Berkeley, in the USA

Enlightenment from the Cityof (Neon) Light

Report


of Barry Williams-like stature. I hadhappened upon Jerry Mertens, Pro-fessor of Psychology at Minnesota’sSt Cloud State University, elder ofthe Minnesota Skeptics and coordi-nator of the St Kloud ESP TeachingInvestigation Committee (SKEP-TIC). Jerry has assisted in chal-lenges and investigations withJames Randi himself, notably test-ing (one of) the world’s first per-petual motion machine(s)!

Fortuitously, Jerry turned out tobe a connection to the skeptical in-ner sanctum. Within an hour, I wasacquainted with several skepticalhigh rollers, including Michael

Shermer and Joe Nickell. I then hitthe jackpot with a personal introduc-tion to Guru Randi. “Randi, thisyoung lady would like to touch yourrobe!” Randi graciously consented tothe request but I settled for a hugand a kiss. Presented with a photoopportunity I had to crouch down,proving that although ‘Amazing’ isan apt and literal epithet, Randi islarger-than-life in a purely figurativesense only.

After a lavish power dinner, weretired to the conference hall to betreated to a complete performance ofJulia Sweeney’s(www.juliasweeney.com) introspec-tive Letting Go of God. This was astory about losing religion, the in-verse of the standard saga non-be-liever finds God. This is The Roadfrom Damascus. Sweeney’s mono-logue traced her pilgrimage fromfaithful Catholic to disillusioned

believer to critical thinker and athe-ist, delicately labelling herself a‘naturalist’. Sweeney’s doubts wereraised by her profound assessment ofan unwittingly deep question askedof her by visiting Mormons, “Do youbelieve that God loves you with allhis heart?” Sweeney was astonishedat their absurd rationalisation fortheir faith, before reasoning that, tothe outsider, Catholicism is equallyincongruous, “I’m just used to theCatholic stories”.

This quest for enlightenment sawher dabble in Buddhism and thespiritual medley that is the NewAge, eventually leading her to sci-ence. This play is a turbulent ride forthe emotions. At times hilarious and

outrageous, her story is unfailinglyinsightful and honest yet never con-descending. Sweeney’s outstandingperformance and poignant taleearned her a standing ovation, rous-ing even the most notoriouscurmudgeons in the audience.

During registration, I had met afew members of the on-line JREFforum, (http://www.randi.org/vbulletin) where the men areskepdudes and the women areskepchicks. On this first night of theconference, the JREF skepchicksheld a pyjama party. No boys al-lowed. I’m afraid, the Vegas confi-dentiality pact must be honoured at

this point and any accompanyingphotographs would thrust this jour-nal into another category altogether!

Day 2On the second day of TAM3 creation,Randi gave us Phil Plait. The BadAstronomer was not at all bad as MCfor the day. Opening the day’s pro-ceedings, Phil spoke of his encoun-ters en route to the conference. Thepeople having a stiff breath of oxy-gen at an ‘oxygen bar’ in the LasVegas airport. A chiropractic practiceboasting “1000 hours of manipula-tion” and the “terror researchers”who claim to have predicted the De-cember 26th earthquakes and tsu-nami.

First up was Michael Shermer

Jerry Mertens

Julia Sweeney

Michael Shermer

The Amazing Randi


who introduced his latestbook, Science Friction:where the known meets theunknown. While we’ve allseen the images of the re-puted Jesus Christ on atortilla and the latest co-mestible deity, the VirginMary Grilled Cheese Sand-wich, Shermer treated us toa slide show of other popu-lar pareidolia; the reputed‘Face on Mars’, Jesus in agas nebula, the Jesus toothfilling and a two-storeyhigh apparition of the Vir-gin Mary on a buildingfaçade in Florida. As for thecrusty Virgin, Shermerconcluded that the flirty, out-lookingkewpie doll image doesn’t correspondwith the standard representation ofMary, usually depicted as demurelycasting her gaze downwards.

Shermer continued with popularlore, explaining the incidence of con-firmation bias. He cited severalBeatles myths, namely the “Paul isdead” rumour and the backmaskingstories of hidden messages revealedby playing a record backwards. Asour friend David Oates will attest,backwards music or speech can oftenreveal word-like sounds. (AlthoughOates would maintain this is deliber-ate rather than interpretation. I wasonce delighted to discover that,played in reverse on a four-track, thefade-out of the Beach Boy’s innocentWouldn’t it be Nice? sounds like“Beelzebub”!)

Shermer relayed the contents of aletter from comic book writer andillustrator, John Byrne, to furtherdemonstrate cognitive bias. Knownas the “Byrne Curse”, Byrne jokedthat his works ‘foretold’ a Japaneseearthquake, a New York blackoutand the Challenger tragedy. Mostironically, a Wonder Woman comicwas published, bearing the title“princess Diana dies” (Diana wasWonder Woman’s real name). AsByrne states, “that issue went onsale on a Thursday. The followingSaturday… I don’t have to tell you,do I?” Byrne finishes with: “My abil-ity as a prognosticator would seem

assured—provided, of course, wereference only the above, and skipover the hundreds of other comicbooks I have produced which fea-tured all manner of catastrophes,large and small, which didn’t come topass.” Shermer classified suchclaims as “predictions after theevent” and a phrase with which mostof us are familiar, to “remember thehits and forget the misses”.

Magician and mentalistRick Maue owns and oper-ates Deceptions Unlimited(www.deceptionsunlimited.com),a trading name thatcauses no end of trouble atthe bank. Maue jokes tothe tellers that his com-pany is “a division ofEnron”. Professing to “liefor a living”, Maue hasbeen designing and per-forming theatrical séancessince 1976. He cited a tab-loid headline, “Husband’sdead wife leaves messageon his answering ma-chine”. Musing that this isobvious proof that it is

possible to communicate from theother side, Maue wondered that thedeceased didn’t have the good senseto call her husband when he washome! Maue notes that there arethree categories of séances.

1. A séance where all the partici-pants know the sitting is false;

2. A séance where only the mediumknows the sitting is false; and

3. A séance where all the partici-pants believe in the proceedings.

Maue concluded with the astuteobservation that Hollywood-styleséances are created with the purposeto scare. Conversely, John Edward etal, today’s TV equivalent of séances,are “safe, happy places for spirits”.

Margaret Downey founded theFreethought Society of GreaterPhiladelphia and the Anti-Discrimi-nation Support Network but is bet-ter known as theFriggatriskaidekaphobia Nurse. Inthis incarnation, Nurse ministers tothe superstitious and there’s goodnews — it’s a curable disease! Em-ploying skeptical cognitive behav-ioural therapy, Nurse challenges thecredulous to confront their supersti-tions and immerse themselves in theirrational. Her patients are treatedby learning to limbo under ladders,open umbrellas indoors, to stab voo-doo dolls and smash mirrors! Ofcourse, this operation is a non-prophet organisation. Interestingly,Downey has had the most media

Rick Maue and Francis Menotti

Friggatriskaidekaphobia Nurse

TAM3 Report


success in her ventures by definingsuperstitions as discriminatory, eg,labelling black cats as bad luck isnegative stereotyping.

Magician and author, AndrewMayne, offered a practical guide tocommunicating skeptical thinking.Mayne explained that skepticsshould “go with what we know”when disseminating critical think-ing, citing Scientology survivor DanGarvin, now an activist againstcults. Mayne advocates that we com-municate skepticism with honesty,integrity and simplicity. He statesthat relevance is important, for ex-ample, discussing alternative medi-cine with seniors. As skeptics, weshould firstly decide, who needs themessage? Then, how can we reachthese people?

Acclaimed magician and promi-nent Skeptic Jamy Ian Swiss notedthe parallels between magicians andcharlatans, classifying himself as“honestly dishonest. Because weneed sneaky guys to catch sneakyguys”. Swiss is skilled in replicating‘paranormal’ abilities, defining a‘psychic’ as “a performance artistwith an illegitimate purpose. Is apsychic cheating or should we throwout everything we’ve known sinceGalileo?” Swiss questioned why‘spoon bending’ should even be inter-preted as evidence of the paranor-mal.

The magician proceeded with abrilliant display of mentalism andmisdirection, explaining that we areeasily fooled because we are “natu-rally magical thinkers”. Using only‘mental powers’, Swiss slid a ringalong the length of a pencil. Heplaced a dice and coin in a sealedbox, shook it with ferocity, then ‘read’the facing number and coin side,through the solid wooden lid! For hisgrand finale, Swiss tossed out ro-mance novels to the audience, cho-sen because “there isn’t the remotestchance that anyone’s read them!” Afew audience members were directedto select a page and single word.Swiss proceeded to accurately ‘read’this back to the astonished audience!I observed that, like psychics, Swissand other magicians constantly offer

the disclaimer, “I won’t always beaccurate”. Unlike the psychics, themagicians usually are!

Off on a slight tangent, the coin-reading trick reminds me of a pranka visually impaired friend likes toplay on people. He constantly refutesthe misconception that the remain-ing senses of a visually impairedperson are heightened, compensat-ing for the lacking sense. Peopleoften ask him foolish questions suchas, “how can you shower?” or themost common, “how can you tellwhat money you have?” So he de-vised an answer. Unlike our beauti-ful Aussie notes, US notes are ofequal dimension but are they ofequal weight? “Being blind, my senseof touch is acute, extremely sensitive

and I’ve trained myself to differenti-ate between notes, based on theirweight. The larger the denomina-tion, the heavier the bill.” Impressivestuff… and the inquirer walks awayin amazement! The reality is muchmore mundane, yet still clever.When he goes to the bank, this fel-low asks the teller to bundle thenotes according to their value. Todistinguish each bundle, he has aformula for folding each set of notes.He then relies on the honesty ofcashiers so that he can continue toorganise his notes into bundlesbased on value.

Penn & Teller bounced onto thestage to present their unique blendof magic, skepticism and violence.Randi became their victim as theyperformed a trick upon him, leavinghim in handcuffs and chained to ananvil. A Q&A session followed,mostly focused on the duo’s televi-sion series Bullshit! Penn & Tellerbemoaned the lack of skepticism ontelevision and revealed that a cer-tain media source demands ‘balance’(according to their biased stand-ards), therefore TV psychics shouldbe represented as “accurate at least20% of the time” (I inwardly musedthat, without this help, psychicswould be right 0% of the time). Penntold us of his realised prediction,that John Edward would try to capi-talise on the 9/11 tragedy by ‘contact-ing’ the victims. Thankfully, thisshow never went ahead in the end.There was a hush when Teller spoke,quietly and articulately. He also con-firmed that, yes, that’s his voice inthe episode of The Simpsons!

Penn gave us some inside info onBullshit! He quipped that the showis “fair and biased”. Despite thecountless insults hurled at them, theinterviewees are never taken out ofcontext! “We’re disgusted and ridi-cule them but we’re not distortingthem” explained Penn. When askedabout the public’s response to theshow, Penn relayed that they receiveas much hate mail as fan mail. Hethen shared an anecdote. Followingthe airing of the Alternative Medi-cine episode, a chiropractic organisa-tion vowed to boycott both Penn &

Jamy Ian Swiss

Teller speaks


Teller and Showtime. Amusingly, thegroup sent 30 ticket holders to a LasVegas P&T show to tell them this!Another time, a group of creationiststhreatened to sue the show, with theironic complaint: “you have exposedour point of view for being wrong.”Enough said!

In closing, Penn revealed some ofthe topics in the upcoming third se-ries of Bullshit! The episodes investi-gate circumcision, politically correctspeech on university campuses, hairloss, the moon landings, freedom,figures such as Ghandi and MotherTheresa and “debunking ‘mother’sadvice’, where we get kids to eatheaps of stuff then go for a swim.Then we get them to eat food off theground”.

Panel discussionJournalist, author and political com-mentator, Christopher Hitchens, isprobably as infamous for his de-meanour as his views. Imagine himsitting at an illustrious panel con-sisting of Randi, Shermer, Penn &Teller, Swiss and Sweeney, coollychain-smoking while his co-panel-lists voiced silent protest only withtheir watering, blinking eyes. Thisseminar was a verbal opinion pieceand at times Hitchens wavered peril-ously close between skeptic andcynic. Among his anecdotes was atale detailed in his essay ‘The Deviland Mother Theresa’. At the requestof the Vatican, Hitchens testifiedagainst Mother Teresa at the hear-ings on her beatification. “Thepresent Pope has abolished the officeof ‘Devil’s Advocate’, so I was invitedto represent Satan pro bono.”

During the panel, Hitchens bestsummarised the collective senti-ments of the room with the quips“this is not God’s work, nor Galileo’s”and “we have no bishops, we have nomartyrs”. He also advocated a “pre-emptive strike against pseudoscienceand the paranormal”. Penn admittedhe “defers to Christopher’s judge-ment on all matters”. Then, through-out the panel, Hitchens comicallyendorsed Penn’s statements.

There were many pearls of wis-dom. Sweeney revealed that her

experience with religion is actually acommon one to which many can re-late. She urged us not to shy awayfrom but to engage in skeptical dis-cussions, “they’re not as confronta-tional as we might think”. Penn ar-gued a point that I made in theAugust 2004 Australasian Sciencemagazine, that, of skeptics, there aremore of us than you might think andfrom various sections of society. AsPenn puts it, “they just don’t wannahang out with you!”

Another point was discussedwhich I have previously made, thateven those who profess to be skepti-cal, have ‘soft spots’ for some par-anormal concepts. I illustrated thiswith the Neuro-linguistic program-mer who claimed to be “a skeptic”while the panel cited various exam-ples; Randi told us of the patron whoscoffs at UFOs but believes the “Ber-muda Triangle is scientificallyproven”. Sweeney told us of an audi-ence member at her show whosneered at the notion of heaven butvehemently believes in reincarna-tion! Lastly, the panel spoke of thosewho promise to petition God on be-half of us heathens; “you’ll be in myprayers”, “we’ll pray for you to reachChrist” and “you may not be inter-ested in Jesus but he’s interested inyou!” Randi concluded the sessionwith an anecdote of a violent letterhe once received, replete withthreats, hellfire and brimstone, theauthor signing off with, “Yours inChrist”.

Magician and inventor of opticalillusions Jerry Andrus deserves aspecial mention at this point.Throughout the conference, Andrustirelessly attended to a display of his

astonishing exhibits in the hotelfoyer, demonstrating his many tricksto a crowd that flocked to him.Andrus proves that we can be de-ceived by our perceptions. VisitAndrus’ website at http://www.jerryandrus.org/.

That evening, the JREF Forummembers retired to a suite at theStardust for the intriguing-sounding“Chocolate Challenge”. This turnedout to be an unempirical ‘test’ ofvarious international choccies whilethe bulk of us were left as salivatingwitnesses to the proceedings. Some-thing foul was afoot as suspiciously,the ‘winning’ chocolates disappeared!With so many magicians present,there were many suspects. I positthat gluttony and not sleight of handwas at play. With the crooked PhilPlait as a tester, my money is onhim!

Day 3On Saturday, as I trudged blearilythrough to the conference breakfastat 7.30am, the punters were alreadyat their pokie stations. Joe Nickellcommenced the day’s proceedingswith an exciting seminar detailingsome of his exploits as CSICOP’sChief Investigator. Nickell is a pro-lific writer on claims of the paranor-mal, having produced the definitivework Inquest on the Shroud of Turin,various books of his investigations,including Real Life X-Files, severalchildren’s books and, of course, hisnumerous articles for The SkepticalInquirer. Nickell claims to be theworld’s only full-time, paid paranor-mal investigator and has conductedcountless high-profile explorations ofthe paranormal, including Oak Is-land’s Money Pit, the PeruvianNasca lines, the Amityville Horror,Benny Hinn and the James Ossuary(touted as the mortuary box of Jesus’brother).

He has engaged in many fascinat-ing activities, including a covert in-vestigation of the notorious spiritual-ist institution Camp Chesterfield. Hemade a reproduction of the TurinShroud using an image of BingCrosby, known as the ‘Shroud ofBing’, and has produced an ‘alien

Christopher Hitchens

TAM3 Report


time line’, an iconography of depic-tions of aliens over time. Nickellrevealed a gun, purportedly once theproperty of Daniel Boone, to be afake and examined the ‘Jack theRipper diaries’ in Chicago, where the“ink was barely dry”. A highlight ofhis successful career was exposingJohn Edward red-handed in the actof a hot reading! Professional andknowledgeable, Nickell always em-ploys scientific rationale and con-ducts his work with honesty andfairness.

Fancying myself as somewhat ofan Aussie Nickell, I approached himand held several enjoyable conversa-tions over the course of the conven-tion. He praised my use of the term‘investigate’ to describe our under-takings, rather than the negative‘debunk’. Nickell was fondly reminis-cent of his 2000 visit to Australia,which allowed him a glimpse intoAntipodean legend; the ‘haunted’Hyde Park Barracks, an unsuccess-ful ‘yowie’ search in the Blue Moun-tains and Campbelltown’s Fisher’sghost. In the footsteps of Houdini,Nickell made a memorable pilgrim-age with magicians Peter Rogdersand Kent Blackmore to attend theneglected Rookwood grave of spiritu-alist William Davenport. Nickell hasa great deal of respect and admira-tion for our organisation and askedto be made an honorary Aussieskeptic! The general consensus ofeveryone I spoke with was that theAustralian Skeptics have an envi-able and cohesive organisation —unlike the dramas of the many USgroups!

A toast to the unexpectedThere was an unexpected visitor toTAM3. Appropriately, during lunch,we had a visit from the Virgin MaryCheese Toast, on loan from its owner,on-line casino GoldenPalace.comwho paid US $28 000 for the ‘icon’.The former owner has since sold the“Virgin Mary Cheese Sandwich Offi-cial Holy Pan”, a frypan, for a fur-ther US $6000.

DawkinsRichard Dawkins was an elusive,

Salinger-like figure at TAM3. Thefeatured speaker of the meeting, heappeared on-stage, presented a semi-nar and was interviewed by Randibefore making a silent exit, en routeas he was to the Galapagos Islandsfor a research sabbatical.

The conference hall was packedout for his presentation. This wasthe session that everyone eagerlyawaited. Erudite, witty and intelli-gent, Dawkins swiftly charmed theroom. Dawkins proposed the conceptof the “perinormal” as opposed to theparanormal. His claim of coining theterm was proven when an attendee‘googled’ perinormal and found it

only existed as a typo. Dawkins de-fined the paranormal as “somethingthat lies beyond the realm of science”and gave the perpetual motion ma-chine as an archetypal example. Theperinormal, peri- meaning ‘around’,are those concepts that lay “beyondexisting science in an area surround-ing ‘normal’ as presently under-stood”. Dawkins cited as an example,the idea of modern technology as itwould have appeared to past centu-ries, mentioning Lord Kelvin(William Thomson) and his 1895statement that “heavier-than-airflying machines are impossible”.Dawkins reminded us that X-rayswere once thought to be a hoax. Hespoke of future technologies asperinormal, the potential mobilephones of tomorrow and QuantumComputing.

Dawkins discussed a range ofrelated topics, commenting that“SETI (Search for Extra-TerrestrialIntelligence) is a respectable enter-prise. We might receive contact viaradio but there’s a low probability offace-to-face contact”. He discussedthe theological implications of suchcontact, “we might regard them asGods”. Dawkins notes that “magi-cians, ie conjurors, are neither par-anormal nor perinormal” and theiracts “not outside science” although“some shake our confidence withtheir cleverness. It can be temptingto think, ‘this looks paranormal’.Some are fraudulent, pretending tobe other than conjurors”. Astrology is“conceivably perinormal” but wehave “no positive reason to thinkthis anything other than nonsenseand fraud”. Faith healing, “the lay-ing on of hands, is neither paranor-mal nor perinormal, it has a well-documented psychosomatic andplacebo effect”.

But where does religion fit in?Dawkins claims religion is both par-anormal and perinormal. Paranor-mal facets include “the turning ofwater into wine, creationism andintelligent design, which is creation-ism in a cheap tuxedo, prayer andintervention and the notion of lifeafter death”. The perinormal is“Einsteinian religion”, although

Richard Dawkins

Joe Nickell and Virgin Toast


Dawkins explains that this ismainly metaphorical and labelledit as “sexed-up atheism”.

At one point, Dawkins’Powerpoint displayed Darwin’simage on the British ten poundnote. He explained that he isn’t“usually given over to patriotismbut this is better than what’s onyour currency”, the room laugh-ing/cringing in agreement at thethought of the greenback’s con-trasting “In God We Trust” motto.And religion was on the agenda.Dawkins opined that religion hasthe characteristics of a paranor-mal concept and should thereforebe tackled by skeptics. He ex-plained that some skeptical organi-sations choose not to examine reli-gion as it is a subject that isguaranteed to “offend”.

Dawkins emphasised the impor-tance of the search for fact and urgedthat skeptics rethink this stance. Hequoted Douglas Adams’ 1998 Cam-bridge speech:

If somebody votes for a party thatyou don’t agree with, you’re free toargue about it as much as you like;everybody will have an argumentbut nobody feels aggrieved by it. Ifsomebody thinks taxes should go upor down you are free to have an ar-gument about it, but on the otherhand if somebody says ‘I mustn’tmove a light switch on a Saturday’,you say, ‘Fine, I respect that’. Theodd thing is, even as I am sayingthat I am thinking ‘Is there an Or-thodox Jew here who is going to beoffended by the fact that I just saidthat?’ but I wouldn’t have thought‘Maybe there’s somebody from theleft wing or somebody from the rightwing or somebody who subscribes tothis view or the other in economics’when I was making the other points.I just think ‘Fine, we have differentopinions’. But, the moment I saysomething that has something to dowith somebody’s (I’m going to stickmy neck out here and say irrational)beliefs, then we all become terriblyprotective and terribly defensive andsay ‘No, we don’t attack that; that’san irrational belief but no, we re-spect it’.

Dawkins closed by showing a pho-tograph of a group of four-year-olds,each labelled according to the reli-gion of their family. He spoke of theridiculousness of imposing roles onchildren who are far too young tohave developed personal religiousbeliefs, “we wouldn’t label a four-year-old as an atheist, would we?”

More psychics and luckBrenton ver Ploeg is an attorney whoserves as corporate counsel for theJREF and is a well-known lecturerand author on insurance bad faith

claims. Ploeg amused everyonewith details of the Randi-Gellertrials and ‘finger-reader’ trial. Hetold an anecdote where a SanFranciscan psychic charged aclient $500 for designing a lovespell. This involved intertwiningseveral pairs of underpants andplacing them under her pillow asshe slept at night. Surprisingly,this spell had no effect and theclient sued for a refund of thepsychic’s fee. The defence con-sulted another psychic who in-sisted that her colleague “had tocharge $500 or the clientwouldn’t believe she could find apartner”.

Banacheck, billed as “the onlymentalist ever to fool scientists intobelieving that he possessed psychicpowers”, explains that his act em-ploys “verbal communication, psy-chology and perceptual manipula-tion”. People ask Banacheck, “doyour talents run in your family?” Towhich he responds, “My uncle knewwhen he would die but that’s nothingspecial. The judge told him!”Banacheck reeled off jokes at light-ening speed as he performed. Askingthe audience to write down their fullname and a secret, significant factabout their lives, Banacheck putJohn Edward to shame by detectingsome obscure information; an audi-ence member’s name and the catthey had with an insurance policyand a woman whose school friendhad endured a great tragedy.Banacheck predicted a local tel-ephone number selected by an audi-ence member from a book of hun-dreds of thousands of numbers.Wearing a secure blindfold, he de-duced three, peculiar objects heldabove his head, one being a toy wom-bat! “Where do people in hell telleach other to go?” he mused, as hebent forks and used ‘mental telepa-thy’ to ‘intuit’ an audience member’sdream.

Psychologist and magician DrRichard Wiseman was up next. “Whois Wiseman?” asked a woman seatednearby. “He’s one of the guys whoturned up to see Jesus!” riposted apasser-by, proving that all skeptics

Banacheck

Brenton ver Ploeg

TAM3 Report


think they are comedians.Wiseman conducts scientificresearch in unusual areas ofpsychology, including thepsychology of luck, lying,magic and the psychologybehind the belief in ghostsand hauntings. This led tohis work as an experimentalparapsychologist, testingmediums and psychics. In1999, Wiseman createdSéance, an off West-endshow in which audiencesexperienced a reconstructionof a Victorian séance.

Wiseman gave an ener-getic and hilarious perform-ance, tricking us all with aseries of optical illusions ashe spoke of ‘luck and ration-ality’. Wiseman has con-ducted tests with people whoreport extraordinary goodluck, those who consistentlywin lotteries, etc, and thosewho purport to be exception-ally unlucky. One subjectclaimed to have a “jinxedcar” that was involved ineight accidents over a fiftymile journey! Was the par-anormal afoot here? Appar-ently not. However,Wiseman found that there was a“massive difference in their psychol-ogy”. Those who saw themselves as‘lucky’ happened to consistently availthemselves of opportunities whilethe habitually ‘unlucky’ consistentlyfailed to identify opportunities.

Wiseman then screened a shortclip of an interview he did with Date-line’s Dennis Murphy, where he dis-cussed this very phenomenon. Toillustrate this phenomenon at work,a poster was pinned to a board be-hind the pair, stating: ‘DENNIS!SPOT THIS TO WIN $1000!’ DespiteWiseman’s exaggerated hints, poorDennis overlooked this opportunity,thereby proving himself to be one ofthe unlucky ones!

Randi Q&AThe penultimate day ended with aRandi Q&A session, where he spokeat length about his standoff with

psychic Sylvia Browne and his visionfor the future of the JREF, “I hope Idie at my desk. Then, I want some-one to clean out my office, put a dif-ferent name on the door and con-tinue!”

On Saturday night I attended aTheatrical Séance, hosted and per-formed by Rick Maue and FrancisMenotti. This was a cleverly-crafted,scripted performance and I waslucky enough to be invited to partici-pate in the proceedings! Treated toan evening of skilful magic and act-ing, were we not candidly informedthat it was drama, some would haveleft in belief.

The last daySunday, the final day of TAM3, fea-tured an informative series of schol-arly papers on a range of subjects,including teaching critical thinking,skeptical psychology and faith heal-

ing and child abuse. I came tothe conclusion that, at TAM3,every presenter is of plenaryspeaker quality. Statistics afterthe event revealed that womencomprised 30% of attendees.This is up on the first confer-ence where over 90% weremale (Damn! Why didn’t I at-tend then?).

On Sunday night I caughtthe live Penn & Teller perform-ance at the Rio. Randi was inattendance as a special guest.This is the ultimate magicshow for the skeptic or thesadist. The duo performedtricks involving animal traps,fire eating, the infamous ‘magicbullet’ trick and ‘burning’ theUS flag. Penn smashed someglass bottles then juggled thejagged bottles by their necks.All was performed to thesoundtrack of Penn’s boisterousappeals for critical thinking. Ifnot a skeptical magician, Pennwould have been a splendidand convincing television evan-gelist! Then there was the gen-tle artistry of Teller’s gracefulconjuring, as he produced gold-fish from coins and pruned asingle red rose by making inci-

sions upon the shadow it cast.TAM should be an important date

on every skeptic’s calendar. I urgeevery reader to make the trip. As Ileft the meeting, I said goodbye toRandi and told him “I’ll be back nextyear”. He laughed and replied, “Sowill I!”

NoteAt the time of printing, the TAM4dates have been finalised for 26-29thJanuary, 2006. The meeting is to beheld at the same location andpremises. The JREF promise excit-ing new events and changes. Formore info check www.randi.org.With thanks to Dean Baird and PhilPlait for some of the photographs.

Phil Plait and Richard Wiseman— the Evil Twins of Skepticism


This paper first appeared earlierthis year in the peer reviewedJournal of Pharmacy Practice andResearch Volume 35, No 1, 2005. Asthe issues raised by the paper arevery much in line with major con-cerns of Australian Skeptics re-garding the use and promotion ofcomplementary and alternativemedicine, we sought and weregranted the kind permission of theauthor and publishers of JPPR toreproduce it in its entirety.

AbstractRecent surveys suggest that the eld-erly are more frequent users of com-plementary and alternative medi-cines (CAMs) than the generalpopulation, as up to 80% have re-ported using at least one CAM on aregular basis in the past year. Al-though many reasons are cited fortheir interest in CAMs, the elderlycommonly state that CAMs are notused as ‘alternatives’, but rather as‘supplements’ to compensate for as-pects perceived to be lacking in con-ventional care. High-level evidencesupports the use of some CAMs inspecific conditions. However, theiruse in the elderly presents signifi-cant challenges to quality use ofmedicines as this population is al-ready burdened by polypharmacy,decreased functional reserve andchronic disease. Preventing adverse

reactions and drug interactions asso-ciated with CAM use is complicatedby the fact that fewer than 50% ofolder patients disclose CAM use totheir doctor or pharmacist. This arti-cle is a guide for health professionalswho wish to advise the elderly con-sumer on the rational use of CAMs.

IntroductionThe elderly are often thought of asunlikely consumers of complemen-tary and alternative medicines(CAMs).1,2 However, recent surveys1-

13 have found that they are in factmore frequent users of CAMs thanyounger people. Compared withabout 50% in the general population,60 to 80% of elderly consumers havedeclared use of at least one herbal ornutritional medicine on a regularbasis.14,15 In addition, the number ofremedies taken by the elderly is notinsignificant, ranging from four toseven per day.9

There are myriad reasons why theelderly are attracted to using CAMs,the commonest being that these rem-edies are perceived as accessible,safe and effective.16 Such percep-tions, however, bypass the fact thatCAMs, like any medicine, are capa-ble of causing adverse reactions anddrug interactions, and more so in anolder population already burdenedby polypharmacy, chronic diseaseand decreased functional reserve.

Complementary andAlternative Medicine

Use in the Elderly

Geraldine Moses is the Senior Pharmacist,Education and Information Unit, Mater HealthServices, South Brisbane and runs the AdverseMedical Events Line web site.

Investigating a worryingtrend among the aged

Investigation


Consumers look to health profession-als for information and advice on therisks and benefits of pursuing CAMsfor their health needs. Therefore, itbehoves health professionals to de-velop an appreciation of these medi-cines and know what constitutesrational use of CAMs in the elderly.

DefinitionsThere is no internationally acceptedcollective term to describe the groupof products regulated in Australia asCAMs.16-19 In general, CAM refers toa wide range of health-related inter-ventions, including diagnostics,therapies and medicines. Essentially,CAMs are therapeutic remedies,such as herbal, homoeopathic, tradi-tional or nutritional medicines,which are usually available withoutprescription, and often supported bylimited evidence of efficacy. The term‘complementary’ implies that theremedy complements the patient’shealth needs, or is used togetherwith conventional medical treat-ments. In contrast, the term ‘alter-native medicines’ refers to remediesused in substitution for conventionaltreatments.16-18 Another term forCAMs gaining popularity is naturalhealth products, which avoids refer-ence to concomitant use (or not) ofconventional treatment yet denotesthe source, purpose and commercialnature of the medicine.16,20,21

Predictors of usePredictors of CAM use in the elderlyare similar to those found in youngerpopulations, particularly the femalegender, higher education and higherincome.1-9 In a multicultural societylike Australia, it is worthwhile recog-nising the influence that ethnicityhas on CAM use in the elderly.4,12,22-27

Flaherty et al found that elderlyJapanese were more frequent usersof CAMs than elderly white Ameri-cans, who were in turn more likely touse CAMs than elderly African-Americans.22 Najm et al found thatelderly Hispanic Americans werehigh users of dietary supplements(56%), home remedies (25%), andtraditional healers/’curanderos’ (8%),whereas elderly non-Hispanic Ameri-

cans were higher users of chiroprac-tic (42%), massage (20%), vitamins(20%), and dietary (17%)modalities.13

The burden of chronic disease hasalso been associated with more fre-quent use of CAMs in the elderly. Ina study of older persons with arthri-tis, those who reported more severedisease or poorer health were morelikely to use CAM.3 In a study com-paring the use of CAMs in individu-als with and without diabetes, thoseaged over 65 years with diabeteswere 1.6 times more likely to be us-ing CAMs than those without diabe-tes.28 In surveys of cancer patients,over 80% declared the use of CAMsin their treatment.29

Reasons for useThere are numerous reasons given

in the literature for why older con-sumers access CAMs for their healthneeds. 16,20,21,29-34 These include:

♦ Disillusionment with clinicalmedicine, which offers no firm an-swers and no cure.

♦ Dissatisfaction with conven-tional practitioners—poor communi-cation, lack of empathy, limited timeand poor value for money.

♦ Desire for simplicity—CAMsare perceived as ‘simple’ being unac-companied by complex directions,warnings, labels and blood tests.

♦ Perception that natural medi-cines are more ‘compatible withhealth’ and promote ‘optimumhealth’.

♦ Ready access via Internet,health food shops, free-call hotlines,mail-order, free home-delivery,party-plan and multi-level market-ing.

♦ Enticing advertising that en-courages a trial of CAMs.

♦ Peer pressure—fashion, alter-native lifestyles and ‘keep fightingthe disease’.

♦ Aim to postpone age-relateddeterioration and mortality.

♦ Desire for autonomy overhealthcare decision-making.

No single reason accounts for anindividual’s decision to use CAMs.Indeed, any or all of the above rea-sons may apply from day-to-day andremedy-to-remedy. In her review,Barnes claimed that CAM use isbased on the concept of health plu-ralism, a term she says “refers to thefact that when people become ill, theywill take advantage of the manysources of health advice and treat-ment available, which may includefamily, friends, pharmacists, doctors,homeopaths, naturopaths and otherhealth professionals”.33

Importantly, the majority of eld-erly consumers do not use CAMs asan alternative to conventional treat-ments, but as supplementation orcompensation for aspects conven-tional treatment is perceived to lack.In a qualitative analysis of self-caredecision-making, Thorne et al con-cluded “CAM use can be understoodnot as a rejection of conventionalmedicine or an unrealistic search fora cure, but as a critical component ofself-care management…. It repre-sents personal responsibility forhealth, reframing the measures bywhich therapeutics are evaluatedand how consumers adopt a prag-matic approach to living as well aspossible in the context of a chroniccondition”.35

Cancer and palliative care pa-tients frequently express the viewthat they feel it is inadequate to relysolely on conventional means oftreatment and CAMs provide anopportunity “to ensure that every-thing that can be done is beingdone”.29,31,35 This then raises perhapsthe most contentious issue of CAMuse in Australia, which is whetherCAMs can live up to their claims.Under current regulatory require-ments, the majority of CAMs areregulated as so-called ‘listed’ medi-cines, which are required by theTherapeutic Goods Administration toprovide evidence of safety and qual-ity before they can be legally mar-keted in this country, but they do nothave to prove they are effective.18


Infrequent disclosureMost consumers believe that CAMsare safe1-5,30,37 and express high satis-faction with them, often higher thanwith their conventional treat-ments.1,4,9,19,36 These attitudes con-tribute to the problem that the eld-erly are reluctant to declare CAMuse to their healthcare providers.Studies have shown that between 55to 62.4% of older adults do not dis-close CAM use to their doctor2,4-6,9,13,23

and they have cited a perceptionthat physicians lack knowledgeabout CAMs, are prejudiced againsttheir use, will attempt to discouragethem, and that “it is none of the doc-tor’s business” as to why they keepCAM use to themselves.16,19-21,31,33,34

Indeed, a study of elderly consumersin rural USA showed that 83% ofthose using CAMs or alternativetherapies did not tell their physicianand only 2% asked their physiciansquestions about CAMs. But it worksboth ways, as physicians in thisstudy only asked their patientsabout CAMs in 3.4% of encounters.24

Several studies have shown thatpharmacists, doctors and nurses areunfamiliar with CAMs and thereforereluctant to confront their use.16,31 Itis important for health professionalsto overcome the breakdown of com-munication in this area and, realis-ing that consumers are unlikely tovolunteer the details, systematicallyand non-judgementally ask olderpatients about their CAM use, and totake such use into account whenproviding pharmaceutical care.

Reviews of CAMs in the elderlyThe widespread and increasing useof CAMs in the elderly presents chal-lenges for health professionals inter-ested in the quality use of medicines(QUM). Australia has an establishedand well-accepted national policy onthe QUM,38 which can readily beapplied to CAM use as it is builtupon the following principles ofmedicine use:

♦ Judicious—whether pre-scribed, recommended and/ or self-selected, medicines should only beused when appropriate and non-

medicinal alternatives considered asneeded.

♦ Appropriate—the most ap-propriate medicine should be cho-sen, taking into account factors suchas the condition being treated, thepotential risks and benefits of treat-ment, dosage, length of treatment,and cost.

♦ Safe—adverse events andmedication misuse, including over-use and under-use, should be mini-mised.

♦ Efficacious—the medicinemust achieve the goals of therapy bydelivering beneficial changes inactual health outcomes.

Performing a comprehensivemedication review can promote theQUM of CAMs in the elderly (Table1). The main difference between aconventional medication review andone involving CAMs is that the prod-ucts may be unfamiliar to the clini-cian and they generally contain mul-tiple medicines. However, there is noexcuse for CAMs to remain unfamil-iar now that most are described inreadily available, up-to-date, peer-reviewed textbooks and web sites(Table 2) and a wealth of primaryresearch is available. The ingredi-ents of most CAM products shouldbe identifiable as Australian regula-tions mandate that all therapeuticgoods, including CAMs, be registeredor listed before marketing in Aus-tralia. Part of this process requiresall ingredients to be declared onpackaging as well as in their formalsubmission to the Therapeutic GoodsAdministration. It is recognised,however, that CAMs such as tradi-tional remedies, extemporaneousherbals and imported products maybe less overt about their ingredients,in which case the pharmacist canseek further information direct fromthe manufacturer/practitioner, con-sult a drug information centre forspecialist advice or ensure the con-sumer takes full responsibility forthe consequences of using a remedywith unquantifiable benefits andrisks.

Table 1.

Performing a review of complementary andalternative medicines

Inspect the product(s)

Where was it made? Is it registeredfor use in Australia? Formulation?Administration technique required?Homeopathic-is it true homeopathy?How much did it cost?

Identify all the remedies being used.

AUST L/R of products. All the brandnames. All ingredients. Dose andduration of treatment

Quantify the benefit

What is the therapeutic purpose? Isit real? Outcome-based benefit (notjust ‘good for you’). Level of support-ive evidence? Critique the advertis-ing. If the therapeutic purpose ismeaningless or unrealistic, considermaking sure the patient is aware ofthat, ie informed consent

Quantify the risks

Adverse reactions: What potentialfor intrinsic and extrinsic adverseeffects? Interactions: Adding in anew drug or drugs increases the riskof drug-drug, drug-disease anddrug-lab test interactions. Expense:Is the outlay in terms of money andtime affordable to the patient? Dis-appointment: Sometimes a failedexperiment can have devastatingeffects on the patient’s level of hopefor future treatment success. Assesswhether the disappointment fromfailure is too great a chance to take.Delay in effective treatment anddisease progression: Some diseasestates are more amenable to treat-ment at specific stages of progres-sion. Avoid wasting precious time ifthe most efficacious treatments canonly be used at this point in time.

Risk versus benefit

Compare the potential benefit posedby the remedy with the potentialharm, and with the patient, decidewhether using the product shouldproceed.

CAM Use in Elderly


EfficacyAs mentioned earlier, there is agrowing body of evidence includingrandomised, controlled trials andsystematic reviews to support theefficacy of certain CAMs in specificconditions.16,36,40

It is beyond the scope of this pa-per to summarise all the evidence,however a summary of indications

for which high levels of evidencesupport specific herbal treatments ispresented in Table 3. A few pointsshould be made regarding interpret-ing efficacy data in the area of com-plementary medicine.

Firstly, the rigorous principles ofevidence-based medicine are notalways applied in CAM literature.Published reviews and marketingmaterials can frequently be found to

focus on positive studies and omitnegative findings. Web sites for ex-ample, such as:www.tinnitusformula.com/qtimes2004/02/holsurvey.aspx

advocating the use of ginkgobiloba for tinnitus, often fail to citethe Cochrane review that does notsupport ginkgo as a treatment fortinnitus.53

Secondly, the application of clini-cal trial data to elderly subjectsshould be conservative as clinicaltrials of CAMs are rarely conductedin the elderly, doses usually do notaccount for renal impairment, andco-morbidities such as heart diseaseor diabetes (common in the elderly)may have been excluded.

As with prescription medicines,the findings of clinical trials canonly be attributed to the productactually tested. Hence, when con-sulting efficacy data of herbal rem-edies it is very important to note thetype of extract used, its strengthand formulation.36 For example,three species of echinacea are usedclinically (E. angustifolia, E.purpurea, E. pallida), however, mostof the data supporting treatment ofthe common cold is based on ex-tracts of E. purpurea. Therefore,only E. purpurea extracts can beconsidered effective. Moreover, mostresearch focuses on single ingredi-ents, rather than the combinationproducts that are commonly avail-able.

CAM related problems in the elderlyAlthough most CAMs have a rela-tively low potential for toxicity whenused at recommended doses, a broadrange of intrinsic and extrinsic ad-verse events (AEs) are increasinglybeing associated with their use.37

Intrinsic AEs are those that occur asa consequence of the pharmacologyof the substance, whether predict-able (type A) or idiosyncratic (typeB). For example, gingko biloba hasbeen associated with various formsof haemorrhage (type A),39 and kavakava has been linked with hepatitis(type B).36 Extrinsic AEs are not re-lated to the herb itself, but to prob-lems in commercial manufacture or

Table 2.

Useful resources on complementary and alternative medicines.

Web sites/Comments

The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database <www.naturaldatabase.com> Subscription required

The Natural Pharmacist <community.healthgate.com/GetContent.asp?siteid= ehosp&docid=/tnp/pg000001> Free access to consumer versionThe Longwood Herbal Taskforce <www.mcp.edu/herbal/> Free accessAssn of Natural Medicine Pharmacists <www.anmp.org/monographs. htm> Free accesseCAM <ecam.oupjournals.org> Free accessNational Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine <www.herbmed.org>

Some free access

American Botanical Council <www.herbalgram.org/default.asp?c=defaulthome>Free access

Bandolier Complementary and Alternative Therapies <www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/ booth/booths/altmed.html> Free accessMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre: About herbs, botanicals and other products

<www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11570.cfm> Free accessWHO monographs <www.who.int/medicines/library/trm/medici nalplants/

monograph_volume_two.shtml> Free accessBotanical Pathways (online or hard copy) <www.botanicalpathways.com> Free acessAmerican Botanical Council’s Herb-Ed-Web <www.herbalgram.org> Free access

Textbooks/CommentsErnst E, editor. The desktop guide to complementary and alternative medicine—an evidence-

based approach. Edinburgh: Mosby; 2002. Authoritative review of the evidenceBarnes J, Andersen LA, Phillipson JD. Herbal medicines. 2nd ed. London:Pharmaceutical

Press; 2002. BritishFugh-Berman A. The 5-minute herb and dietary supplement consult. Philadelphia:Lippincott

Williams & Wilkins; 2003. AmericanFetrow CW, Avila JR. Professional’s handbook of complementary and alternative medicines.

4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott,Williams & Wilkins; 2003. Convenient handbook sizeBlumenthal M, editor. The ABC clinical guide to herbs. Austin: American Botanical Council;

2003. Herbals only. Includes patient handoutsCherniak P, Cherniak N. Alternative medicine for the elderly. New York:Springer; 2003.

Geriatric focusBraun L, Cohen M. Herbs and natural supplements-an evidence based guide. Sydney:

Elsevier Australia; 2005. AustralianDerMarderosian A, Beytler JA. The review of natural products. Facts and comparisons.

Wolters Kiuwer Health Inc; 2005. Updated monthly


compounding, including adulterationand contamination. For example, theassociation between l-tryptophanand eosinophilic myalgia syndromewas most likely caused by a contami-nant from the manufacturing proc-ess.39

In order to make a rational as-sessment of CAM safety in a particu-lar patient, it is best to consult high-quality CAM resources for up-to-dateinformation on possible toxicity is-sues (Table 1). Clearly, the patient’sage, genetic constitution, nutritionalstate, concomitant diseases and con-current medication need to also betaken into account. Unfortunately,AEs associated with CAMs are notas well documented as they shouldbe, as consumers and health profes-sionals have generally been unawareof their responsibility to participatein CAM pharmacovigilance. How-ever, this may be changing.

In May 2004, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) issued a pressrelease to alert health professionalsof an alarming rise in adverse reac-

tion reports to CAMstherapies in the pre-ceding two years.41 Asa result they issuednew guidelines onsafe and appropriateuse of complementarymedicines in an at-tempt to temper over-enthusiastic uptake,especially in develop-ing countries. WHOhas also advocatedthe creation of AEreporting systems forconsumers in order tobetter capture AEsassociated with self-medication. The Ad-verse Medicine EventLine was establishedin Australia in Octo-ber 2003 and a sub-stantial percentage ofconsumer reports

have been associated with CAMs.42

The eight Hepler and Stranddrug-related problem types43 are auseful tool for classifying CAM-re-lated problems in the elderly. In ad-dition, there is a range of indirectharms that can ensue from CAMs,which should be explained to con-sumers. These include their cost interms of money and time, with-drawal or delay of more effectivetreatment, and disappointment/lossof hope if the CAM is ineffective.44

PolypharmacyA critical issue in the elderly is thatCAM use exacerbates polypharmacy,which is a risk factor for drug inter-actions, medication errors and hospi-talisation.9 This is especially rel-evant as most CAM products containmultiple medicines and older con-sumers tend to take multiple prod-ucts. Canter and Ernst recently dem-onstrated this in a survey of 271

Table 3.

Indications for which high level evidence supports the efficacy ofcomplementary and alternative medicines 39,40,50

Indications Plant No. RCTs showing efficacy

Benign prostate Serenoa repens 21hypertrophy (Saw palmetto)

Pygenum africanum 18 (African plum)

Anxiety Piper methysticum 7 (Kava)

Chronic venous Aesculus hippocantum 13insufficiency (Horse chestnut)Rheumatoid arthritis Various herbal 11pain relief remediesOsteoarthritis Various herbal 5

remediesMigraine prevention Tanacetum parthenium 4

(Feverfew)Hypercholesterolaemia Cynara scolyus 2

(artichoke)Depression Hypericum perforatum 27

(St John’s Wort)

Table 4.

Selected complementary and alternative medicines and their cytochrome450/P-glycoprotein (PGP) influences39, 51

Substrates Inhibitors Inducers of of of

Caffeine (eg, in guarana) 1A2, 3A4 1A2 -

Cranberry juice - 2C9* -

Echinacea (purpurea root) - 1A2, 2C9, 3A4 Intestinal 3A Estradiol 1A2, 3A4 1A2 -

Ethanol 2E1 - 2E1

Fish Oil - 3A4 (in vitro) -

Garlic - 2E1 2C9,* -

2C19,* PGP*

Gingko biloba - 2E1 1A2,* 3A*

Ginseng - 3A* -

Goldenseal - 3A4 (in vitro) -

Grapefruit - 3A4,5,7, PGP -

Liquorice - 2B6, 2C9, 3A -

Marijuana (THC) - - 1A2

Progesterone 2C19, 3A4 PGP -

Quercetin - 2C8 -

Smoking/tobacco - - 1A2

St John’s Wort - PGP (acute use) 1A2, 2C9, 2C19, 3A, PGP (chronic use)

Testosterone 3A4,5,7 PGP -

Valerian - 3A4 (in vitro) -

Watercress - 2E1 -

*Preliminary data

CAM Use in Elderly


British seniors, who admittedregularly using a mean of 5.91(range: 4-7) herbal and nutri-tional supplements.9 One manreported using 20 herbal medi-cines but the remainder used 7or fewer, and the group as awhole used a mean of 2.26 pre-scription drugs. Interestingly,they found no statistically sig-nificant correlation between thenumber of CAMs and thenumber of prescription drugstaken. In a Canadian survey of193 older adults with cognitiveimpairment, 15% used at leastone herbal remedy, 13.8% usedtwo and 44.8% used three ormore.16

Drug interactionsAs the number of medicinesincreases, so too does the risk ofdrug interactions. A Canadianstudy of older adults attendinga memory clinic found that al-most one third of patients wereat risk of a herb-drug interac-tion45 and in their UK-basedstudy, Smith et al found that19.2% of patients on warfarinwere taking at least one CAMthat may interact with it.46 Ingeriatric patients, CAMs withanticoagulant properties suchas ginkgo, garlic and fish oilsshould be closely monitoredgiven the likelihood of co-ad-ministration with drugs such aswarfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel orheparin. In the hospital envi-ronment, an important concernis the interaction betweenCAMs and perioperative medi-cines such as muscle relaxants,narcotic analgesia and anaes-thetics.48,49

Evidence suggests that iden-tification of CAM-drug interac-tions in older persons aregrossly under-recognised.49

However, many drug interac-tions with CAMs can be pre-dicted and avoided with knowl-edge of how CAMs influence thecytochrome P450 and P-glyco-protein systems (Table 4).

Dosage adjustment andmonitoring

Alteration of CAM dosage toaccount for age-related declinein renal function can rarely bepursued in complementarymedicine, as the relevantpharmacokinetic properties ofmost remedies are unidenti-fied. However, Fetrow andAvila have provided therapeu-tic monitoring guidelines withsome commonly used CAMs(Table 5).52 Clearly, this is anarea that is largely unexplored,so careful monitoring of thepatient, together with a goodknowledge of pharmacologyand pharmacokinetics, willalert the clinician where drugdosage alteration is required.Adverse effects observedshould be communicated toADRAC or in the medical lit-erature.

ConclusionThe extensive use of CAMs inthe elderly makes it imperativefor health professionals to havea working knowledge of therelevant issues associated withtheir use. CAM use exacerbatesthe risks of polypharmacy suchas interactions and adversereactions, but given that someremedies are efficacious, thedecision to trial an unprovenremedy is an exercise in as-sessing the risks and benefits.

References1. McKenzie J, Keller HH. Vita-

min-mineral supplementation anduse of herbal preparations amongcommunity-living older adults. CanJ Pub Hlth 2001; 92: 286-90.

2. Foster DF, Phillips RS, HamelMB, Eisenberg DM. Alternativemedicine use in older americans. JAm Geriatri Soc 2000; 48: 1560-5.

3. Kaboli PJ. Use of complemen-tary and alternative medicine byolder patients with arthritis: apopulation based study. ArthritisRheum 2001; 45: 398-403

4. Flaherty JH, Takahashi R. Theuse of complementary and alterna-

Table 5.

Therapeutic monitoring guidelines for some complementaryand alternative medicines (CAMs)52

CAM 1. 2. 3. 4. 5

Alfalfa X XAloe XAngelica XBee Pollen XBorage XCascara XCat’s Claw XCelandine XChaparral XChondroitin X XComfrey XDamiana XDandelion XDong Quai XFenugreek X XFish Oils XGarlic X X*Ginger XGinkgo biloba XGinseng XGlucomannan XGoldenseal XGotu Kola XGuggul XHesperidin XHorse chestnut X XIrish moss XKava XKelp XLicorice XMeadowsweet XMilk thistle XMistletoe XOlive Leaf XPau D’Arco XRed clover XRoyal Jelly XSchisandra XShark cartilage XSkullcap XTurmeric XValerian XWalnut XWillow X X XWormwood XYerba mate X XYew XYohimbe X

*Only high dose garlic > 4 g/day.

Legend

1. Full blood count; 2. Liver function tests;3. Urea and electrolytes; 4. Coagulation;5. Blood glucose level.

CAM Use


tive medical therapies among older per-sons around the world. Clin Geriatr Med2004; 20: 179-200.

5. Cohen RJ, Kirsten EK, Pan CX. Com-plementary and alternative medicine(CAM) use by older adults: a comparisonof self-report and physician chart docu-mentation. J Gerontol A Med Sci 2002;57A: M223-M227.6. Astin JA, Pelletier KR, Marie A,

Haskell WL. Complementary and alter-native medicine use among elderly per-sons: a one year analysis of a Blue ShieldMedicare supplement. J Gerontol A MedSci. 2000; 55A: M4-M9.

7. Cherniak EP, Senzel RS, Pan CX.Correlates of use of alternative medicineby elderly in an urban population. JAltern Complement Med 2001; 7: 277-80.

8. Weng Yl, Raab C, Georgiou C, DuntonN. Herbal and vitamin/mineral supple-ment use by retirement community resi-dents: preliminary findings. J Nutr Elder2004; 23: 1-13.

9. Canter PH, Ernst E. Herbal supple-ment use by persons aged over 50 inBritain. Drugs Aging 2004; 21: 597-605.10. Gozum S, Unsal A. Use of herbal

therapies by older, community-dwellingwomen. J Adv Nurs 2004; 46: 171-8.

11. Della Buono M, Urciuoli O, MariettaP, Padoani W, De Leo D. Alternativemedicine in a sample of 655 community-dwelling elderly. J Psychosom Res 2001;50: 147-54.

12. Zeilmann CA, Dole EJ, Skipper BJ,McCabe M, Rhyne RL. Use of herbalmedicine by elderly Hispanic and non-hispanic white patients. Pharmaco-therapy 2003; 23: 526-32.

13. Najm W, Reinsch S, Hochler F, TobisJ. Use of complementary and alternativemedicine among the ethnic elderly. AlternTher Health Med 2003; 9: 50-7.14. Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Complementary medicines informationsheets: who uses them. Available from<www.tga.gov.au/docs/html>. Accessed 12/01/05.

15. Maclennan AH, Wilson DH, TaylorAW. The escalating cost and prevalence ofalternative medicine. Prev Med 2002; 35:166-173.

16. Cherniak P, Cherniak N. Alternativemedicine for the elderly. Berlin : Springer;2003.

17. National Center for Complementaryand Alternative Medicine. What is com-plementary and alternative medicine(CAM)? Available from <nccam.nih.gov >.Accessed 12/01/05.

18. Therapeutic Goods Administration.Medicines definitions-complementarymedicines. Available from<www.tga.gov.au/docs/html>. Accessed 12/01/05.

19. Coulter ID, Willis EM. The rise andrise of complementary and alternativemedicine: a sociological perspective. MedJ Aust 2004; 180: 587-9.20. Spencer JW, Jacobs JJ. Complemen-

tary and alternative medicine. An evi-dence based approach. 2nd edition. StLouis Missouri. Mosby 2003.

21. Johns Cupp M, Tract TS. Dietarysupplements: toxicology and clinical phar-macology. Humana Press Totawa NewJersey. 2003

22. Flaherty JH, Takahashi R, Teoh J,Jeung-Im K, et al. Use of alternativetherapies in older outpatients in theUnited States and Japan. J Geront 2001;56A: M650-6.

23. Sleath B, Rubin RH, Campbell W,Gwyther L, Clark T. Ethnicity and physi-cian-older patient communication aboutalternative therapies. J Altern Comple-ment Med 2001; 7: 329-35.24. Cuellar N, Aycock T, Cahill B, Ford J.

Complementary and alternative medicine(CAM) use by African American (AA) andCaucasian American (CA) older adults ina rural setting: a descriptive, comparativestudy. Comp Altern Med 2003; 3: 8-15.

25. Mackenzie ER, Taylor L, Bloom BS,Hufford DJ, Johnson JC. Ethnic minorityuse of complementary and alternativemedicine (CAM): a national probabilitysurvey of CAM utilizers. Altern TherHealth Med 2003; 9: 50-56.

26. Jones J. Ethnicity may affect alterna-tive, complementary therapy choices. JNat Canc Inst 2001; 93: 1522-3.

27. Cappuccio FP, Duneclift SM,Atkinson RW, Cook DG. Use of alterna-tive medicines in a multi-ethnic popula-tion. Ethn Dis 2001; 11: 11-18.28. Egede LE, Ye X, Zheng D, Silverstein

MD. The prevalence and pattern of com-plementary and alternative medicine usein individuals with diabetes. DiabetesCare 2002; 25: 324-9.

29. Cassileth BR, Deng G. Complemen-tary and alternative therapies for cancer.Oncologist 2004; 9: 80-9.

30. Eisenberg DM, Kessler RC, VanRompay MI, Kaptchuk TJ, Wilkey SA,Appel S, et al Complementary therapiesrelative to conventional therapies amongadults who use both: results from a na-tional survey. Ann Int Med 2001; 135:344-51.

31. Tasaki K. Communication betweenphysicians and cancer patients aboutcomplementary and alternative medicine:exploring patients’ perspectives.Pscychooncology 2002; 11: 212-20.

32. Kelner M, Wellman B. Health careand consumer choice: Medical and alter-nate therapies. Soc Sci Med 1997; 45:203-12.33. Barnes J. Quality, efficacy and safety

of complementary medicines: fashions,facts and the future. Part 1. Regulationand quality. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2003;55: 226-33.

34. Thorne S, Paterson B, Russell C etal. Complementary/alternative medicinein chronic illness as informed self-caredecision-making. Int J Nurs Stud 2002;39: 671-83.

35. Vickers AJ, Cassileth BR. Unconven-tional therapies for cancer and cancer-related symptoms. Lancet Oncol 2001; 2:226-32.

36. Barnes J. Quality, efficacy and safetyof complementary medicines: fashions,facts and the future. Part II. Efficacy andsafety. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2003; 55:331-40.37. Drew AK, Myers SP. Safety issues in

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39. Jellin J. The Natural MedicinesComprehensive Database. Available atwww.naturaldatabase.com .Last updated14/01/05

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mote proper use of alternative medicines.Available from <www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2004/en/>.Accessed 12/01/05.

42. McGuire TM, Moses GM. AdverseMedicine Events Line-ProgressReport.the First 1470 calls. AustralianCouncil for Safety and Quality in HealthCare. October 2004.

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44. Maclennan AH. The four harms ofharmless therapies. Climacteric 1999; 2:

CAM Use in Elderly


73-4. 45. Lee MSW, Dergal J, Gold J, et alUse of herbals and potential interactionsbetween herbals and conventional drugtherapy in older adults attending amemory clinic. Pharmacoepidemiol DrugSaf 2001; 10: S145.

46. Smith L, Ernst E, Ewings P, Myers P,Smith C. Co-ingestion of herbal medicinesand warfarin. Br J Gen Pract 2004; 54:439-41.47. Grymonpre RE, McKechnie M,

Briggs C. Community pharmacists’ iden-tification of natural health product/druginteractions in older persons. Int JPharm Pract 2003; 11: 217-23.

48. Haynes LC, Martin JH, Endres D.Use of non-traditional therapies-implica-tions for older adults. AORN J 2003; 77:913-22.

49. Ang-Lee MK, Moss J, Yuan CS,Herbal medicines and perioperative care.JAMA 2001; 286: 208-16.

50. Ernst E. Complementary medicinepharmacist? Pharm J 2004; 273: 197-8.51. Osterheld J, Osser DN, Sandson NB.

Mental health connections CYP450, PGPand UGT drug interactions. Availablefrom <www.mhc.com>. Accessed 12/01/05.

52. Fetrow CW, Avila JR. Professional’shandbook of complementary and alterna-tive medicines. 4th ed. Lippincott,Williams and Wilkins. 2003.

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Author Contact details

Geraldine Moses, BPharm,PostGradDipClinPharm,DClinPharm candidateSenior Pharmacist,Education and Information UnitMater Health ServicesSouth Brisbane, Queensland

Address for correspondence:Geraldine Moses,Education and Information Unit,Mater Health Services,South Brisbane Qld 4101, Australia

E-mail:[email protected]

Geraldine Moses invites readers to contribute toAMEL if they have had any adverse events.

www.mater.org.au/ame/

The aim of the AME Line is to document reports ofadverse drug reactions directly from consumers,without their having to go through their healthprofessionals.

We triage reports according to strict criteria andsend those that are appropriate to ADRAC at theTGA. During our piloting phase (2000-2002) ap-proximately 13% of ADR reports related to naturalhealth products. These days its more like 6%, butthe reduction is better than nothing!

Invitation to Readers


Astrology? You’d have to be an idiot tobelieve that crap. And psychics? Theyare all just frauds.They just fish forstuff from the gullible fools who visitthem. John Edward is just a bull***artist. UFOs? Humbug. How often dowe have to tell them it’s just lights inthe sky. Total nutters — the lot of them.Alt med is just a rip-off where the li-ars take money from those too stupidto know any better. Spontaneous hu-man combustion? That old turkey.Surely you don’t believe in that?

Hey, I’m a skeptic. Why don’t you joinus and you can be like me!

There is a reason the other sideget better press than us! And here Iwill hit my mantra: we need to beenthusiastic and positive if we havea message to sell to the un-con-verted.

They have argued in beliefs withemotions and we argue them outwith reason. Why shouldn’t we useemotions as well? Let’s grab themoral high ground. I love the viewfrom up here!

Before I start preaching as theborn-again skeptic, I want you toanswer a few questions. Quickly.Asked this in the street by astranger, what would you answer?

What is a skeptic?

What is skepticism?

Who are the believers?

Is skepticism a lost cause? If so, why?

I went to the World Skeptics Con-gress in Italy, late in 2004 and un-derwent a revelation. I firmly believethat we in Australia have the basisfor leading the world in a new revo-lution in skepticism

In most of the countries repre-sented at the World Congress, reli-gion is embedded in life and in edu-cation. Schools are teaching kids toaccept things on faith. Don’t ques-tion. In talking to people from a hugerange of countries I concluded thatbecause Australia legislates thatreligion is not part of education, thatwe are far better off than most. Theway the Australian culture also dif-ferentiates religion from daily life inthe typical home is very much to ouradvantage. So many children in thisworld are taught not to question.Australia is one of the few countries,it seems, where children have theright to ask questions and where theChurch does not dominate the an-swers.

In a heated debate over one lunch,all, with the exception of one Ameri-can and me, were convinced ‘skeptic’is such a negative word we shouldnever use it. But no-one had an al-ternative. I have found very littlenegative response when I have beendealing with the media or lecturingon skepticism. All it takes is for meto deliver a positive definition upfront, and the rest is easy.

Why does the new age guru’s stuff

Preaching to theUn-converted

Lynne Kelly has taught science for 30 yearsand is the successful author of a number ofbooks, including The Skeptics Guide to theParanormal (available from the Skeptics on-line shop).

Our rallying cry should shout: “Be Positive — Be a Skeptic”

Feature


sell so well? Because it is positiveand uplifting. Now look at your owndefinitions of a skeptic. And skepti-cism. And the believers. Is it positiveuplifting stuff? Does it make a state-ment that means people would wantto be like you?

We are seen as negative and coldand miserable by some. I put myworldview forward in a single para-graph of The Skeptic’s Guide to theParanormal:

Some believers accuse us skeptics ofhaving nothing left but a dull, cold,scientific world. I am left with only art,music, literature, theatre, the magnifi-cence of nature, mathematics, the hu-man spirit, sex, the cosmos, friendship,history, science, imagination, dreams,oceans, mountains, love and the won-der of birth. That’ll do me.

When promoting the book, somethings worked really well andquickly in interviews, lectures andschool talks. I want to present thosenow in the hope some of you mayfind them useful when talking to theun-converted.

Preach mode is now firmly ON.

Definitions of skepticismFirst — let’s make sure we believerather than we disbelieve.

What is skepticism? It is a beliefthat reality is awesome. And realityis so fascinating it doesn’t need em-bellishment with things which aren’treal. We skeptics want to believe inwhat’s real. Who needs the paranor-mal when we’ve got so much more tofind out about the normal? Skepti-cism is a protection against beingexploited financially — but evenmore importantly — emotionally.

So what is a skeptic? Someonewho believes reality is awesome.Someone who believes that scientificmethod is the best chance of know-ing what’s real. Someone who wantsto believe in what’s real. Someonewho loves life in the real world.

Who are the believers? They arepeople who believe, and usually forvery good reasons. It is the way theyhave interpreted the informationavailable to them. We don’t alwaysagree with that interpretation. So we

would like to put forward alternativeexplanations.

Are they gullible fools? No. I don’tknow the difference between ‘gulli-ble’ and ‘trusting’ and I am trusting.So I am gullible. That makes mevulnerable. I don’t mind admittingthat. Let he who has never beenfooled throw the first bent spoon.

Trusting = gullible = vulnerable. Idon’t want to be vulnerable, so I relyon skepticism to protect me. A posi-tive!

Fools? I have been cold readingnow for three years and done hun-dreds of readings. As a cold reader, Idepend on our sitters making thelinks, connections and giving mean-ing to my specific sounding, generalstatements. Without exception, thesmarter people are much faster atmaking links and finding the mean-ings and patterns and then helpingme to build on them. Without anunderstanding of cold reading, it isunderstandable that this significantcorrelation is taken as having valid-ity. Many skeptics have never had areading and don’t realise how easilywe can be drawn in.

As psychics and cold reading arekey topics, there are some simpletools you can use for talking aboutthis without giving offence to some-one who is undecided on their belief.

Definitions of Cold ReadingCold reading is telling people

things about them you couldn’t pos-sibly know, when you don’t. Skepticsget their explanations of this wrongwith embarrassing regularity.

It is not fishing for information.Psychics like to define cold readingthat way because it really suitsthem. They then show that theydon’t ask questions and go fishing.Britain’s Psychic Barber, GordonSmith, draws on that false definitionin his promotional material, andthat was thrown at me a few timeswhen he was here. He doesn’t askany question of his sitters. Neitherdoes an astrologer preparing a chart.Neither does a tarot reader giving asimple reading. Neither do I in ashort reading or when confronted

with someone sitting there offeringnothing back.

Fishing for information is used inlonger readings once you are pastthe initial stages, but it is only apart of the arsenal of a cold reader.In fact, if you fish too early, you willbe told things which ruin your bestlines. An example:

I am getting the strong feeling yourmain occupation involves communi-cation, but it isn’t as simple as thatwith you, is it? [Don’t wait for ananswer. That is a statement. You’repsychic. You already know you areright. You go straight on]Most peo-ple really have to use their commu-nication skills to the max and lotshave to push themselves to say whatthey think, but you are being heldback. I really feel you have moreskills than are being allowed for andyou actually feel restrained in lettingforth and really running with thoseunique ideas of yours, don’t you?[You may now get a response, butyou don’t need one.]

You have told them they are dif-ferent, when in fact you are tellingthem they are really the same asmost people. If you had been told theperson’s job or dream or studies inadvance — which is what peoplealways tell you because that is theirpersonal identification — then youcannot claim this communication bit.It will be obvious.

Most tarot and astrology readers Ihave met have not been frauds. Theyhave been using the same methodsas me, but without crediting themethod and their own intuition.They give credit to the charts andcards. I take it for myself.

So what is cold reading? Coldreading is telling people what ap-plies to most in their demographic(age and gender) and making itsound very specific to the individual.Then you enter into a sensitive feed-back system, to get the response:‘She told me things she couldn’t pos-sibly know!’ when you really didn’tknow much at all.

Knowing about people in advanceis hot reading. It is harder than cold


reading to make convincing unlessyou have really been sneaky in get-ting the information.

General definitions don’t tend tobe very convincing. I have foundquoting the following scenario con-veys a convincing example. Thishappened at the Psychology Teach-ers’ Conference in Melbourne. Agroup of people were watching. Andit is fair dinkum. You can trust me.I’m a skeptic

Cold Reading exampleI am reading a woman in her

early twenties. Having made somegeneral comments from the readingof the masks which form the initialstages of Tauromancy, my own divi-nation system, I announced that thesitter had endometriosis. She de-clared to all present that ‘there is noway she could have know that! No-one except my husband and doctorknows. No-one.’ Gasps from thecrowd (who all now know). I had mymajor hit. How did I do it?

I had mentioned that she hadsome long term hopes and this in-cluded children. (Good chance withsomeone in early twenties.) Shelooked a bit reserved but sort ofagreed. I changed topic. A few side-tracks, then to the mask of ill-health.I said there were health issues. Thisgot a fast reaction. Just a look. Fastmeans close to her. She didn’t needto search into the wider database offamily and friends.

So I went for it. I said: Endome-triosis. She reacted loud and clear.

Note, I did not actually say shehad endometriosis. If she didn’t haveit, and my guess about her reserva-tion about children was right, thenshe has probably been tested for it. Ifshe doesn’t have it, or ever beentested, then she probably knowssomeone who has. I had just said thename of the disease and health is-sues, so I run with the friend / rela-tive and how she is probably notaware how much her support hasbeen valued. Had I still missed, Iwould have leant forward and whis-pered that I think she should havethat checked with her doctor. I wouldhave nodded and she would have

nodded and the audience would haveseen a secret nodding. Whateverhappened, I would get a hit

This time I got the jackpot. Giventhe editing suite which assists JohnEdward so much, this would havestayed in!

Of course, most of the men andsome of the women had never heardof endometriosis, which is whatmakes it so exotic and convincing. Itis a female only disease, which isnow becoming commonly diagnosedor tested for, but not talked aboutmuch. Perfect for us cold readers.

I have now used the naming ofendometriosis in quite a few read-ings with great success. And hadtears a number of times with thatrevelation. Unlike those on the lowermoral ground, I always stop a read-ing if I hit gold, and explain exactlywhat I have done. We skeptics don’texploit.

John EdwardLet’s take the opportunity to makeour grab at the moral high groundnow. John Edward. You knew I’dcome back to him, didn’t you? He’sthe guy who helps people find resolu-tion and brings comfort from theirdearly departed, isn’t he?

Let’s just read his disclaimerwhich flashes up for a few brief sec-onds at the end of his TV show.

‘…for entertainment purposesonly’. This guy makes people in theraw stage of grieving cry for thecameras and international distribu-tion ‘…for entertainment purposesonly’!

Jesus!Sorry, but we would never do that.

We hereby claim the moral highground. No skeptic will do tear-rid-den readings for grieving people in apublic arena even though we knowwe could do it. We would sure getgood media coverage. We wouldnever do that because we could notexploit their grief ‘…for entertain-ment purposes only’. It is simplyimmoral.

I have found that comment gets afar stronger reaction than trying toexplain cold reading as the first step.Then, if they ask further I go into

the cold reading example. Only ifstill questioned do I start on thegeneral explanation.

UFOs and Tic TacsI carry a few little amusing thingswith me which allow me to make theskeptical point without criticisinganyone. (John Edward is fair game,but most believers are genuine intheir belief and are not fair targetsfor ridicule. I believe our role is oneof education and enlightenment. Agood teacher does not ridicule a stu-dent who does not know somethingthey have never been taught.)

A tic tac works well for a simpleexplanation of some UFO sightings.Many are total internal reflectionsoff inversion layers or the upper at-mosphere. Make that spiel and youhave lost your audience to boredom.Here’s the alternative.

Take out a tic tac, or other smalllolly which won’t dissolve fast. Placeit in a clear glass with a little bit ofwater. Viewed from underneath atan angle of around thirty degreesfrom the horizontal, you will be ableto see the reflection of the lolly onthe underside of the surface of thewater. Try it!

Show people that. Then liken thewater to the atmosphere. Or to coldair trapped near the earth in a inver-sion layer. A bright light, say thereflection of the setting sun from alake, Venus close to the horizon, anybright light can reflect like that backto earth. Move your head and theimage will move. It will distort withthe slight movement of the water.This can be extrapolated to a brightlight in a clear sky, which can’t bedetected by radar.

Over the dinner table, your audi-ence have seen it themselves, andno-one was called a fool. If the con-versation persists, the other commonexplanations can be introduced.

Spontaneous Human CombustionIf you want to get a bit more com-plex, then a simple spontaneoushuman combustion demonstrationworks well. Again it is a topic whichfascinates, but causes little offence.

A small candle wrapped in gauze

Preaching


acts as a model humandressed in clothes. Cut offthe wick. If you get reallykeen on this, you can getlittle blood red candlesmade with no wick. Thered wax dripping on whitegauze can be most gory!

Using a small amount ofperfume on the gauze,light the ‘candle’ on theoutside. Leave it burn.

Spontaneous humancombustion is a real event.The human combustion bitis genuine and does hap-pen. The spontaneous bitdoes not. The body is com-pletely consumed, includ-ing the bones. In a crema-torium, the bones are notconsumed. But extremi-ties—an arm, the leg withshoes—is left untouched.The surrounds may be alittle melted, but they are not burnt.And the explanation is burning awayon the table in front of you.

Just like a case in France wheremurderers used Chanel No 5, to actas the accelerant to destroy the body.Well, they would in France, wouldn’tthey? You can use cheap junk. Itburns just as well.

The clothes act as the wick, ab-sorbing the body fat (wax) to feed theflame. The wick does not burn untilall the wax has gone. The clotheschar, but do not burn until all thebody fat has gone. This includes thebone marrow. It is small, intenseflame which lasts about five to sevenhours.

The candle on the table modelsexactly this. You will see the ‘clothes’char but not burn as they continue toabsorb the ‘body fat’ and sustain theflame. The legs and arms, withoutthe clothing to act as wick, also lackthe body fat to sustain the flame. Sothey are not consumed unless next tothe body.

I have been astounded how manypeople have confessed to worryingabout spontaneously bursting intoflames. They won’t. If someone whois conscious starts to burn like this,they will just put out the flame.

Astrology — the right signsTrying to explain why astrology isgeneralised and all that stuff, ishard. By far the thing in my wholebook which attracts the most atten-tion is the table, which came via theSkeptic from Sir Jim R Wallaby,waaaay back.

A quick mention that everyone isprobably looking up the wrong sign,which is why their tall, darkstranger never did appear, gets alaugh and the immediate question:what is my correct sign?

Drag out the table. I keep a copywith me.

Why? A simplified answer:The sign of the zodiac is the constel-lation in which the sun rose at thetime of our birth. But the earth’saxis wobbles. The earth rotates onits axis, but that axis isn’t fixed inspace. Over the last 2000 years, thewobble has meant that all signs havemoved about 30 degrees in the sky. Ifyou want to get technical, look up‘precession of the equinoxes’.

An astrologer will immediatelyclaim this is simplified (to which youagree) and that the planets and spe-

cific times all need to be taken intoaccount. So they are agreeing thestar sign doesn’t mean much. Towhich you agree. It is very hard tomake a case for astrology when thestar sign of the individual has noreal significance. It’s main attractionis now lost.

Skeptic’s Alternative MedicineDrug company* profits are highenough. ‘Health food shops’ sell verylittle food or health. They sell lots ofdrugs. Drugs are chemicals in bottleswhich cause some change to thebody. Even if we feel many are to-tally inert, they are chemicals inpills.

The health food shop is the onewith the bananas out the front. Asmost of the people who seek out al-ternative remedies are the walkingwell, we can offer them a better deal.For free!

Sign of the Zodiac Official Dates Current dates

Aries the Ram 21 March 20 April 19 April 13 May

Taurus the Bull 21 April 20 May 14 May 19 June

Gemini the Twins 21 May 21 June 20 June 21 July

Cancer the Crab 22 June 23 July 21 July 9 August

Leo the Lion 24 July 23 August 10 August 15 September

Virgo the Virgin 24 August 23 September 16 September 30 October

Libra the Scales 24 September 23 October 31 October 22 November

Scorpio the Scorpion 24 October 22 November 23 November 29 November

Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder

Who? 30 November 17 December

Sagittarius the Archer 23 November 22 December 18 December 18 January

Capricorn the Goat 23 December 20 January 19 January 15 February

Aquarius the Water Carrier 21 January 19 February 16 February 11 March

Pisces the Fish 20 February 20 March 12 March 18 April

* ’Drug Company’ is a dirty two-word. Pointing out thatBlackmores is a highly profitabledrug company just like all the rest,and we have made the point.


Most people would be very wellserved by following the medical ad-vice:

Each day, take a walk to the fruitshop.

Buy some fresh fruit and vegetables

Walk home.

Consume purchases.

And we have genuine scientificresearch results to back our claims.

Psychic detectives; we take the moralhigh ground.

As soon as a positive upbeat skepticgets the chance, we should stake outanother claim on the moral highground. Psychic detectives give usjust that chance.

Explaining the failure rate is allvery well, but leaves us being ra-tional in the most irrational of cir-cumstances. Someone’s child is miss-ing. They don’t know what hashappened. Anything could be hap-pening and the police have no leads.A psychic sees something. Would youfollow up? I would. Anyone in thatsituation is at the most vulnerable aperson could be.

So let’s hear from someone whohas been there. The words of a fa-ther whose thirteen year old daugh-

ter, Genette Tate, had been missingfor weeks tells what it felt like. JohnTait said:

But the promises of the psychicswere all lies. They raised false hopesin us. At times we really believed wewere onto something… But always,when it came to the crunch, the so-called leads and ideas led absolutelyno-where but into a pit ofdespair.…They were very strongcharacters who were not afraid toassert themselves. They rode rough-shod over our feelings—which werein a desperate state already.

Over 2000 pieces of informationfrom psychics and clairvoyants werepresented to police in this case, andthey followed up on every one ofthem. Twenty five years later, policehave finally identified who theythink killed her. None of the psychicshelped at all. What might have hap-pened if so much police time hadn’tbeen wasted in the weeks followingher disappearance? And more impor-tantly, who can ever justify suchcruelty to her parents?

Using the names in a real casemakes it more human. Statistics offive thousand cases do not have theimpact of the image of one young girlgone missing and never found, andone grieving father.

We skeptics take the moral highground. We feel strongly about what

Preaching

we do because we want to protectpeople like John Tait from such cruelexploitation.

ConclusionI have presented only a few ideashere and would be delighted if aflood of letters to the Skeptic sug-gested more.

I get accused of only tackling theeasy topics. Guilty as charged. It’s allI’m qualified to do. My background isin science. It is science I am defend-ing and I stick to the topics where Ifeel I can draw on solid science.That’s what makes me feel strongand enthusiastic and an emotionalhigh infiltrates the preaching. I canonly preach my way!

If nothing else, I beg you to takethe positive definitions. We skepticsbelieve in things: reality is awesome!

People do not want to join a groupthey consider to be full of cold, ra-tional beings who ridicule those theyconsider less intelligent than them-selves.

In Australia we have a chance toshow the rest of the skeptical worldthat we can take a positive role. Wecan be role models. We can show theworld that being a skeptic is fun anduplifting and people would like to beone of us.

CorrectionsIn the last issue (25:1) we carried anexcellent article, “Psychics DealtOut”, with a grovelling note confess-ing that we had carelessly mislaidthe name of the author and with anappeal to him/her to both identifyhim/herself and to forgive us for ourtreapasses against his/her identity.

We are delighted to say that wehave now been informed that thearticle was written by Laurie Eddie,a psychologist and the Prime Moverof the SA Skeptics.

Our sincerest apologies to Lauriewho, in his own right, is not easy tooverlook, especially given that he, ashis likeness at left will attest, couldeasily pass “in the dark with thelight behind him”, as a close relativeof the Editor (though, arguably, notgiven to penning such complex sen-tences as this one).

The final Letter, in 25:4 “After theConference” was from John August,whose name we unaccountably oblit-erated from the final result.


I’m lying on a luxuriously soft bedwearing a see-through apron. Thelights are on, the camera is rolling.It seems that I have prepared forthis moment all my life. I’m going tobe a film star. I can see them hand-ing me an Oscar. Nicole Kidman, eatyour heart out.

Well that’s one way to start thisstory. Here’s another.

I’m sitting at a table nervesstretched, my mouth dry, my lipsstuck together, counting jelly beans;red ones right, blue ones left, othercolours in the middle. On my fore-head is a band of pink ribbon with ablack jellybean wired into the centre.A pink jellybean earring dangles,swings and dangles energeticallyfrom each ear and I’m wearing ajellybean patterned plastic toddlersapron.

A large corkboard rests on thetable beside me covered with a pieceof lace café curtain —www.healthinformation.com.austands out in bold letters at the top.From left to right across the bottomare pinned three A4 jellybean pat-terned sheets each of which adver-tises a new line of Placebo Products;Jellybean Acupressure Bracelets;Jellybean Pain Management Jewel-

lery and Jellybean DetoxificationPads, each showing a sample of theproducts complete with ribbon andgauze with a single centred wired-injellybean. At the far right of the ta-ble is a glass Irish coffee mug withjellybeans stabbed on the end of ke-bab sticks marked ‘Herbal Tea’. Be-side me is a large open jar of jelly-beans with a label

PLACEBO PILLS proven to be over30% effective in curing EVERY dis-ease & health condition by thou-sands of Double Blind ClinicalTrials all over the world.

Last but not least, a liberal sprin-kling of loose jellybeans spreadaround the table completes thescene.

The young man holding the Chan-nel 9 camera tells me to keep movingthe jellybeans around ‘as thoughthey were pills’. As I do so I know myset-up looks good. All those moneygrabbing manipulative girly partyplan presentations I’ve begrudginglysuffered over the years, in the nameof friendship, are actually paying off.While the display looks great, I don’tneed to ask myself why as a well-educated, professional woman Ishould be telling the world I am the

My MagneticPersonality:Genesis of the Jelly Bean Lady

Loretta Marron, after training inscience and a career in business, hasbranched out into showbiz under thepersona of Jelly Bean Lady.

Taking on quacks at theirown game

Article


Jelly Bean Lady. I know the answeris easy. I’m an Aussie scientist andproud of it. I seek the medical andscientific evidence. I have a mission,a passion, a soapbox — I have some-thing to say and have had for sometime — I’ll do whatever it takes. Andas I push the little coloured lolliesaround I know I’ve been given theopportunity of a lifetime and I’mloving it.

In the beginningThe story doesn’t start there though;it goes back about 2 years. A friendof mine, an electrician, told me hehad bought a magnetic underlay; ithadn’t worked so he returned it. Imade my usual sensitive, concernedand compassionate statement,as I do when being told some-thing that I considerpseudoscientific. “You’ve got tobe joking — how can a piddlinglittle fridge magnet effect paintransmission”. “You have aclosed mind” was his response.Perhaps he was right, Ithought and so started myquest for the holy magneticgrail.

Somewhere in my past, longbefore my computing career, Iwas a young woman who wasmad about science. I am notone to walk away from a chal-lenge, but my Physics degreewas completed well into theprevious century and I knew Ihad a lot to learn. With thehelp of the internet, it wasn’tlong before rusty cogs and creakingwheels started to move inside mybrain and as I started to understandthe wonders of pure physics I wassoon hooked. Sitting at my keyboard,I once again became the 17-year-oldwho used to strut around the cam-pus arguing the mathematical equa-tions of Einstein’s theories, solvingsimultaneous multi-dimensionalequations while pondering the se-crets of the cosmos. In reality I wasback in grade 8 trying to find outhow a simple static magnet worked,but it was all the same to me. Whyhad I wasted all those years makingmoney as a computer professional

when I could have been a happy,starving and broke scientist? I hadto make up for this lost time in mylife, wasted on capitalism and finan-cial ambition.

As I surfed the internet, my scien-tific creative juices started to flowand I soon had folders of articles andreports of facts and figures; energyand electricity; research and ram-blings. A few days later I made thedecision and had defined my project.I would do a topographical profile ofthe magnetic field of an underlay.However, I had a small problem —no magnets and no ways to measurethem. I did find mathematical for-mulas and some basic data anddriven by unbridled optimism andblind faith my experimenting began.

Tooling upAs it was impossible for me to bor-row a Gauss meter to measure mag-netism, I thought I would buy one.Surely it couldn’t cost much morethan an Amp meter? One phone calllater I found I was not smiling. Adirect current (DC) Gauss meterwould cost $5000 with a four-monthwait for it to arrive from the UK.Plan A — Rest in Peace.

Plan B was soon developed. Iwould email, write and phone to seeif anyone would help. All I had to dowas to find other knowledgeablepeople who were mad about magnet-

ism and find them I did. They werewonderful, interesting and inter-ested. Counting the jellybeans as thecamera rolled, I thought about thejourney that had led me to this dayand I was once again lifted by thegenerosity and spirit of some greatpeople from around the world whoeagerly and enthusiastically sharedtheir knowledge and stories with me.

To my great luck and delight therewas Dan Bartman. He lives with hiswife and young daughter in a logcabin in the mountainous wildernessof Colorado, USA, his home poweredby wind generators. Frequentlymoose and deer pass by his frontporch and sometimes he gets snowedin for weeks at a time. His home ishis escape from the rat-race. He

finances this way of life byselling all sizes, shapes andstrength magnets on theinternet and freely offers ad-vice to anyone who emailshim. His clientele includes awide scope of weird and won-derful people who range fromthose who are intent on tryingto make perpetual motion andanti-gravity machines, UFOand crop circle true believers,budding ghost busters, waterpurifiers, DIY magnetichealth product manufacturersand people like himself whowant to generate electricity. Iasked Dan to measure mag-netic fields for me for a rangeof magnets and distancesfrom them and he willinglyemailed me back the informa-

tion. I sent photos back to his daugh-ter of the platypus, koalas and walla-bies that live near my home. It wasall I could do to thank him and hereported back that his daughterloved them. I had found the correcttender for these knowledge basedtransaction and I was paid well forit.

With the information I was given,I completed my mathematical calcu-lations and went out to buy fivesmall rubber balls of a particularsize (smaller than a tennis ball). Ithen cut them in two and wrappedthem in aluminium foil. These, when

The Universal Cure-all

Magnetic Personality


placed on a cotton un-derlay, represented mymagnetic fields over themagnets. I had neverbeen up close to a genu-ine magnetic underlayso I did not know thespacings. A quick trip tomy local pharmacy wasvery productive. Theylet me unwrap the un-derlay and I measuredthe distance betweenthe magnets. From theflea market, an amazingsource of all thingsgreat and small, I founda very shapely clothingdummy that I dressedin a Ken Done bathingcostume that, since re-tiring, no longer seemedto fit me. She had nohead, legs or arms butshe was all I needed toshow that pain centreswere not on the bodysurface, but may beseveral centimetresinside the joint. Thatwas the theory anyway.

Demonstrating the resultMy first demonstrationwas a complete failure.No one understood mysilver balls. The women were moreinterested in the artwork on my KenDone bathers and the men wanted tohave their photos taken with thedummy. She was given the nameEsther and she soon developed a fanclub. She even received severalChristmas cards. She now hangs onmy verandah wall with quite a fewmud wasps nests attached to her —retired and discarded before her lifereally began. My friends had mademe realise that I had to do better.

As happens in life, luck was on myside. Dan came to my rescue. He haddeveloped a portable DC Gauss me-ter and found one in his collectionthat he said was scratched anddented and which he sold me for halfprice, and it was soon heading myway.

The following week I declared toyet another long-suffering friend,tormented by me because he refusedto accept he was a magnetic therapyvictim, that electric train transform-ers had more magnetism than hisunderlay. He responded that hedidn’t want to sleep next to thetransformer. Having made the state-ment about the railway transformerI realised that this could be true.Another part of the holy magneticgrail puzzle had presented itself tobe solved.

In my search for yet another pieceof magnetic trivia I had the pleasureof talking to George, whose surnameI can’t remember. I contacted therailways and they put be through toGeorge. I asked him if there wereany reports on the magnetic fieldsaround railway transformers. He

was ecstatic. When hehad completed hisEngineering degree,his thesis was on theMagnetic Flux arounda suburban railwaystation. He hadwaited over 30 yearsfor someone to askhim about it. Wetalked for over anhour, sharing mag-netic stories, AC ver-sus DC; pulsing ver-sus static; roundversus square — noth-ing to do with mymagnetic underlaysbut riveting stuff for afellow magnet enthu-siast like myself.However, he did con-firm that the mag-netic field near atransformer was infact far greater thanthe magnetic fieldover the underlays.

After two incred-ibly long weeks, myGauss meter arrived.I spent most of thatday playing with mymagnets but I knew Istill had no authenticunderlay magnets. A

few emails later to some of the mag-netic underlay manufacturers andfor the cost of $20, I was rewardedwith 10 barium ferrite 1050 gauss(surface reading) magnets. I was ona roll.

I soon developed a new presenta-tion where I let people read the mag-netism above several types of under-lays that I had purchased from theflea market. I no longer had to con-vince them, they could see the read-ings for themselves. I took everyopportunity with friends, family andeven the occasional stranger, tosomehow manipulate the conversa-tion to bring up the topic of magneticunderlays and out would come mymagnets, my piece of old car seatcover sheepskin and meter. Occa-sionally some people wanted to hear

Jelly Bean Lady displays here wares


what I had to say. It was great. Inthe area 10 cm above a magneticunderlay only a few percent of thevolume had magnetism greater thana fridge magnet and I could prove it.Magnetic underlay pain relief wasall a giant lie. As with the tobaccoindustry knowing about nicotineaddition, the magnetic therapy peo-ple had their own gauss meters andmust have known the diminishedmagnetism over their underlays.

Using the mediaI wrote to 60 Minutes, I wrote toseniors magazines and newspapers, Iwrote to pharmacists. I left mes-sages, emails and faxes but no onecalled or wrote back. No one seemedto care. Placebo was fine. What did itmatter if the pensioners with chronicpain starved themselves to save themoney for an underlay? What did itmatter if these same people wouldnever have the strength or life skillsto return the product? What did itmatter if they believed that theirpharmacists had the interests oftheir elderly customers, and nottheir pockets, at heart when theysold these unproven pain reliefitems, encouraged by the high profiletelevision stars and their persistentand intense advertising, that dailytargeted their vulnerability in sen-iors magazines, on the television andradio. If placebo helped people, leavethem alone. Some people even be-came angry with me. One elderlygentleman was even worried that hispain would return. As I seemed tohave only one topic of conversation, Iwas losing friends rapidly.

Diagnosis and afterThen came my diagnosis of cancer.As the months passed I slowly re-turned to the land of the living. Totake my mind off my treatment Iwrote health booklets and developedthe web site. On the positive side ofthis diagnosis, I met new people,surgeons, oncologists, general practi-tioners, pharmacists and other can-cer patients and they were wonder-ful. I told them about my magneticpassion and my demonstration andoffered to show it to them, but had

no takers. The dust settled on mybeloved Gauss meter and as my website gained popularity, I moved on.

The most amazing person I met inthis phase of my magnetic journeywas Brisbane pharmacist and fellowSkeptic Geraldine Moses. The localsknow her as ‘that woman on the ra-dio’ because she had a radio programthat gave great advice to listenersfor 13 years. Nowadays, she some-how balances a life where she mansthe Adverse Events Hotline, runsCAM education, frequently appearson TV, has just finished a Doctorateof Clinical Pharmacy while support-ing and assisting cancer patients,has a husband and two year old tolook after and still found the time tore-write part of my health booklet,answer my emails, and encourageme on my own journey. During ournumerous phone calls and emails, Itold Geraldine about my passion formeasuring magnetic underlays andof all the people in Australia she wasthe one to tell, because when Bris-bane Extra asked for her advice inthis matter she knew exactly what todo.

‘Every dog has his day’ they sayand, when the phone call camethrough from Geraldine that Chan-nel 9 wanted an anti-magnetic un-derlay enthusiast to appear on aMagnetic Therapy segment, I wasgoing to have mine.

When the day arrived for the film-ing, as the floodlight beamed and thecamera rolled I knew that this was adream of mine come true and, nomatter how silly I looked with myjellybean earrings bobbing around,no matter how close the cameracame to my timeworn and expressiveface and no matter what peoplewould call me in the future, I wasgoing to give it everything I had. Asthe film crew left after a two-hourinterview, which incidently includeda few minutes sitting on the bedcomparing and revealing the jelly-bean and magnetic underlays, Iknew I had done the best I could.

Two days, many phone calls andat least 50 emails later, (thoseemails informing friends, fellowsceptics, seniors newspapers and

websites and the Arthritis Associa-tion, of the content and time I was tobe televised), the segment was aired.I had become the Jelly Bean Lady, acancer survivor; the Physics andMaths graduate who championed thecause against placebo products forseniors, cancer and the financiallychallenged chronically ill patients. Iwas portrayed as a Don Quixote whowas taking on, with humour, intelli-gence and science, the 5 billion dol-lar magnetic underlay industry. For-tunately for me, my video taperecorder was going, because at theend of the segment I rememberednothing except the bobbing earringsand the camera angle that seemed tolook up my magnified nose. While Isat stunned, the champagne corksflew and my friends were cheering.

The next morning, I rewound thetape to watch it quietly on my own.With great relief and appreciationfor a balanced presentation, Iemailed Channel 9 thanking themfor giving me the opportunity to ap-pear on their show.

I never did and never will com-plete my ‘topographical profile of amagnetic field of a magnetic under-lay’; there just isn’t enough magnet-ism emitted for me to measure. Sonow my life has settled back into itsusual haphazard routine and I re-main truly thankful to those champi-ons that, over the last two years,have helped me paddle my own mag-netic canoe. Now, with my jellybeanssafely tucked away in a sealed jar,I’m asking myself whether this is theend of my new career or the begin-ning? Let me hope that in years tocome I can say ‘the rest is history’.That, dear reader, may well be up toyou.

Magnetic Personality


Spinach is one of those foods, alongwith Brussel’s sprouts and pumpkin,that you were forced to eat as achild. Spinach originated in Persiaand had spread to Europe throughthe 16th century. By the time thatClarence Birdseye had found a com-mercial way to sell frozen spinach, ithad become a favourite of Popeye, acartoon character who made his firstappearance on 17 January 1929.Spinach gave Popeye his incrediblestrength and is credited with savingthe US spinach industry in the1930s by creating a one third in-crease in sales, according to the KingFeatures website. Some people withextensive life experience may re-member the Popeye song.

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man

I’m strong to the finich

Cause I eats me spinach

I’m Popeye the Sailor ManDepending on your era, you were

told that spinach made you strong orthat spinach was a good source ofiron and calcium. Quite why spinachbecame promoted as a great sourceof iron and calcium, I’m not sure. Ifyou take a look at the internationalfood tables, 100 grams (1/2 cup) ofcooked spinach provides about 3 mg

iron (Aust); 3.6 mg (US); or 2.1 mg(UK). Compare that to the daily ironneeds of a man (8 mg) and youngwomen (18 mg). That makes spinachsound like a great source of iron.

Unfortunately, spinach has a hugeamount of oxalate, a compound thatgives spinach its bitterness andhelps protect the plant against ex-cess minerals in the soil. The oxalatebinds to iron to form a compoundcalled ferrous oxalate, a compoundthat you cannot digest, hence theiron passes all the way through yourdigestive tract. Our gut absorbs amiserable 1% of the iron in spinach.Now, I wish I had known that when Iwas six!

The 1/2 cup cooked spinach alsoprovides 160 mg calcium, the sameas 150 mL milk. You can see why weare told that spinach is great for thebones. Although we absorb around50% of the calcium in broccoli, cab-bage and kale (Brassica family), and30% of the calcium in milk andcheese, we get access to only 5% ofthe calcium in spinach. Like iron,most of the calcium in spinach isbound to oxalate and we don’t have adigestive enzyme to break the bond,hence the calcium passes straightthrough the bowel. Unlike spinach,the Brassica vegetables do not accu-mulate oxalate.

Spinach is a GoodSource of What?

Glenn Cardwell, sports dietitian, regular Skepticcolumnist and public speaker on meaty mattersnutritional.

Nutrition Myth # 9

Cartoon characters are notnecessarily a good source

of nutritional advice


You will have noted that we don’tabsorb all of the minerals from foodswe eat. If we absorbed 100% of di-etary minerals we would soon end upbecoming a geology sample. In casesof mineral deficiency, the percentageabsorption is higher than the figuresquoted as the body adjusts to re-stock the low levels of the mineral.

The moral is that the mineralcontent of a food does not equate toits bio-availability. Certain com-pounds in other foods can reduce theiron and calcium absorption from thegut. For example. the tannins in teawill bind to iron to form theuncrackable ferrous tannate, hencethe common advice to young womento avoid tea with meals. It is OK tohave tea one hour either side of ameal.

Conversely, vitamin C containingfoods will enhance iron absorption byconverting the difficult-to-absorbferric iron to the preferred absorp-tion state of ferrous iron. This leadspeople to drink orange juice withmeals, sadly forgetting that salads,fruit and lightly steamed vegetablesalso provide vitamin C.

Changing calcium and iron needsIn December 2004, the NationalHealth and Medical Research Coun-cil released an updated version ofthe recommended daily calcium and

iron requirements to reflect recentresearch. Although still in draftform, the current world opinion isthat we require more dietary calciumand iron than previously thought.For many years around 800 mg ofcalcium each day was recommended.This has risen to 1000-1300 mgdaily, depending on your age (seetable). About 7mg of iron a day formen and older women, and 12-15 mgof iron a day for younger women hasnow gone up to 8mg and 18mg re-spectively.

If you don’t drink milk, due to anallergy, intolerance or dislike of milk,make sure you are getting adequatecalcium from other foods. A favouritesource is soy milk, but only if it hasbeen calcium-fortified — check thelabel to make sure it has at least 90mg calcium per 100 mL. Other non-dairy sources are sardines andsalmon (the calcium is in the softbones), almonds and Brazil nuts.

Your best sources of iron are ani-mal foods (eg beef, fish, poultry),except for the egg which has ferriciron and dairy foods which havenext-to-no iron. Vegetarians will getmost of their iron from iron-fortifiedbreakfast cereals, legumes, Brassicavegetables and bread. Milo hasadded iron, helping many teenagersget their iron needs (three teaspoonsin the cup and, if there is no-one elsein the kitchen, one teaspoon straight

into the mouth. All up,about 5 mg of iron).

Spinach is good forsomething

Despite being a poorsource of minerals, spin-ach rates as one of thehighest antioxidant foodson the market, followed bychill pepper, red capsi-cums, turnip tops (yum)and mushrooms. Deter-mining the antioxidantcapacity of fruit and veg-etables depends on thetype of test you employ. Ofthe three assays used inone study, spinach was #1for antioxidants twice.

Spinach is also a wonderful sourceof folate, linked to a lower risk ofheart disease and dementia inadults, as well as being promoted toyoung women to protect the foetus inutero from neural tube defects likespina bifida. Spinach needs to becooked quickly for the greatest reten-tion of this nutrient. Boiling spinachfor four minutes will halve the folatecontent, while steaming for threeminutes does not cause significantfolate loss.

In addition, spinach is high inbeta-carotene, So, forget spinach forminerals — its value seems to bemore for its potential to quell thosemaverick free radicals and keepheart disease, dementia and possiblycancer at bay.

Catherine de Medici left Florence,Italy, in 1533 to become the Queen ofFrance at the age of 14 years. Shewas particularly fond of spinach andrequested it on a daily basis, encour-aging the royal cooks to create newdishes with spinach. Today, a dishmade with spinach often includes‘Florentine’ in its title to honourCatherine’s home town, or so thestory goes.

My tipThere has been a Popeye-inspired,parent-supported spinach conspiracyto get bewildered young children toeat a vegetable that has the flavour

Nutrient Iron mg Calcium mg

Spinach, cooked 100g 3.0 160

Beef, lean 100g 3.8 5

Breakfast cereal, 45g (ave) 3.0 15

Peas, 1/2 cup 1.3 25

Milk, reduced fat 150ml 0 160

Cheese, cheddar 30g 0 240

Broccoli, 1 cup 30g 1.0 30

Baked beans, 1 cup 1.5 90

Recommended Dietary 18 - women; 8 - men 1000Intake (RDI) 1300 women> 55 yr

Spinach


profile of freshly mown lawn clip-pings. Is it a tool of adult domina-tion, or is it a form of child abuse?OK, so I’m being melodramatic, butwe shouldn’t forget that spinach is agreat source of antioxidants andvitamins. For that reason alone, thespinach pie can become a part of ourlongevity plan.

Finally, on parents being cruel totheir kids: Clarence Birdseye, men-tioned in the first paragraph, startedthe General Food Corporation spe-cialising in frozen foods, later to be-come the Birds Eye company. He hada son. He called him Kellogg (yes, asin corn flake). Thankfully, someonemust have spoken to him as henamed his second son Henry.www.glenncardwell.com

References:

www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/popeye/about.htm

Mahan LK, Escott-Stump S. Food,Nutrition & Diet Therapy 11th edi-tion. Saunders 2004

McKillop DJ, Pentieva K, Daly D,McPartlin JM, Hughes J, Strain JJ,Scott JM, McNulty H. The effect ofdifferent cooking methods on folateretention in various foods that areamongst the major contributors tofolate intake in the UK diet. Br JNutr 2002; 88: 681-688

Pellegrini N, Serafini M, Colombi B,Del Rio D, Salvatore S, Bianchi M,Brighenti F. Total antioxidant ca-pacity of plant foods, beverages andoils consumed in Italy assessed bythree different in vitro assays. JNutr 2003; 133: 2812-2819

Shephard S. Pickled, Potted &Canned. Headline 2000

Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, RossAC. Modern Nutrition in Health andDisease. Lippincott, Williams &Wilkins 9th edition, 1999

It was with great pleasure that, at thelast Annual Convention, AustralianSkeptics conferred on Professor ColinKeay the honour of Life Member forexemplary services to the scientificmethod and the cause of Skepticism.

Colin’s long and distinguished ca-reer in astronomy and physics, in-cluded holding positions in the Inter-national Astronomical Union. Hismajor contributions to measuring andunderstanding the meteoroid flux ontothe Earth, culminated in having anasteroid named after him (5007 Keay,discovered in 1990). He is currentlyHonorary Research Associate in Phys-ics at the University of Newcastle.

Colin has oftenchosen the path ofresponsible sciencewhen there has been amuch easier pathavailable. Oppose nu-clear power and youwill immediately havea large following, aroute taken by commu-nity groups, some poli-ticians, and even “experts”. This hasled to a large number of myths becom-ing ingrained into our culture, such asthousands being killed at theChernobyl accident, hundreds of thou-sands being condemned to die of can-cer, not to mention horrific birth de-fects. The resulting fear of anythingnuclear has forced governments tocontinue building more coal-firedpower stations, thus condemningthousands to die in coal mines andhastening climate change. HoweverColin visited a research station in theChernobyl fallout area and has foundout the facts. His Nuclear Issues seriesof books, including Nuclear RadiationExposed are devoted to dispelling suchmyths, and presenting the science interms anyone can understand.

In my job in a spaceport project, wehad to report all environmental effectsof launching rockets, and adopt meas-ures to mitigate them. This includedpollution in the interplanetary spaceenvironment. I was delighted to find a

Life Membership for Colin Keay

familiar name on the internationalregulatory panel.

Nor has Prof Keay shied from novelor difficult problems. There was a two-century-old mystery involving reportsthat some people can hear a hiss whileseeing a large meteor descend throughthe air in the distance, whereas soundwaves would be expected to take manyminutes to reach them. The problemwas solved when Prof Keay showed(Science, 1980), by analysis and testson 44 subjects, that low frequencyradio waves could be generated in thefireball wake and then converted intosound in the person’s skin or spectacleframes.

On the skepticalfront, Colin joinedCSICOP in 1979, andAustralian Skeptics in1983. He founded andhas sustained theHunter Skeptics for 19years, and the AnnualConventions held therehave always been a suc-cess. He is not averse to

setting up some trickery to showattendees and media how easy it is todeflect compass needles etc, hopefullyGeller-proofing them.

In the 1990’s Colin led efforts todebunk devices marketed with aclaimed scientific basis. The first wasthe so-called “electronic antenna” fortelevision sets, which was no moreeffective than a piece of wire. Then in1998 followed “Pest Free”, whichclaimed to repel cockroaches withmagnetic fields (when was the lasttime you saw a cockroach keel overwhen it neared a power cord?). Colintried for 4 years to prod the ACCC intoaction. Instead, Pest Free weregranted $42,000 of taxpayers money tostart exporting.

The road to skeptical enlighten-ment is not always the easiest to fol-low, but Prof Colin Keay’s skill andpersistence over the decades has donemuch for the causes of science andSkepticism.

Ian Bryce

Announcement


Fallacy virus infecting egghead brainsshock!

I have been a teacher in tertiaryinstitutions for more than two dec-ades. Over that time some of myattitudes and priorities have evolvedand shifted. In particular, I haveincreasingly focused on a deepertreatment of fundamental intellec-tual skills — rather than chasing thechimera of ever-expanding content.Content is subject to ceaselesschange and evolution. Sometimesthis change is due to increasedknowledge in a domain, sometimesthis change has more to do withfashion, and the lure of the noveland innovative. In contrast, intellec-tual skills are essential tools whichretain their utility over the longterm, and enable new content to betested, examined critically andplaced on a firm foundation.

I find that I have to directly ad-dress intellectual skills in my teach-ing, because students may not havehad much exposure to these skills intheir previous studies. In my view,this was not always so. In my earli-est years of tertiary teaching, when(for example) I named a commonfallacy in my feedback on a student’sessay, no supplementary explanation

was usually necessary. If I pointedout that a student had committedone of the “seven deadly sins” in aparticular passage (begging thequestion, false analogy, false di-chotomy, straw man, poisoning thewell, special pleading, unfoundedgeneralisation), I had no need toelaborate. No explanation of thefallacy, or justification of my criti-cism was necessary. Common falla-cies were common knowledge, andonce a student’s attention had beendirected to the fallacy, he or sherarely needed further explanation.

Incremental change is often diffi-cult to pin down, so I couldn’t say“when” knowledge about fallacies inthinking ceased to be a common cur-rency of intellectual discourse amongstudents enrolled in the arts, hu-manities and social sciences. Myresponse to this incremental shiftwas itself incremental. I taught fal-lacies at whatever level I felt wasnecessary at the time. Informallyand incidentally at first, but increas-ingly as part of the formally specifiedoutcomes of my courses. I am stillsometimes taken aback at the lack ofcommon knowledge of such termsamong my students (mostly thirdand fourth year students enrolled ina Bachelor of Education degree).

Jef Clark, who teaches teachers how to teach,masquerades as an academic at GriffithUniversity, and is the co-author of Humbug!

Some Faculty inSome Faculties haveLost their Faculties

Comprehensively critiquingcritical comprehension

in the academy

Feature


However on reflection, it is not reallysurprising that so many of my stu-dents have not been exposed to suchconcepts before. In order to havebeen exposed to such concepts, theywould have to have been exposed tofaculty who would themselves haveto be familiar with such concepts. (Ithink I may have used too manyhaves in the preceding sentence.) Onthe anecdotal evidence at least,many academics are entirely unfa-miliar with hitherto commonly un-derstood fallacies. In some cases,they are not just unfamiliar withfallacies, they may even employthese fallacies with enthusiasm intheir own writing and lecturing, andapplaud the appearance of such fal-lacies in the writings of their stu-dents.

Some in-house documents at myuniversity, and verbal exchanges atmeetings at which I am present areliberally sprinkled with fallacies.Clearly, I can’t give actual examplesto back up my claims, you’ll justhave to take my word for it. Or not— please yourself. However, manyprofoundly flawed pontifications bydeluded academics escape the acad-emy, and can be savoured by inter-ested observers. Almost every week Isee or hear public statements byacademics on social, cultural, andpolitical issues which betray a lackof clarity of thought and quality ofreasoning. Some of my students maynot have encountered unreasoningacademics in their previous studies.They are the lucky ones. The un-lucky ones may have been subjectedto a string of unthinking ideologueswhose own education was defective.When academics are ill-educated,they are not really in a position tooffer their students anything of sub-stance or lasting worth. Given thesecircumstances, it is not really sur-prising that students’ prior knowl-edge about fallacies in thinkingwhen they enter my courses isunsystematic, piecemeal, incompleteor absent altogether.

The following excerpt is from adiscussion thread on wacky academ-ics. It was posted in May 2005 on ablog I visit fairly frequently for en-

tertainment purposes. The commentwas prompted by a post on the sur-prising lack of education manifestedby many of the well-credentialled. Itsummarises my perceptions well.

Actually, (this incident involvingDoctor “X”)... brings home the sadfact that these days, at least in theAnglosphere, you can progress rightthrough the academic history milland remain profoundly ignorant.One of the most ignorant people I’veever known had her PhD in history.She could blather about discoursesand hegemons, but the lightest liter-ary or historical allusion in conver-sation — the small change ofcultural reference between educatedadults — sailed a mile over herhead, unregarded.

In the discussion to follow, I willuse examples at various points toillustrate common types of problemsin academe. The examples are essen-tially fictional, but have a rounda-bout and tenuous link to an actualsituation which I have encountered,or a situation which was madeknown to me by a trustworthy col-league.

Well Duh!Stan Dard-Twytte is an associateprofessor in the School of SocialWork at Walladumpdung University(formerly Walladumpdung TechnicalHigh School and Teachers’ College).He is appearing as an expert com-mentator on Gotcha Sleasebag — atelevision current affairs programbroadcast in the early evening afterthe news. He has been asked to com-ment on the proposition that “we arewrapping our teenagers in cottonwool”. His recommendation:

We should allow 12-year olds towalk, cycle and catch public trans-port on their own, because if wedon’t, we’re creating enormous prob-lems for them — in particular, howwill they know how to do thesethings when they’re 13 or 14 — oreven 15! — if they don’t learn how todo them when they’re 12?

This infantile non-sequitur is trot-ted out with a degree of certitude

befitting the Oracle of Delphi. Thepresenter adopts an eloquent facialexpression which manages to conveyboth gratitude for the good profes-sor’s appearance and awe at theprofundity of the insight. She says:“Thank you so much Professor foryour thoughts”.

I happen to be watching. I am soengrossed in this exchange that ittakes me some time to realise thatmy lower jaw is still hanging open.This is an example to be treasured. Iam inspired. To write this article.The first, and easiest decision wasthe title: Some faculty (academicswith little self-knowledge or generalknowledge) in some faculties (chieflythe social sciences and humanities)have lost their faculties (criticalthinking skills).

Serendipity, life history and criticalthinking

As a first year undergraduate stu-dent undertaking an Arts degree atthe University of New South Wales, Ihad the good fortune to be enrolledin a tutorial group run by ProfessorFrank Crowley, then Professor ofHistory and later Dean of the Fac-ulty of Arts. His tutorials were al-ways a remarkable experience.Frank applied merciless scrutiny tothe ill-considered assertions of un-der-prepared students. His“blowtorch to the belly” approach,once experienced, was never forgot-ten. A common tactic was to demol-ish a student’s tutorial paperthrough relentless analytical ques-tioning. Just when Frank seemed tohave put forward a watertight caseagainst the student’s thesis, hewould re-examine his own critiqueand expose the weaknesses in hisown position. Students were neverpermitted to remain within a self-satisfied comfort zone. This approachtaught us to examine every proposi-tion carefully; to be very guarded inour opinions; and to carefullymarshall facts, warrants and argu-ments before asserting a conclusion.Frank’s tutorials were a heady mix-ture of anxiety and exhilaration. Andin my own case, the lessons I learnedabout unwarranted assertions and


half-baked opinions have never beenforgotten. In retrospect, I was prob-ably very fortunate in experiencingthis approach. Recent enquiries ofother students who were enrolled inhistory at the same time as I wassuggests that their tutors did nothave similar effects on them. Do dudtutors equal dud history?

At the University of NSW at thattime I also studied a compulsorysubject called History and Philoso-phy of Science 1. It was a subject Ihad no prior interest in, and wouldnot have studied without compul-sion. It was compulsory for all artsstudents because it was UNSWpolicy at that time to ensure that allundergraduate students should havesome basic knowledge in domainsthey would not normally encounterin their degree programs. HPS wasburdensome to many of my arts de-gree peers, but proved to be the mostinteresting course I have ever stud-ied, and it led to a sub-major and along-standing interest in epistemol-ogy in general, the epistemology ofscience in particular, and the evolu-tion of science as an intellectual andpractical enterprise.

Perhaps the nature and extent ofmy exposure to critical thinking —particularly the capacity to recognisefallacies in informal logic, was amatter of serendipity rather than aninevitable consequence of standardcurriculum content and widespreadconsensus among educators on foun-dation skills. My background mayhave led to me to suppose that most,if not all students who had com-pleted secondary school and one oftwo years of university study (ataround the same time as I had done),would have been exposed to criticalthinking at a comparable level. Per-haps not.

Perhaps I gravitated towardslearning experiences which placed ahigh priority on argument and criti-cal thinking. Or perhaps I had areadiness to absorb such materialand incorporate such skills into myapproach to learning. It may be alittle of both. My interest in argu-mentation, argument analysis andtechniques of persuasion may have

led to my seeking involvement indebating — as a participant when Iattended high school, and as a debat-ing coach when I taught at highschool. In turn, my experiences as aparticipant in, and coach of debatingmay have led to a heightened aware-ness of fallacies in thinking. Ofcourse, my friends and colleagueshave suggested that my motivationin volunteering so readily for debat-ing was an aversion to sport. I main-tain that my motivation was attrac-tion to debating rather thanavoidance of any form of physicalactivity (although the latter is stillan important priority for me).

Some reflections on the parlous stateof the written assignment

I use the broad label “written assign-ment” rather than the more usual“essay” in the subheading above be-cause to some traditionalists, the useof “essay” to describe a typical un-dergraduate effort is tantamount toblasphemy. In my own case, I use“critical commentary” in preferenceto “essay”, as this designation for thewritten assignment unambiguouslycaptures my intent. A critical stanceis expected in all assessment compo-nents and all learning activies in allof my courses. The following is anexcerpt from one of my course out-lines, which summarises my generalposition.

A note on the approach to teachingand learning used in this course

Students will be expected to criti-cally appraise the topics covered inthis course. Content on the topicscovered will be encountered in theassigned text, required readings, theworkbook, other supplementary ma-terials, the students’ own research,lectures, seminars, workshops andassessments. Whenever such contentis discussed, read or written about,students should analyse and evalu-ate the material, not simply accept itat face value. Explicit guidance oncritical thinking skills will be givento students throughout the semester.All students are expected to employthose skills in all learning tasks.

The type of written assignment Iset is also calculated to reduce thelikelihood of my students engagingin one of the cruder forms of plagia-rism — recycling or trading of as-signments. The scale of plagiarismin Australian universities is largelyunknown, but anecdotal evidencesuggests that it is widespread. Elec-tronic detection systems can be usedto check text-matches between stu-dent assignments and pre-existingmaterial on the web, but the avail-ability of such systems is sporadic atbest. In my Academic Activity Logfor 2002 I raised the problem of pla-giarism, and indicated that I in-tended to implement a partial solu-tion. The relevant extract is quotedbelow.

I... set assignments which areunique to my courses. In effect, allessay-type assignments I now setinvolve critical analysis of one ortwo specified articles (rather than amore generic topic). It is widelyknown among those who investigatethese matters that generic topics aretraded widely.

It should be noted that the criticalcommentary is unlike a typical essayin another respect. A typical essay isoften about the student demonstrat-ing skills in retrieving informationand synthesising information from alarge number of sources. It could besaid that this is the zeitgeist of es-say-writing in a postmodern context.The critical commentaries I set man-date a very restricted set of re-sources. I like to think that my stu-dents are digging for gold (deepanalysis of a few sources) ratherthan piling up the manure (synthe-sising a point of view from a largenumber of sources). I distinguish myapproach by characterising it as“pre-ancient”. An essentially mean-ingless term which I coined for nobetter reason than to position myselfas far away from postmodernism asit is possible to get. I also enjoy agood pun.

The critical commentaries I setthus avoid one potential source ofplagiarism — recycling of assign-ments — because the topic of the

Faculties


essay in any par-ticular semester isvery likely to beunique. A criticalcommentary onthree specifiedarticles on motiva-tion for example, isspecific to thosearticles. An essayon motivation perse on the otherhand, is likely tobe set year afteryear in a verylarge number ofteacher-educationcourses worldwide.Such essays can bestored in retrievalsystems andtraded.

However thereis another problemwhich I can donothing about —delusional or con-sciously fraudulentuse of a co-writer,“editor”, or ghost writer. In prepara-tion for this article I followed up on adodgy A4 flier posted up on open-usenotice boards all over my campus.The flier offered an “editing” servicefor students. It described the servicein general terms, and incorporatedtear-off tabs with website addressand telephone contact number. Manystudents had clearly responded tothese notices, as most tear-off tabshad been torn off. I logged on to thewebsite to see what was on offer. Thefollowing testimonials from studentswho had used the service were inter-esting.

I got 37 out of 40, which is 93% inPsychology... now I am proud andvery satisfied paying the fee andreceiving such an incredible rewardfrom my lecturers.

I got my essay back. I got an A. TheProfessor said the essay was verywell written. Thank you.

I can only say that this was the best$330 I have spent this year — I

should have sent you my work ear-lier... the difference from a profes-sionally edited paper is thedifference between a B and an A.

Thank you so much for editing mythesis. I have checked the thesis withmy supervisor and we noted a bigdifference between the original andthe edited version.

I have fairly poor writing skills...What a nice job you have done forme. Thanks again for helping me!

Your team did a superb job with mylast assignment, I received 90% forit!

I am very appreciative of what myeditor did for me. My assignmentlooks much better than it was. It ismore critical and fluent. My unitcoordinator has criticised my lack ofcritical thinking in the past so I amvery pleased with the editing.

I received my summer result yester-

day and I got adistinction! Thankyou!

Thank you! Thankyou! Thank you!Essay reads won-derfully, you guysare miracle workers!

Thank you verymuch for your won-derful service. I amsure that I will beusing your servicethroughout the 5years of my uni life.

It’s difficult to tellin some caseswhether the studentmaking the particu-lar comment is con-sciously engaged infraudulent conduct(and shamelesslycelebrating the fact);or merely deluded.For example, the

comment “I am proud and very satis-fied paying the fee” might suggestpride derived from successfully de-ceiving the marker, or pride in en-gaging in a successful collaborativeeffort (it’s all about the quality of theassignment people, not nit-pickingand quibbling about whose brainwrote how much of it).

Some faculty may not be in a positionto judge the quality of student work

In order to foster truth-seeking intheir students, academics need to betruth-seekers themselves. Truth-seeking involves both a habit ofmind (a disinterested search fortruth) and a set of intellectual skills(the capacity to make a distinctionbetween Shinola and another sub-stance with a similar colour andtexture). At my university for exam-ple, there is a policy on genericskills. These are skills which aredeemed to be so important that allfaculty in all faculties must takeresponsibility for addressing theseskills in their courses — no matterwhat the substantive content of the


course. One such skill is analysisand critical evaluation. But what ifsome faculty are lacking in this fac-ulty? Academic staff who themselveslack a capacity for critical thinkingwould in my view be unable to fostersuch an outcome in their students.Perhaps they would not even be ableto recognise such an outcome if theysaw it. Perhaps some would evenpenalise any threatening outbreakof critical thinking in their students.

The woolly-headed excesses ofacademics in Australia and else-where are well-known to many inthe “community of skeptics”. TheSokal hoax for example, became thesubject of mainstream reportage,and was widely celebrated by dedi-cated debunkers. Skeptics wouldalso enjoy a visit to Australia’sWackiest Academic Websites totrawl for examples of academics andgraduate students engaging in un-conscious self-satire. Some repre-sentative titles:

The space of the urinal;

The phantasmatic dimension ofembodiment among German cross-dressers;

Tattooing is just a literalist processof marking and being marked,which is really what life is;

What an arse can do: affect, time,and intercorporeal transformation;

Queering the city: sexuality, urbanspace and commodification;

Freaks. A study of human anoma-lies.

While some of these titles mighthave disguised a worthwhile article,my suspicions about the quality ofreasoning were confirmed when Idownloaded and read many of thearticles. The articles were clearlyintended to be serious contributionsto knowledge, but in fact they arelargely indistinguishable from adeliberate hoax. The writers of thesearticles presumably presume to as-sess their students’ own writing. It

could be argued that on the evidenceof some of these articles, they arenot in a position to do so. For thoseskeptics with a hankering to hoax, itis now very easy to write a com-pletely bogus article using softwarethoughtfully provided on websitessuch as Postmodernism Generator.It’s worth a visit, just to get a handleon the genre. Some contextual infor-mation from the site:

The essay you have just seen is com-pletely meaningless and was ran-domly generated by thePostmodernism Generator. To gen-erate another essay, follow this link.If you like this particular essay andwould like to return to it, follow thislink for a bookmarkable page. ThePostmodernism Generator waswritten by Andrew C. Bulhak usingthe Dada Engine, a system for gen-erating random text from recursivegrammars, and modified veryslightly by Josh Larios (this ver-sion, anyway. There are others outthere). This installation of the Gen-erator has delivered 1634040 essayssince 25/Feb/2000, when it becameoperational.

It is easy to poke fun at obviouslyabsurd academics pursuing absurdarcana and delusional agendas.That is why I do it. However, de-luded academics who might seemreasonable on casual acquaintance,or whose papers might seem credibleon first reading are of more concern.I will now recount a heavily dis-guised example by way of illustra-tion. The example is faithful to theoriginal in terms of the extent andcharacter of the woolly thinkingexhibited by the academic in ques-tion. However it is sufficiently re-moved from the original to avoid anypossibility that the person, facultyor institution could be identified.Having said that, if any readers ofthis article believe that they knowwho the person who inspired thisexample is, they are invited to con-tact me and name the person. Ifthey guess correctly, I may confirmthe guess or I may not. If they guessincorrectly, I may lie and say that

they have guessed correctly — or Imay not. It really depends on mymood at the time.

An instructive case

Eunice Eagerbeaver and the greatHaiku scam

Eunice Eagerbeaver is a senior lec-turer in Nursing at WalladumpdungUniversity. She is very keen on po-etry, and finds that reading andwriting poetry is a solace to herwhen she is feeling low, and an in-spiration to her when she is feelinghigh. Her favourite form is theHaiku. She thinks that everyonecould benefit from more poetry intheir lives. She believes that theonly reason more people don’t readand write Haiku is because they areignorant of its benefits. She is aproselytiser for the form, and usesevery opportunity which presentsitself to persuade others to her view.

She has recently won a researchgrant which she believes will “reallyput Haiku on the map”. In her ap-plication, she states that she willexamine the effectiveness of Haikuas an aid to reflection on praxis bystudent nurses. She will test thehypothesis that the composition ofHaiku by student nurses after anursing shift will help them “inter-nalise their experiences, andprompt deeper reflection on theirpraxis”. As it happens, the panelreviewing research grant applica-tions has enough arts wankers on itto ensure the success of her applica-tion. The funds will allow her torecruit paid volunteers from amongher nursing students — her “sub-jects” for the research are all stu-dents in her classes.

She puts out the call for volun-teers in her actual classes, and thefollowing week she has ample re-cruits to the study. She distributes abooklet on writing Haiku and aHaiku Diary to her volunteers; andgives them two tutorials on theform. In her tutorials she can’t helpproselytising on the benefits ofHaiku, and canvassing her hopes

Faculties


for the study. Sheseems unable to dis-tinguish between“testing a hypoth-esis” and “hard-sell-ing a hypothesis”.

The subjects go offfor a four-week fieldplacement in hospi-tals all over thestate. They are ex-pected to write asingle Haiku poemafter every shift,which “captures”their emotional andintellectual re-sponses to their ex-periences. NickBoodle, one of hersubjects was tootired after a longshift to do what wasrequired of him.However he and hisgirlfriend didn’t wantto miss out on themoney, so his girlfriend wrote thepoems and Nick signed them. Nickwasn’t bothered by ethical consid-erations because he was pretty surethe study was inconsequential, andfatally compromised by poor designand implementation from the out-set.

Nick duly presents himself alongwith his Haiku log for the data-gathering interview. The interviewis conducted by Eunice the Haikuenthusiast. Nick is asked open-ended questions about the utilityand value of the Haiku-writing ex-perience — as a means of gaininginsights into his nursing practicum.The questions are leading, sugges-tive of the “right” response, and thedemeanour of the researcher can beread like an open book. Eunice isobviously keen when Nick’s com-ments affirm the value of Haiku.Nick’s only awkward moments comewhen he can’t remember the gist ofsome of his girlfriend’s Haikus. Hefakes it, and both researcher andsubject are pleased with the out-come of the interview. Eunice getsthe right results, and Nick gets thecheque. Nick is also mindful that he

has yet to submit his essay toEunice, and that she will be mark-ing both his essay and exam. Hisview is that it could be problematicfor his progression in Eunice’scourse if he is brutally frank andexpresses his real feelings about theutility of Haiku poetry in encourag-ing reflections about his nursing.

In due course, Eunice writes upher research and submits her the-sis. The thesis examiners are pru-dently chosen by her thesis commit-tee and she is duly awarded herPhD — some two years after theresearch recounted above. She con-tinues her investigations into theeffectiveness of Haiku poetry inpromoting high-level reflections anddeep insights into nursing praxis. Indue course, and after diligent self-promotion and relentless network-ing, she gains an internationalreputation and promotion to fullProfessor. Haiku journals are now amandatory feature of all practicumprograms at Walladumpdung, andEunice is often asked to act as anexternal paid consultant when otheruniversities attempt to implementher approach.

Academics are just likepeople — flawed

Academics, like otherpeople, have opinions.Also like other people,they like their opinionsto prevail. Some aca-demics may use theirpresumed status asdisinterested scholarsto add weight and ap-parent credibility totheir opinions. No-where is this morestrikingly evident thanwhen an academic withhigh honours in (say)quantum physics,trades on those hon-ours when he or shepresumes to commenton entirely unrelatedfields such as socialwelfare, drink driving,aged pensions, freerange eggs or the

Catholic Church. In my view suchacademics are often encouraged topontificate on matters beyond theirremit by the unwarranted respectaccorded to their half-bakedmusings by a compliant media.

While most academics are justlike people, there is a larger propor-tion of strange people among aca-demics than would be found in thegeneral population. Many academ-ics: (a) manifest subtle abnormali-ties in social interactions; (b) areoften preoccupied with narrow andobsessive interests; and (c) maymanifest abnormalities of personal-ity (such as a highly idiosyncraticsense of humour). This is in fact adescription of Asperger’s Syndrome.It’s nice to know that if treatmentcan’t be found for this syndrome,sufferers will find a sympatheticsetting in which to live out theirlives (as faculty in a faculty).

When I first began to masqueradeas an academic (I only pretend tohave Asperger’s Syndrome in orderto blend in), I presumed that my co-workers would be unusually intelli-gent, and well-educated. While someare, many are not. I soon found that


my colleagues were in fact very di-verse (apart from the unusual fre-quency of Asperger’s Syndrome).Even seniority in academe provednot to be an infallible indicator ofhigh levels of intelligence or breadthof education. Seniority seems to meto be primarily a function of: (a) acapacity for hard work; (b) a hightolerance of boredom; (c) an unques-tioning compliance with institution-ally specified criteria for promotion;and (d) a severely circumscribedsocial life. A high level of intelli-gence could help in gaining senior-ity, but it is clearly not essential. Onthe other hand, a capacity for criti-cal thinking could be a distinct dis-advantage. But I would say that,wouldn’t I.

While many of my commentsabove might seem like special plead-ing, they are not. Trust me — thesecomments are based on subtleinsights — if you can’t see that, thenI can’t help you. If you had my finesensibilities you would realise thatthis is not an outrageously blatantinstance of special pleading.

Academics in vocationally-ori-ented degree programs have poten-tially greater credibility problemsthan those working in more theo-retical or conceptual domains. I ama lecturer in a teacher educationdegree, and I teach classroom man-agement. While I honestly thinkthat I was an effective teacher in mytime, after so many years in thesheltered workshop (academe), Iwould hate to have to manage adifficult junior high school classunder the critical scrutiny of mystudents. Fortunately I don’t haveto. I simply tell my students whatthey should be doing when they be-gin their five week practice teachingblock. If what I tell them to dodoesn’t work, that’s their problem.

Teacher-educators are not theonly academics with this fundamen-tal credibility problem. A lecturer inJustice Studies telling operationalpolice how to do their jobs, or a lec-turer in Business Studies tellingstudents how to get rich have thesame problem. In fairness to aca-

demics, this type of credibility prob-lem is commonplace beyond theacademy. There are plenty of liter-ary critics who could never write anovel, and plenty of theatre criticswho can’t act, direct or produce aplay.

Humbug-hunting students may beable to foster critical thinking in

facultyAcademe can be a rewarding andenjoyable trade, but one needs tohave the right attitude. I think myenjoyment is founded on a well-honed sense of the ridiculous, anappreciation of unconscious irony, areadiness to engage in shamelesshypocrisy, and a commitment tosubverting the dominant paradigm.All of these foundations of my enjoy-ment are enabled and facilitated bythe book I wrote with my son Theo(Humbug! The skeptic’s field guide tospotting fallacies in thinking). Read-ers of the Skeptic journal over thelast year or so may be familiar withthe nature of the book, and our in-tentions in writing it. So I won’treiterate such matters here (moreinformation is available on thewebsite of The Australian Skepticswww.skeptics.com.au). However, Iwill say that I have used the newedition of Humbug for the first timethis semester in my teaching, and itseems to have created a small cadreof humbug-hunting students.Whether these students use theirhumbug-hunting skills for good(subverting the dominant paradigm)or evil (winning arguments) is up tothem. However anecdotal evidencesuggests that some faculty who en-counter these students in their fu-ture studies might be in for a rudeshock — and in the process mightgain some knowledge and skills incritical thinking. I will leave it tosome of my students to have the lastword.

Selected student responses to anopen-ended question which askedstudents to comment on their reflec-tions on teaching and learning (se-mester 1 2005).

My suspicions about academic writ-ing have been validated.

As for understanding fallacies inarguments I have to say that now Icannot watch the news or read anewspaper without identifying falla-cies in their articles or their report-ing. I appreciate the time taken... toassist us in identifying these falla-cies within an argument.

It was not until this course that as astudent I experienced first hand theimportance of deconstructing whatone is reading. By reading Humbug!I feel as though I have been giveninsight into the many styles of writ-ing I as a teacher will face.

This semester has also opened myeyes to academic writing, and how alot of what we read can be outrightrubbish. This is due to the lack ofresearch and made up argumentsleading the reader to false conclu-sions.

Finally, I found learning about thefallacies that academics and othersoccasionally try to use helpful as thiswill help me to be more cautiouswhen told something in the future, tonot just accept it, and to give a nameto things that don’t sound or readquite right.

With the Humbug activities I learnthow to deconstruct other peoples’rhetoric with precise tools for label-ling what I previously only felt at aninstinctual level. Of course newspa-per articles and TV reporting con-tain glaring errors, but thedeconstruction of academic writingwas the most fun. Being able to teardown an emeritus professor is notsomething I would have attemptedbefore.

Faculties


I knew that the Australian Vaccina-tion Network (AVN) are dedicated tobringing the latest science on vacci-nation to the public. I knew this be-cause the AVN said so, and theywould never lie, would they? TheAVN claim on their website1:

The majority of our information isfrom mainstream medical sources —the same sources that doctors need toaccess before advising their patients.

And:

Information is based on the bestavailable resources.

Now some unkind people call menaïve, bringing up yet again theanti-gravity machine I bought from aman in a pub2, and scoffing at myacceptance of what the AVN say. Soin an idle moment, (which doesn’toccur very often if one is a farmerwhose life’s work is dedicated to get-ting the most out of every govern-ment subsidy for farmers), I checkedout what the AVN thought of a re-cent major article in the New Scien-tist issue March 5, 20053 “Autismrises despite MMR ban in Japan”which begins:

A study of more than 30,000 chil-dren in Japan should put the finalnail in the coffin of the claim thatthe MMR (combined measles mumpsand rubella) vaccine is responsible

for the apparent rise in autism inrecent years.

It goes on to say:

The study shows that in the city ofYokohama the number of childrenwith autism continued to rise afterthe MMR vaccine was replaced withsingle vaccines. … “The findings ...are resoundingly negative,” saysHideo Honda of the Yokohama Re-habilitation Center.

With his colleagues Yasuo Shimizuand Michael Rutter of the Instituteof Psychiatry in London, Hondalooked at the records of 31,426 chil-dren born in one district ofYokohama between 1988 and 1996.The team counted children diag-nosed as autistic by the age of 7.They found the cases continued tomultiply after the vaccine with-drawal, ranging from 48 to 86 casesper 10,000 children before with-drawal to 97 to 161 per 10,000 after-wards. The same pattern was seenwith a particular form of autism inwhich children appear to developnormally and then suddenly regress— the form linked to MMR byWakefield4.

Honda concludes that the vaccine:

cannot have caused autism in themany children with autism spec-

Anti-VaccinationRatbaggery

Ken McLeod is a retired Air Traffic Controllerand Search And Rescue Co-ordinator. He isnow a boutique farmer on the NSW SouthCoast and recently lost his whole flock oflivestock when both his sheep died.

Seeking to find facts fromfanatics is frequently

futile

Investigation


trum disorders in Japan who wereborn and grew up in the era whenMMR was not available

I was sure that such good newswould be headlined on the AVNwebsite, shouted from the rooftopsno less. Here was the evidence thatany responsible parent needed toproceed with vaccinating their childagainst those devastating, some-times, deadly, diseases. Strangely,despite my faith in the Anti-Vaccina-tion Network, I could find no men-tion of the good news on the AVNwebsite, just the same old stuff like:

... there will be some very interestingresearch released over the next cou-ple of months regarding the connec-tion between MMR vaccination andthe development of autism …

No mention of the New Scientistarticle and no mention of the origi-nal report published in Journal ofChild Psychology and Psychiatry5.So, putting this week’s applicationfor a government subsidy in thepending file, I did a little bit ofGoogling and found that the samenews, quoting extensively from NewScientist and the Journal of ChildPsychology and Psychiatry, had beenwidely published by such organisa-tions as:

• Archives of Disease in Child-hood6;

• UK National Health Service7;

• World Health Organisation8;

• Institute for the Advancementof Social Work Research9;

• The Howard Center for FamilyReligion and Society10;

• The Schafer Autism Report11.

Strangely, also, there was also nomention on the AVN website of anearlier ABC Health Report article ofTuesday July 22, 2003 titled “Au-tism, MMR vaccine link dismissed instudy”12. No mention also of the re-search papers listed by the Austral-ian Dept of Health and Aging intheir paper “Immunisation Myths”13

showing no link between MMR vac-cine and autism. Indeed, the Inter-net is awash with scientific reports14

dating back over seven years, de-bunking the supposed link betweenMMR vaccine and autism.

Even stranger, there was no men-tion on the AVN website thatWakefield’s findings have been dis-proved by further studies and that itwas revealed later that when hepublished his paper he failed to re-veal that he was taking money fromthe UK Legal Aid Board, which waspaying him to discover, on behalf ofparents hoping to sue for damages,whether or not the jab was harmful.No mention also that in November2003 Dr Simon Murch — one of theco-authors of Wakefield’s 1998 paper— stated in a letter to the Lancetthat there is now ‘unequivocal’ evi-dence that there is no link betweenMMR and autism.

There was also no mention by theAVN of a comparison between therisks associated with the MMR vac-cine and catching the diseases. TheUK NHS has published this as fol-

lows15 comparing the risks associ-ated with the MMR vaccine with therisks of measles (see table below).

But the AVN website did say:

Some countries such as Japan havestopped using the combination vac-cine because of the increased risk.

Now, with a little more Googlingeven a klutz like me can find outthat’s not true. I found that Japanwithdrew the MMR vaccine in April1993 (five years before Wakefield’spaper) because of the perceived risk,following reports that the anti-mumps component was causingmeningitis, not because of an “in-creased risk” as the AVN would haveyou believe. To the AVN, there mightnot be much difference between “in-creased risk” and “reports”, but to arational person, there is quite a dif-ference. I have received reports ofleprechauns at the bottom of mygarden, but that doesn’t mean theyare there. Those responsible for pub-lic health may take pre-emptive ac-tion on the basis of “reports” andthen research the issue until it isbetter understood whether an in-creased risk does or does not exist,then they make appropriate deci-sions in light of the evidence. Thatdoes not validate the AVN’s claims of“increased risk.”

So what was going on at the AVN?While not many people make a habitof reading everything from the Insti-tute for the Advancement of SocialWork Research over their breakfasts,New Scientist can be found in everynewsagent, the ABC on every radio,and the Australian Dept of Health’s

Condition

Convulsions

Encephalitis or Meningitis

SSPE (Subacute sclerosingpanencephalitis) 16

Death

Children affected after catching measles

1 in 200

1 in 200 to 1 in 5000

1 in 8000 for children under 2

1 in 2500 - 1 in 5000 depending on age

Children affected after first dose of MMR

1 in 1000

Less than 1 in a million

0

0

Table 1. Comparing vaccination and non-vaccination risks.

Anti-Vaccination Ratbaggery


paper on every PC. Surely an organi-sation who claims the majority oftheir information is “from main-stream medical sources and is basedon the best available resources”would make an effort to keep upwith health research publications.My faith in the AVN began to crum-ble.

Flummoxed bewildered befuddledand confused, and feeling just a littlebetrayed by my heroes in the AVN, Icontacted the AVN by email onMarch 19, 2005 and asked why theystill peddle the line that MMR vac-cine is linked to autism, quoting theNew Scientist article in full, com-plete with colourful graphs. I nevergot a reply, so some people might betempted to think that, yes, I wasnaïve (again) to believe them, andthat the AVN is incompetent, coma-tose, lazy, illogical, unreliable, bi-ased, dishonest, all of the above, orjust ratbags. Certainly, they are still,(when I last checked on 23 April2005), publishing “information” thatis deceiving parents and risking thehealth and lives of children.

John Maynard Keynes is reportedto have said “When someone per-suades me I am wrong, I change mymind, what do you do?” I have comearound to the view that the AVNcannot be trusted to tell the truthand is a pack of incompetent stub-born fools, as all the evidence I foundsupports that. More importantly, willthe AVN, confronted with the evi-dence, change their views? Of coursenot; members of the AVN will usethe same logical processes as mem-bers of the Flat Earth Society andwill continue to publish this rubbish,and that is despicable.

Discarding the advice being of-fered by the AVN as total ratbaggery,I wondered what my heroes at theAustralian Homoeopathic Associa-tion thought of the latest good newson the MMR vaccine. Strangely, theAustralian Homoeopathic Associa-tion (AHA) advise that:

... a healthy child will rarely be ad-versely affected by most infectiousdiseases (such as measles, mumpsand rubella)... 17

Now, one look at the table aboveon the adverse outcomes of measleswill tell you that that is not true, butI suppose it depends on what yourdefinition of “rare” is. To me “rare”means a very low percentage, tosomeone else it may mean “anythingthat doesn’t happen in my family.”Any doctor will tell you that whilethe percentage of adverse outcomesof measles may be small, in a popu-lation numbering millions, the over-all number of adverse outcomes willbe large. The AHA goes on to recom-mend homeopathic prophylaxis andalso recommends:

Those (homeopathy) practitionerswho seek an up-to-date source ofvaccination information are encour-aged to access the Australian Vacci-nation Network (AVN) website:www.avn.org.au.

So round and round we go. Out ofdate, deceptive, and highly damag-ing information and advice continuesto be peddled on the web, with so-called alternative practitioners rein-forcing each other’s bizarre beliefs. Iwonder if any of them could be per-suaded to buy an anti-gravity ma-chine.

References

1. www.avn.org.au/Vaccination%20Information/MMR.htm2. Just you wait. One day it will

work and I’ll be filthy rich.3. Issue 2489 of New Scientist maga-

zine, 5 March 2005, page 164. Gastroenterologist Andrew

Wakefield claimed in a 1998 studythat MMR might trigger autism. Thestudy was based on just 12 childrenand later retracted by most of its co-authors.5. Honda Hideo, Shimizu Y, Rutter

M. No effect of MMR withdrawal onthe incidence of autism: a total popu-lation study. Journal of Child Psy-chology and Psychiatry (2005). Earlypublication on line (doi: 10.1111/j.1466-7610.2005.01425.x).

6. E Miller, N Andrews, A Grant, JStowe, B Taylor (Feb 2005) No evi-dence of an association betweenMMR vaccine and gait disturbance.Archives of Disease in Childhood2005;90:292-2967. UK National Health Service,

webpage “MMR – The Facts”www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk/library/timeline.php?v=508. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/j.1469-

7610.2005.01425.x.pdf9. Institute for the Advancement of

Social Work Research,www.socialworkers.org/research/call/030505.doc10. The Howard Center for Family

Religion and Societywww.worldcongress.org/WCFUpdate/

Archive06/wcf_update_610.htm11. The Schafer Autism Report

www.sarnet.org/12. abc.net.au/science/news/health/

Health Republish_907211.htm13. http://immunise.health.gov.au/

myth_measles.pdf14. See the UK’s National Health

Service website listing many suchreports at www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk/library/research.php15. www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk/li-

brary/subacute.php16. Subacute sclerosing

panencephalitis (SSPE) is a delayedcomplication of measles that causesbrain damage and death. It is a rarecondition that can develop someyears after natural measles infection.People who were infected at a youngage are at most risk from developingSSPE. The average time betweensomeone having measles to the firstsymptoms of SSPE is around 8 years,and death invariably follows.17. www.homeopathyoz.org/

downloads/AHA%20HP%0Statement.pdf


Brigadier Jim Wallace runs a Reli-gious Right organisation called theAustralian Christian Lobby (ACL) —for some background on this group,see www.unbelief.org/fundies/acl.html. In an ACL paper dated 13May 2004, Wallace claims that:

There is no sense in [ACL’s] vision ofour wishing to see Australia a theoc-racy, but merely wanting to re-estab-lish the rightful influence of thosewho believe in our Christian herit-age.

In my opinion, Wallace would inpractice like to see a Christian theoc-racy established in Australia and inthis article I will explain why I thinkso.

What is a theocracy?The Shorter Oxford English Diction-ary defines ‘theocracy’ as follows:

A form of government in which God(or a deity) is recognised as the kingor immediate ruler, and his laws aretaken as the statute-book of the king-dom, these laws being usually ad-ministered by a priestly order as hisministers and agents …

Let us examine this definitionclause by clause, relating them tothe beliefs of the ACL.

There is no doubt whatever thatWallace regards his Christian God asthe ‘King’ of the universe, includingAustralia. This quote is typical of hisgeneral approach:

[W]e, Christ’s ambassadors, will notsit by and allow our King and hisKingdom’s values to be demeaned …This newsletter is full of challenges,each one an opportunity, if theChurch will simply stand up andhonour its King in the political do-main

(ACL Newsletter, Feb. 2004, 1).‘Kingdom values’ are more often

referred to by Wallace as ‘Christianvalues’, or sometimes as ‘Judaeo-Christian values’ (or ‘principles’ or‘ethics’). These terms are almostnever defined: indeed, it would bepolitically unwise for the ReligiousRight to try and define them for ageneral audience. Upon examina-tion, ‘Christian values’ are very likenon-Christian values — ‘Be nice toother people’ etc. — unless you hap-pen to be a Religious Right-typeChristian, in which case ‘Christianvalues’ become very extensive indeedeg, ‘wives should invariably submitto husbands’ etc.

Brian Baxter is a Melbourne-based writer withan abiding interest in the farther-fringes ofreligious thought and practice.

A Bunch of Theocrats?Brig Jim Wallace and the

Australian Christian Lobby

Article

To be or not to be a theocrat— that is the question


Values and GovernmentLet’s look at two ACL documentsbearing directly on the question of‘Christian values’ and the role theyshould play in Australian politicsand government. As regards the is-sue of theocracy, these mini-essaysspeak for themselves. The first isentitled “Australian Christian Lobby— Submission — Political HonestyBill” and it was available on theACL’s website — www.acl.org.au —during August 2002:

… [O]ur ethical foundation [is] inthe Judaeo-Christian ethic … [O]urnational political heritage is decid-edly Judaeo-Christian … For aChristian country [ACL regardsAustralia as such], the example inleadership is Christ, and althoughwe will inevitably fall short of hisexample, it is an appropriate stand-ard by which to measure any leader… Legislating political honestyshould therefore include means bywhich individuals desiring to enterparliament are apprised of the re-sponsibilities expected of them bothcorporately and individually. Thesevalues should be drawn from scrip-ture and could be specified by aworking party of politicians andnominees from various ChristianChurches. (1-4)

Paragraph by paragraph we seethe specifically Christian theocraticmindset clearly revealed:

At the heart of this submission,therefore, is the fundamental im-perative that a Charter of PoliticalHonesty be grounded in the objectivemoral truths contained in the Scrip-tures. [The text here contains areference to the work of DavidNoebel, a theocratic Americanwriter.] For the purposes of the sub-mission, moral absolutes are definedas that set of principles which existabove and beyond the opinions ofmen, and which thus provide anobjective yardstick against which allconsiderations of ethical behaviourcan be measured and evaluated …The idea of having political honestybased on the nature and character ofa righteous and just God is far supe-

rior both theoretically and practi-cally to any attempts at buildingstandards of political conduct basedupon the quicksand of moral relativ-ism. (4-5)

According to the OED’s definitionof ‘theocracy’, a particular god’s lawsare to be ‘taken as the statute-bookof the kingdom’. We’re getting prettynear it in this ACL submission, butlet’s see if we can draw even closer:

Consistent with the biblical teach-ings on honesty, our politicians mustbe men and women of character —that is, of proven integrity — whosewords and deeds are beyond re-proach [note the sacerdotal, evensemi-divine nature of the ACL’spoliticians] …

Moreover, they must recognise — asour founding fathers clearly did[this assertion is based on a mytho-logical Religious Right view of Aus-tralian history] — the one conditionthat God imposes upon this or anynation: the obedience of its people,and more particularly its leaders, tothe will of God and His teachings.(6)

ACL’s recommendations in thissubmission include the following:

That the Office of Commissioner forMinisterial and Parliamentary Eth-ics have either: (1) a theologiantrained in Christian ethics as a per-manent staff member and/or (2)access to the advice of prominentChurch leaders in reviewing issuesthat come before it. (6)

They look suspiciously like Chris-tian commissars to me, but let usmove on.

Dr L J M CoorayThe second document is essen-

tially a series of notes prepared forthe ACL by Dr L J M Cooray of Syd-ney. The paper is headed ‘Christianvalues and ethics’ and was availableon the ACL website during October2003. The introduction declares thatthis material ‘provides an excellentspiritual basis to underpin the workof the Australian Christian Lobby’.While the notes do not directly ad-

dress the question of theocratic gov-ernment, they give a good idea of theACL’s indebtedness to its large Pen-tecostal component. Read in conjunc-tion with the previous document,this paper also allows the reader todraw conclusions about the kind ofpolitical system that Wallace and hisfriends wish to see established inthis country:

The Bible is the inspired word ofGod. The Bible is infallible. TheBible is above and beyond anythingwhich comes out of human knowl-edge, science and research. (2)

God may confer on a person del-egated authority over his neighbour.God in the Bible has delegated au-thority to: (i) Kings and govern-ments; (ii) Husbands; (iii) Parents;(iv) Masters; (v) Elders; (vi) Apostles,Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors andTeachers [this is the ‘Five-fold Min-istry’ promoted by a modern versionof Pentecostalism]; (vii) Believers.All of these classes are responsible toGod for the manner in which theyexercise authority [Note: including‘Kings and governments’, responsi-ble directly to God] … Grace, Faith,Love and Truth, working together,will lead to the final stage of revival,widespread healings and miracles,signs and wonders. (3)

Jim Wallace himself is a Baptistbut belongs to a class of Baptistswho share a good deal of commontheological ground with Pentecostal-ism. He freely admits that fully halfof the ACL’s support derives fromcharismatic-Pentecostal churches —http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/Interview-JimWallace-1.4.2003.php — and that:

churches such as [Sydney’s] Hillsongare at the forefront of a growth in“traditional” Christianity and val-ues.

(ACL media release, 15 Jul. 2004)Influential elements of ‘new’ Pen-

tecostalism are very theocratic in-deed and the ACL seems to haveuncritically incorporated this think-ing into its own ideology (or ‘worldview’ as Wallace prefers to call it.)


Wallace’s world viewWallace first became involved withthe Australian Christian Coalition(ACC), the earlier incarnation of theACL, in 1996 — www.sightmagazineop cit — several years before he leftthe Army — and seems initially tohave been fairly selective in theideas he picked up from the Ameri-can Religious Right. He appears tohave some sort of commitment to aChristian social justice agenda, butthis interest has recently beenswamped by the anti-gay, anti-abor-tion, pro-censorship paranoia ema-nating from both Australian andAmerican religious fanatics. Wal-lace’s political views are now practi-cally indistinguishable from those ofother Religious Right leaders, bothhere and in America.

It’s important to understand that,like many other such people, Wallacebelieves that he receives politicalinstructions directly from God. Hereis his explanation of why he decidedin 2000 to leave the Army and takeup his ACL post:

What sealed the issue for [me] cameone Sunday in church when thepastor preached that people have tobe prepared to lay down goldencrowns if they want to change any-thing in the world. ‘Up until then Ihad said to God, ‘if you want me todo this lobbying then stop promotingme in the Army.’ At that point, Irealised that I had to be prepared tolay down a golden crown — and theposition of General was a goldencrown.

(Challenge monthly Christian news-paper, Mar. 2003, 3)

The central policy positionsadopted by Wallace and his group,being divinely sanctioned, are en-tirely non-negotiable:

Our objective at the ACL has alwaysbeen to be openly Christian and non-compromising on issues of faith thatwe hold so dear … [W]e ask that youkeep us in your prayers as we do thework of our Lord and Saviour.

(National Newsletter, Feb. 2003, 2)

Remember that for Wallace andhis allies, ‘compromise’ means ‘tomake a deal with the Evil One’ in theform of the abortion or gay lobbiesetc, and is thus viewed as totallyunacceptable. This unwillingness tocompromise is one of the most impor-tant features distinguishing theo-cratic lobbies from ‘normal’ politicalgroups. It is also strongly implied inthe ACL’s regular references to itspromotion of ‘the Christian view’ onsuch issues as transgender rights,euthanasia etc, as if all Christianswere in full agreement on thesequestions (see, eg, ACT Newsletter,Apr. 2003, 2). Compromise is noteven possible with other Christians— or, as some Religious Right lead-ers habitually refer to them, ‘Chris-tians’ (note quote marks).

Rhetoric of theocracyThe rhetoric of theocracy is evidentin all major ACL publications. Forexample, what do you understand bythe term ‘liberty’?

Liberty is not the right to do whatyou will, but what is right.

(‘What is ACL?’, downloaded 2 Aug.2003,)

And who will tell us what is‘right’? I’ll leave that to your imagi-nation. Here are a few other clues asto what sort of Australia the ACLwants to see:

It is indeed time for the church to beseen again in all areas of nationallife.

(Wallace - http:/www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/Features/elections13.11.04.php)

It is time for grass-roots, Biblically-based Christians to take back thisnation.

(Peter Stokes, Executive Officer,Salt Shakers, approvingly quoted inACL ‘Latest issues’, downloaded 3Aug. 2003, 6)

…[T]olerance does not mean remov-ing the need for every individual tohave a philosophical basis for per-sonal values that will allow them to

safely judge the many competingideas and world views with which aplural[ist] society abounds. A wiseman once said that the mind, likethe mouth, is designed to be keptopen only long enough to close onsomething solid, but the politicallycorrect mantra dominating ourschools is likely to produce intellec-tual ‘gawkers’, never able to firm ona moral reference point.

(Wallace, ACL media release, 21 Jan.2004)

This last quote is particularlydisturbing, as Wallace seems to pre-fer a situation in which school stu-dents regard open-mindedness assomething to be avoided! A fewmonths later he quoted figures froman ANU Survey of Social Attitudeswhich indicated that most Austral-ians in the 18-49 age group believedthat a same-sex couple with a childconstituted a ‘family’. Wallace’s in-terpretation of this?

Presumably this … is a direct resultof the way this lifestyle is presentedin our schools. The lesson we mustlearn is that we have to address thevalues our children are taught atschool. (Newsletter, May 2004, 1)

It’s hard to know whether to bemore concerned about Wallace’s logicor his conclusion.

Confronting ‘Evil’

Look out, evil – the church hasawakened! (Newsletter, June 2004,2)

Theocratic movements often havea strong dualistic (‘Manichaean’)inclination ie, a tendency to viewpersonalities and events in terms of‘good vs. evil’, and this observationcertainly applies to the ACL. Thus,Australian policy-makers are af-flicted with ‘spiritual blindness’ andare ‘lost and unaware’ (Newsletter,Jul. 2003, 3). Australian society as awhole is ‘sick, confused and rudder-less’ (New Life, 10 Jun. 2004).

ACL’s (and God’s) adversaries arelegion and are terrifyingly powerful.Wallace claims not to believe in con-spiracy theories, but certainly does

Theocrats


an excellent impression of such abeliever:

At the national level we have seen areal assault on Christian valuesthrough the exercise of dispropor-tionate political power by aggressiveminorities. Many of these are drivenby the profit provided in the newmarkets that breaching communitynorms on morals always creates …Still others are ideologically drivenby people whose agendas cannot beachieved unless they hold that dis-proportionate political power soevident in groups like the homo-sexual community. Their campaignsare subtle, inevitably distract thepublic by the skilful use of languageand by avoiding the real issuethrough demonisation of opponents… Unfortunately a largely sympa-thetic or at worst actively compliantpress makes individual issues verydifficult to win.

(Newsletter, Jan. 2004, 1)‘Demonisation’ is an unfortunate

word for Wallace to use, as he con-sistently pictures his own opponentsas destructive and devious:

[Same-sex] marriage was the jewelin the crown that, once achieved,[laid] open to waste all other vestigesof our Christian tradition and herit-age.

(Newsletter, Aug. 2004, 2)

[We must ensure that] our nationalvalues are not hijacked by this deter-mined and insidious campaign [forsame-sex marriage].

(ACL email to supporters, 23 Aug.2004)

And Wallace’s view of recent his-tory also smacks of paranoia:

‘Until the ‘60s the influence of theJudaeo-Christian ethic was quitestrong, and that was very constrain-ing for people with counter-Chris-tian agendas like the homosexuallobby, the sex industry, the mari-juana lobby. They couldn’t really getanywhere until they neutralised thatinfluence.’ As a result, Christianshave been ‘blasted and denigrated tothe point where they are reluctant to

stick their head above the parapet …As a soldier, I know that you have totake the high ground. And the highground is government.’

(Elizabeth Feizkhah ‘Christian Sol-diers’, Time Asia, 29 Nov. 2004)

A priestly order?To return to our definition of ‘theoc-racy’, God’s laws are ‘usually admin-istered by a priestly order as hisministers and agents’. The word‘usually’ indicates some flexibility inthe definition, but as far as the ACLis concerned I don’t think we’re goingto need much leeway.

Like the Christian DemocraticParty in NSW (Rev Fred Nile MP,Rev Gordon Moyes MP) and theFamily First Party in SA (RevAndrew Evans MP), ACL is builtaround Christian pastors and theirflocks. There is an assumption inmost of the group’s literature that itsadherents are regular churchgoers;its organisational base seems to con-sist of individual Christians andsome church-centred ‘sub-branches’;and its growth strategy revolvesaround volunteer ‘ACL church repre-sentatives’.

After Wallace, the most significantfigure in the history of the ACC/ACLhas been Pastor Carolyn Cormack, aPentecostalist from Queensland.Prior to Wallace’s arrival in the job,the group was headed by Pastor Pe-ter Earle, also of Queensland (viathe US). Ministers of various de-scriptions have either led or beenprominent in other state branchese.g. Pastor Roger Williamson in Vic-toria and Rev Dr Lloyd Kent in theNT. I tried to add up all the pastorsclaimed as active ACC/ACL support-ers in the group’s literature, but Ilost count at 33 with a long way togo. Wallace himself is (or was) a dea-con at Hughes Baptist Church, Can-berra, which means that he hassome sort of experience in a churchhierarchy.

An Australia governed on ACLlines might not be run by a priestlyorder per se, but by something un-comfortably close to it. I’ll return tothis matter shortly.

The company he choosesWhere might Wallace and the ACLfit into the ranks of modern Chris-tian theocrats? Are they‘dominionists’ ie, advocates of ‘do-minion theology’, believing thatChristians are called to transformsociety in an essentially and recog-nisably ‘Christian’ fashion? Are theyperhaps ‘Reconstructionists’, aimingat the eventual restructuring of soci-ety in accordance with directionscontained in the Bible, especially thefirst five books of the Old Testa-ment? — for some background, seehttp://www.unbelief.org/articles/theocracy.html

Wallace strikes me as havingmuch in common with the old MoralRe-Armament (MRA) movement thatflourished in the 1930s and ‘40s. Hehas a kind of earnest naivety remi-niscent of moral crusaders like Brit-ain’s Mary Whitehouse (d. 2001), anMRA stalwart, rather than morecontemporary American dominionisthucksters. Nonetheless, Wallacecannot help but be affected by thecompany he keeps and his compan-ions are often heavily influenced bydominion theology and related ideas.

Frederick Clarkson (Eternal Hos-tility, 1997) notes that:

A key, if not exclusivelyReconstructionist, doctrine unitingmany evangelicals is the ‘dominionmandate’, also called the ‘culturalmandate’. This concept derives fromthe Book of Genesis and God’s direc-tion to ‘subdue’ the earth and exer-cise ‘dominion’ over it. (100)

From its very beginnings, theACC/ACL looked and talked exactlylike a dominionist outfit: some ofACC’s early journals were actuallyentitled Mandate. Wallace first ap-peared publicly on a major ReligiousRight platform in 1999 (Salt ShakersNewsletter, Nov. 1999, 3ff) when headdressed a meeting of the NationalAlliance of Christian Leaders(NACL), an umbrella group whichstrongly promotes dominion-stylethinking — http://www.unbelief.org/fundies/nacl.html. Wallace also hasresearchers and assistants who sub-scribe to some of these theories eg,


David Yates, formerly of the ‘Centrefor Worldview Studies’.

As recently as January 2005, Wal-lace was scheduled to appear with alist of dominionist and creationistspeakers at a ‘Worldview Training’conference at Toowoomba. The guestof honour was slated to be DavidNoebel of Summit Ministries in Colo-rado. Noebel, a former John BirchSociety member, is a minor-leaguerin the American Religious Right butvery strong on the importance of a‘Christian worldview’ ie, a dominion-ist ideology (see Jean Hardisty[1999] Mobilising Resentment, 107-8). There is no doubt that Wallacehas internalised many of these ideasand is now what is often called an‘operational dominionist’ ie, even ifhe hasn’t formally subscribed to thetheory his actions are neverthelesspredicated on it and almost entirelyconsistent with it.

ConclusionWhether he wants to use the term ornot, Jim Wallace clearly has a theo-cratic vision for Australia. An ACL-approved government would recog-nise God as the ‘King’ of thiscountry; biblical commands includ-ing, I suggest, large chunks of Mo-saic law, would come to dominate ourstatute books; and Parliament wouldbe invaded by conservative evangeli-cal pastors and their allies. Althoughmost of these MPs would probably belay people, it would be difficult toimagine them defying church in-structions on basic issues.

Is any such scenario likely to de-velop soon? I very much doubt it, butif you hear people like Jim Wallaceor Fred Nile denying that they wantto see a theocracy in Australia, takeit with a grain of salt.

But if early one morning theydeny it thrice, head for the hills.

In April, I was asked to give a shortspeech to a group of local studentswho participated in a science fair. Iwasn’t sure what to say to them,until I saw a newscast the nightbefore the fair. The story was sometypically inaccurate fluff piece givingantiscience boneheads “equal time”with science, as if any ridiculoustheory should have equal timeagainst the truth. I sat down with apad of paper and a pencil and scrib-bled down this speech. I gave it al-most exactly as I wrote it.

I know a place where the Sun neversets. It’s a mountain, and it’s on theMoon. It sticks up so high that evenas the Moon spins, it’s in perpetualdaylight. Radiation from the Sunpours down on there day and night,24 hours a day — well, the Moon’s dayis actually about 4 weeks long, so thesunlight pours down there 708 hoursa day.

I know a place where the Sun nevershines. It’s at the bottom of the ocean.A crack in the crust there exudes nastychemicals and heats the water to theboiling point. This would kill a hu-man instantly, but there are creaturesthere, bacteria, that thrive. They eatthe sulphur from the vent, and excretesulphuric acid.

I know a place where the temperatureis 15 million degrees, and the pressurewould crush you to a microscopic dot.That place is the core of the Sun.

I know a place where the magneticfields would rip you apart, atom byatom: the surface of a neutron star, amagnetar.

I know a place where life began bil-lions of years ago. That place is here,the Earth.

I know these places because I’m a sci-entist.

Science is a way of finding things out.It’s a way of testing what’s real. It’swhat Richard Feynman called “A wayof not fooling ourselves.”

No astrologer ever predicted the exist-ence of Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. Nomodern astrologer had a clue aboutSedna, a ball of ice half the size ofPluto that orbits even farther out. Noastrologer predicted the more than 150planets now known to orbit other suns.

But scientists did.

No psychic, despite their claims, hasever helped the police solve a crime.But forensic scientists have, all thetime.

It wasn’t someone who practices ho-meopathy who found a cure for small-pox, or polio. Scientists did, medicalscientists.

No creationist ever cracked the geneticcode. Chemists did. Molecular biolo-gists did.

They used physics. They used math.They used chemistry, biology, as-tronomy, engineering.

They used science.

These are all the things you discov-ered doing your projects. All the thingsthat brought you here today.

Computers? Cell phones? Rockets toSaturn, probes to the ocean floor, PSP,gamecubes, gameboys, X-boxes?

All by scientists.

Those places I talked about before, youcan get to know them too. You can ex-perience the wonder of seeing them forthe first time, the thrill of discovery,the incredible, visceral feeling of do-ing something no one has ever donebefore, seen things no one has seenbefore, know something no one else hasever known.

No crystal balls, no tarot cards, nohoroscopes. Just you, your brain, andyour ability to think.

Welcome to science. You’re gonna likeit here.

Phil Plait The Bad Astronomer

Welcome to ScienceTheocrats Talk


James Van Praagh says he can talkwith the dead. He says he can seeinto the future. He may even use hispowers to search for an answer tothe mysterious disappearance ofSunshine Coast teenager DanielMorcombe.

Van Praagh is the latest Americantelevision psychic. His televisionshow, Beyond, airs every weekdayafternoon on the Nine Network, andhis recent tour of Australia sold outshows across the country. His showat the Brisbane Convention Centernetted almost a quarter of a milliondollars in ticket sales alone.

His three hour performances con-sisted of 40 minutes of his life story,20 minutes of questions from theaudience, 30 minutes of guidedmeditation, and an hour of the sup-posed psychic readings that havemade Van Praagh famous. Almost allaudience members who commentedon the shows gave a belatedly posi-tive review, thoroughly convincedVan Praagh had made contact withthe world of the spirits.

However some skeptics were notimpressed. Mark Mayer demon-strates unexplainable paranormalabilities on a daily basis. But Mayeris not psychic …he’s an entertainer,an illusionist, who as part of hisshow, Talking With the Dead, OrLying To the Living?, at Melbourne’sTrade Center, demonstrates the

tricks of the trade he says psychicslike James Van Praagh can use todeceive vulnerable people. Mayerattended one of Van Praagh’s showsand was disgusted by what he saw.Mayer says:

It made my stomach turn to have towatch it. It was dreadful. The sub-ject matter was just trivialised andthrown away. The real actual painand grief of the people who werethere to get some sought of connec-tion, looking for hope and desper-ately trying to have closure on theirpain, was just washed over in lightentertainment.

Mr Mayer describes what VanPraagh does as “emotional rape”.

It was like watching a woman beingphysically attacked and not beingable to do anything about it.

Mayer says there is a generalmisconception that the psychic in-dustry does no harm.

Actually it does a lot of harm, hesays.

He describes a woman in the audi-ence at Van Praagh’s Melbourneshow. In her early 20s, she stood upduring the psychic readings andasked Van Praagh if he could contacther daughter, who had died at ayoung age in a car crash. VanPraagh proceeded to apparently com-municate with the deceased young

Peter Booth has just completed a Bachelor ofArts majoring in Journalism at GriffithUniversity. He has also studied theatre andmagic which sparked an interest in the topic.

Investigation

Psychic orJust Sick?

Is there any harm inpsychic acts?


girl, who he said was standing nextto her. The young woman said shewas the driver of the car, and askedif her daughter forgave her. VanPraagh responded, “Oranges, takeoranges to her grave, she wants or-anges.” Tears were streaming downthe woman’s face. Later Van Praaghtold the woman her daughter wantedher to know there was nothing toforgive.

Mayer says this incident was atypical example of Van Praagh des-ecrating someone’s memories of theirdeceased loved ones:

What pain must this woman be in?She should be seeing trained emo-tional councillors… not someonewho is pretending to see her deaddaughter. Now she can go away andthink, ‘Well that was amazing, whydo I want to stop talking to mydaughter now? I’ll keep going topsychics forever, for the next 50 or 60years and spend thousands andthousands of dollars.’ He’s screwedover their memories and their love.”

Mayer attributes the apparentpsychic gift James Van Praagh hasto a psychological technique knownas “cold reading”: a combination ofmaking generalized statements,posing questions as statements, andfeeding back information he hasalready been told.

Because we are more the same thanwe are different, things that seemquite specific and like they only ap-ply to either me or to you, actually,in general reality, apply to a major-ity of people,.

They ask a leading question basedon common life experiences to extractspecific information, and combinethis with things like popular firstnames, common causes of death orillnesses, and other statistical prob-abilities. It makes the people feelthat the reading is really personaland just for them.

Audience members for James VanPraagh’s television tapings are re-quired to sign contracts prohibitingthem from speaking to the mediaabout what they saw. However audi-

ence members for his Brisbane Con-vention Center show were not re-quired to sign anything, and SharVon Christyanson, who paid $110 forher ticket, was quick to express herdisappointment:

Most of the people are here today asa result of them having some severeemotional trauma or loss of lovedones and they’re looking for some-thing. I think he’s exploiting that.After the show they were selling bluestars for an ‘intimate meeting’ for500 people.

They paid 35 dollars a head andbasically what they get for theirmoney is they can shake his hand orhe can sign a book for them. I metLady Diana, I’ve met MichaelJackson, I’ve met Elton John, I’vemet Bill Clinton. Lots of significantpeople. Not one of them charged toshake their hand. I just find thatridiculous. I think that it’s idolisinganother human being. They’re sodesperate to touch this man.

So why the need for an audiencecontract? Mark Mayer suggests thedeceptive editing of the shows mayhave something to do with it:

They take up to six hours of tapingto produce 11 minutes of air time.That 11 minutes of air time is thenedited creatively to give the bestimpression. On top of that, you’reallowed to have questionnaires be-fore the audience goes in. You’reallowed to have microphones in theaudience before the show starts foran hour while they’re all chattingamongst themselves. And just tohelp pad it out, if you do get stuck,you’re allowed to have actors in theaudience.

Mayer says people generally donot show the same level of skepti-cism towards psychic televisionshows as they do for other media:

They’re so critical about things, likethat band is made up and this is notreal reality TV, and as soon as thiscomes on their logic goes out thewindow. That’s a normal emotionalresponse across the board when youare feeling in pain.

Other viewsVictor Zammit is a Sydney-basedlawyer and author of the book, ALawyer Presents the Case for theAfterlife. Zammit is a staunch de-fender of Van Praagh’s psychicclaims. Zammit says:

The closed-minded skeptics accusehim of fraud, but they can not proveit. It’s closed minded skepticism.

Zammit says a visit to a psychicwhere he apparently made contactwith his deceased Father, Motherand Grandmother changed his viewson the subject:

I didn’t get along with my father.After half an hour of asking lots andlots of questions to confirm somecertain incidents from when he wasalive with me, and nobody on earthcould no about those, they were 100percent correct. I said ‘OK, what doyou want?’ And he said, ‘I came forforgiveness. I cannot progress in theworld that I’m in unless you forgiveme for being such a lousy father’. Igot that and for me the experientialis far more important than evenscience.

James Van Praagh was unavail-able to comment on his show, but hismanager and producer of Beyond,John King, invited any skeptic tocome to their shows and still notbelieve.

I’m a skeptic myself, King said If yousee one or two of these it’s prettyhard to deny that there’s somethingthere, even for the biggest cynic orthe biggest skeptic.

When asked if James Van Praagh’sclaims of psychic powers are fake,King responds: I produce thoseshows, I put them together, so I knowthat those shows are real, I knowthat there’s nothing rigged.

Missing peopleKing says that James Van Praagh

has previously worked with policedepartments and the American gov-ernment, and revealed that VanPraagh may assist authorities inves-tigating the disappearance of DanielMorcombe in December last year.

Psychic or Sick


I actually received a newspaper arti-cle about that today... it’s quite possi-ble that he (Van Praagh) may beinterested in doing something withthat.

This is a prospect that MarkMayer finds particularly disturbing.

The idea of psychic detectives is amyth, he says. If you look up anypolice records for anywhere, there’snot been a single case of any psychicsolving or helping any crime ever.Scotland Yard goes on record sayingthey don’t use it at all and it hasdone nothing. The LAPD goes onrecord saying they actually did teststo see how accurate they were andthey will not use them. The FBIdon’t have any files on it whatsoever,either for or against.

As soon as a high profile child goesmissing they (psychics) prey on itbecause its great advertising, andit’s absolutely disgusting.

Executive Officer of the Austral-ian Skeptics, Barry Williams com-pares claiming to be able to findmissing children to the actions ofhoax e-mailer David Charles Brine,who was recently arrested for claim-ing he knew the whereabouts ofDaniel Morcombe, and demandingmoney for his return. Williams says:

If you give police a lead, they have tofollow it up. They (psychic detec-tives) probably convince themselvesthey’re helping the police. It’s cruel.I don’t give a damn it you are self-deluded in those cases. Your self-delusion is causing pain tosomebody else.”

Claims by psychics to know thewhereabouts of their son haveplagued Mr and Mrs Morcombe be-fore.

I’ve received a few letters from psy-chics, some of them have been verydistressing, Denise Morcombe toldAustralian Story.

They say that Daniel may be in alocal barn in the area close by, or ina country town. I’ve had one lettersaying that Daniel’s head’s been

shaved and he hasn’t got many daysleft. Bruce tells me to put them asideand don’t look at them, but they dogo through my mind, what if it istrue?

No regulationThe psychic industry is not bound bythe same regulations as other con-sumer industries. Mark Mayer be-lieves tougher restrictions should beintroduced to monitor the industry.

If you want to be a psychic you needno qualifications, you need no his-tory, you don’t need to have any po-lice checks, and you don’t need toprove or substantiate any of yourclaims, he says.

If people are going to go to psychics,and they want to, I’m not sayingthey’re not allowed to or theyshouldn’t. If you want to go, you justneed to go with the full disclosurethat this is entertainment, it’s madeup and it’s fun, and if that’s the casethen no problem.

Celebrity psychic John Edwardpresents the following disclaimerduring the credits of his televisionshow Crossing Over:

The materials and opinions presentedin this program by John Edward andother third parties, including state-ments, predictions, documents, photosand video footage, come solely fromtheir respective third party sourcesand do not necessarily reflect the viewsor opinions of the producer, are notmeant or intended to be a form of ad-vice, instruction, suggestion, counselor factual statement in any way what-soever and are intended as entertain-ment.

Mark Mayer lodged a complaintwith Consumer Affairs in Victoriaregarding a lack of such a disclaimerduring John Edward’s February tourof Australia. He has so far been un-successful in his efforts to get au-thorities to closer investigate psychicclaims.

Barry Williams said the Austral-ian Skeptics once brought a case tothe Department of Fair Tradingagainst a supposed psychic tel-

ephone hotline, run by famous Aus-tralian psychic [the late] AthenaStar Woman.

We had received evidence by plant-ing a stooge in there that peoplecould get a job there with no tests tosee if they were psychic, and theywere given a script to read and toldto not to depart from it, Williamssays.

They were also told to keep people onthe phone as long as they could, andthe average was 18 minutes, at fivedollars a minute.

They (the Department of Fair Trad-ing) refused to do anything about it.They said ‘You’re getting into thearea of people’s beliefs’. I said ‘Re-gardless of whether they believe it ornot, the fact is what they’re doing isfraud.’ But they wouldn’t touch it.

Mr Williams says despite anyevidence that Van Praagh can notreally make contact with the after-life, he and other psychics will con-tinue to prosper.

The only thing that will bring itdown is for the entire humanity tosuddenly become critical, rationalthinkers, he says.

They’re selling a simple message.They’re selling hope and the rationalworld is selling you the hard bloodyreality.

We’ve definitely got the harder sell.

NoteThis piece was originally written byPeter Booth as an investigative re-port for a university course entitled“Feature Writing,” and later adaptedas an audio story for a radio course.The radio version of the story wasnominated by the course convenorfor an Ozzie award for junior jour-nalism.


One pill makes you larger and onepill makes you small

And the ones your mother gives you

Don’t do anything at all.

(Lewis Carroll Alice In Wonderland)

In March 2005 a poll was under-taken to determine the trust we putin a wide selection of professions.When the results were published itshowed that used car salesmen wererated at 10% and nurses at over90%. Pharmacists did well at 86%.Your local pharmacist, who seems tospend most of the time stayingtucked away amongst the medicineshelves in the back rooms, wadingthrough a steady stream of prescrip-tions, is a highly educated, bothmedical and science trained profes-sional, up to date with research.That is the person you really want totalk to when you are ill and need totake prescription medication. Afterbeing diagnosed with cancer in 2003,my own experiences with pharma-cists are that they are always knowl-edgeable, friendly and available. Wewillingly believe what they say andunderstandably so, but do they re-ally deserve this high level of trust?

It is warThere is a war going on in our shop-ping centres. It’s chemical warfare ofnon-prescription drugs. For the pastyears there has been a boom inshops selling ‘natural’ — herbs, pills,potions and a wide range of healthproducts and services. Even in theface of overwhelming evidence thatmany of these products and servicesfail to perform, are sometimes basedon pseudoscientific gibberish, andmay even be dangerous, there is acontinual queue of willing converts.“Natural = Safe” is the assumptionand nothing you see on displayseems to contradict this belief.

Numerous television documenta-ries and articles have been writtenand produced by reputable research-ers about these products. They usewords like ‘pesticides’, ‘heavy met-als’, and ‘herb substitution’, and theystate that some of these productscause thinning bones, diarrhoea,asthma, cirrhosis, hepatitis, irritablebowel syndrome and even death.These messages seem to fall on deafears. After all, there are shiny full-colour multi-page booklets bulgingout of well-used carousels andsquashed haphazardly between dis-plays of this week’s new batch of

ChemicalWarfare:

Dirty Doings in the Pharmacy

Feature

Loretta Marron’s biog is elsewhere in thisissue. She will be a speaker at our NationalConvention at the Gold Coast, Aug 13-14.

Where can one turn forgood advice?


products; they use dramatic wordswithin emotive anecdotes as theyshow pictures that tell you how they‘may’ improve your health. Lavishhigh-profile-advertising brandnames sit proudly and professionallyabove the wall-to-wall regimentedshelves of matching bottles, tubesand packets.

At the doorway is a tray of freemagazines with this month’s ‘special’to lift your lagging sex life, lose oradd weight, improve your memory,increase your energy, solve your hor-monal problems. There is the inevi-table page of magnetic or copperproducts that display smirking fa-miliar faces claiming that they arethere to help you become pain-free.It seems you don’t need proof: thereis always someone to reassure youthat it worked for them. After all, itcan’t hurt you; why not give it a go;it’s on special today for $299 + GST;I’m sure you can stretch your pen-sion cheque just that little bit fur-ther.

We can also help you boost yourimmune system, remove your toxinsand tackle those unwanted para-sites.

There is a pill or product there foreveryone, and new ones seeminglyarrive daily.

Signs of the timesA sign stands by the doorway;

The naturopath will be here at 2 pmtoday; Iridology available Wednes-days and Fridays; Yoga classes startagain next week – ask at the counterfor details.

As you walk into this part of theshop a Pandora’s box opens beforeyou, helping you take control of yourown health. After all, ‘science doesn’tknow everything.’

People are eager, even encouragedby medical rebates from desperatehealth funds with dwindling mem-bership, to experiment with ‘NewAge’ tools that can tell your past,present and future, can ‘balance theharmony’ within you and can ‘chan-nel the energy of the Universe’ toheal you.

We can find your cancer in your eyes;we can tell you what cancer you’vehad and what you’ll get.

At least that’s what theiridologists say.

We can cure you of cancer with waterthat contains only ‘vital energy’ fromshaking. It remembers the symptomsyou have. No need for an operation— it reduces your chances of surviv-ing by 50%.

At least that’s what somehomeopaths say.

If you have any type of illnesses orwant to stay healthy we can sell youall you need for you to live forever —after all, change your lifestyle andcancer and disease will be not touchyou or you will cured.

At least that’s what thenaturopaths say.

While people are leaving main-stream medicine in droves, they arenot walking too far. Turn around andyou are in the pharmacy.

It is the same shop.In the suburbs and country towns,there is an explosion in ‘natural’products and services. The simplehealth foods shops of the past havemetamorphosed into ‘holistic’ healingcentres, which are attracting every-one from high-income, educated,professionals to a new generation ofpeople with dread-locked hair, tat-tooed arms, backs and necks andmultiple piercing in ears, tongues,nipples and noses. These New Ageconverts are tired of long waits inrevolving door medical centres wait-ing for unfamiliar doctors for a shortappointment, only to leave with ascript for some manufactured chemi-cal. Nothing natural there. It is notenough today to cure the body; thespirit must be cured as well; yourharmony must be re-balanced andyour ‘ch’i’ repaired, this takes time,and here there is no time.

Enter ‘Big Pharma’In 2003 Australians made 1.9 millionvisits to naturopaths and herbalists.‘Natural’ had became a $2 billiondollar industry and this did not gounnoticed by the pharmaceutical

giants. There were takeovers andmergers and it wasn’t long before theleak in the drug money was plugged.The Mayne website proudly boaststhat under their umbrella is, “Na-ture’s Own™, Cenovis®, GoldenGlow®, Bio-Organics™, NaturalNutrition™, and Vitelle®”.

They also state that “Faulding®and Trademark brands are deeplyentrenched in the history of the con-sumer products division and havebeen part of Faulding for more than20 years.” They also own the“Betadine® range of antiseptic prod-ucts, which are widely used in hospi-tals and households for their broad-spectrum antibacterial and antiviralaction”.

The website also mentions theirown pharmacies which include“Chemmart®, Terry White Chem-ists® and The Medicine Shoppe®”.To add to that they own theMINFOS Management InformationSystems whereby pharmacy manag-ers can win prizes — all great strate-gies for gaining the loyalty of theirpharmacists. On their site you canread about:

... the winner — [name deleted]Terry White Chemist, Smithfield —was drawn by Pharmacy Guild Na-tional President John Bronger.

To win the Toshiba laptop “En-trants were required to dispense ascript to themselves in the Maynestand at the conference.” I hope theyneeded those pills.

According to the website theymanufacture pills as well. Their sitestates;

Mayne Pharma has the infrastruc-ture and expertise to meet the re-quirements of each of the majorregulatory authorities and topromptly secure product approvals.Our global manufacturing infra-structure operates across over245,000 square feet (23,000m 2),producing more than 52 millionampoules and 40 million vials an-nually, in addition to the productionof specialised modified release oralpharmaceuticals.

Mayne own or have owned hospi-tals, medical centres, pathology, di-


agnostic imaging and more. Theycover an entire column in the whitepages. ‘If you can’t beat them, jointhem’ — and why not? It’s all legaland raises millions in profits for itsshareholders and, for the Govern-ment, there is the overarching 10%on the prices going directly to theGST.

Bureaucratic run-aroundOne of our seniors’ magazines re-cently advertised a health productthat made claims that seemed tocontradict human physiology.Searching the Internet, I found areference to this product with theFood and Drug Administration(FDA) in the USA. I emailed theFDA and they responded with thedetails relating to this product. Ithad been banned in 1992. I attachedthis reply to an email to the maga-zine. They withdrew the advertise-ment.

I also attached this reply to anemail to the ACCC. They sent me toTreasury (Recalls). I phoned Recalls,located in Canberra, and they ques-tioned why I was contacting them. Ithad nothing to do with Recalls, theysaid, and suggested I contact FairTrading. I contacted Fair Tradingand they wanted to know how muchmoney I had lost. None, I said. Wellwhy are you contacting us, theyasked. Because the product doesn’twork and I have the proof, I replied.Whether products work doesn’t seemto be an issue — the product onlyhas to be safe. They sent the file totheir Safety division. A month later Ireceived an email. Sorry, the productis safe, so nothing can be done aboutit. It seems placebo products are bigbusiness; proof of efficacy not re-quired; buyer beware.

Fighting backNow when I find an advertisementfor a product that doesn’t work, Idon’t contact the government anymore: I contact the magazines andnewspapers; I attach the research,web links and articles — let themread it for themselves. It’s all I cando and sometimes it works.

Like most people with a major

illness, I wanted the best possibleadvice and information. When I wasfirst diagnosed I went to the Internetand started my research. I boughtfolders and filed reports; I high-lighted cure rates, medications andclinical trials. Now I find that thesevery web sites are funded by drugcompanies: Arthritis Australia andImpotence Australia are sponsoredby Pfizer — see for yourself. Look atthe computer screens on your GP’stable, watch the pretty pictures rolland flash — new drugs for new con-ditions. The software is provided freefrom drug companies.

A betrayal of trustDuring 2004, the National SeniorsAssociation, with a membership of300,000 seniors, conducted a survey tofind out what interested their readers.Health was their number one concern.But whom do you trust for the bestindependent advice?

I trust the staff at my local phar-macy. They have spent the time withme when I needed them most. Theiradvice was always accurate; theirsympathy sincere; their concern genu-ine. Like the captain of a ship, theyare the face of the pharmacy wherethey work, but like that same captain,I hold them responsible for the goodsand services they sell. An item thatsits on the shelf in a pharmacy doesso with the endorsement of each andevery pharmacist that works there. Itherefore feel that I should trust thatwhat I buy off the shelves in thatpharmacy works.

As a cancer survivor, my health isconstantly at risk, and each and everyday I can’t forget this. I need thattrust. However, when I walk throughmy pharmacy I feel betrayed. I know

that some of their health productsdon’t work and I have quite a fewtestimonials collected from concernedpharmacists and my own research toprove it. No other type of business cando that, so why can they?

I said to one of the pharmacistsonce, ‘Do you know that some of theproducts you sell don’t work?’ He re-sponded, ‘Some people say they workfor them.’

‘Placebo is a wonderful thing’, Ireplied, and he said ‘Yes’.

Alice in Wonderland is said to bean intrepid pharmaceutical explorerand a drug culture heroine. She likedthe genuine article — no placebo forher.

I think Lewis Carroll would agreewith a change to Alice’s story to re-flect today’s pharmacies:

Hormone pills makes you larger andlaxette pills makes you small

But other pills your chemist sells

Don’t do anything at all.

Sorry Alice, it might be the 21st

century, but your mother’s ‘snake oil’is still out there.

References:

The Desktop Guide to Complemen-tary and Alternative Medicine — anevidence-based approach; Editor,Edzard Ernst Mosby Publishers(ISBN 0-7234-3207-4)

Mayne Group — PharmaceuticalsWeb site :www.maynegroup.com

Lewis Carroll / Alice in the popularculture www.lewiscarroll.org/pop.html

Chemical Warfare

National ConventionGold Coast

August 13-14


What kinds of music do Skepticslisten to? Since we are an educatedlot, probably the classics: Mozart,Bach, and Midnight Oil. But is theremusic specifically for us Skeptics?For example — dare we hope — apop song poking fun at creationism?

This Skeptical Hit Parade onlyhas five entries, but there have to bemany more songs that are suitable.If you have a favourite tune withskeptical lyrics, why not drop me anemail? If the constellations tilt justso, there might yet be a follow up tothis article.

That said, let us put on our MollyMeldrum hats, and count down!

# 5 You Don’t Know — Cyndi LauperAre we ready to forgive Cyndi forportraying a psychic in Vibes?Rather than trying to keep up in therat race of fame, Cyndi took to mak-ing albums which, although not hugecommercial successes, have a level ofmaturity perhaps missing from herearlier efforts. The song You Don’tKnow from her Sisters of Avalonalbum (1996) is a case in point. Thesong is not kind on those who tradetheir minds for the comfort of be-longing to a group.

As you follow blindly along ...

To find something to swear to ...

Till you don’t know what’s rightfrom wrong

You just need to belong somehow.

# 4 Shades Of Grey — Billy JoelHis parents having fled from theNazis, Billy knows a thing or twoabout the dangers of fanaticism. Hissong from his “River of Dreams”album (1998) affirms both reasonand doubt as important antidotes.

Now with the wisdom of years,

I try to reason things out

And the only people I fear

are those who never have doubts

# 3 Victim/Volunteer — Christine LavinChristine is a folk singer, with ataste for the whimsical. And she isabsolutely mad – in the nicest possi-ble way. How else to explain thesong she penned which included aURL in the lyrics? For the astro-nomically-minded, she deserves spe-cial mention, for she wrote a numberof melodies about the solar system,such as Venus Kissed the Moon,about the grazing occultation be-tween Moon and Venus. (At least Ithink that is what she meant.) An-other of her songs, Planet X, is aboutPluto (and this is the song whichincluded the URL). Her song Victim/Volunteer from her Attainable Lovealbum (1990) lists new-age practi-tioners among the groups of peoplewho are rather bad at identifying thetrue source of their problems:

He has invested his money in wellbred astrologers

Healers, Psychic Seers

And now he blames every tilted con-stellation

Or every negative vibration

He’s not a victim of UFO infestation

He’s a volunteer

# 2 Heyooh Guru — Udo LindenbergUdo Lindenberg is a one-manrock’n’roll institution in Germanybut he is little known internation-ally. Perhaps he should have penned

a song about Luftballons? In termsof longevity, think of him as PaulMcCartney wearing a hat. In termsof his politics, think of him as PeterGarrett with hair. His song HeyoohGuru from his Odyssey album (1983)is just a tad cynical about gurus:

Durch die Wüste zieht der Treck

Der Guru fliegt schon mal vorweg

(er fliegt vorweg im Privatjet)Take that, everyone who has ever

claimed that European Continentallanguages are useless in Australia!This translates to:

Through the desert moves the trek,

The guru flies ahead

(he flies ahead in private jet)

# 1 Monkey Business — Nik KershawIn case you were not around at thetime (or have repressed thememory), Nick was the quintessen-tial pop star of the 80s. He shot tofame with The Riddle and Wide Boy,and burnt out faster than one cangroan “Spice Girls”. However, Nikhad real talent — for one thing, hewrote all his own material. Some ofNik’s lesser-known works hadthemes far off the beaten track, suchas Don Quixote and Monkey Busi-ness. The latter is the Number 1 inour Skeptics Hit Parade, a song thatshould be played on ghetto blasters(in tune with the 80’s retro theme)outside every Answers in Genesisrally. Just make sure to wear run-ning sneakers, unless you are keento re-enact the conclusion to JohnSafran versus God.

Monkey business

Mankind, I got a theory that willblow your mind

Monkey business, you’ll see

You got an ape in your family tree

A Skeptic’s Music Jamboree

Michael Lucht

Musing


Like an apparition from another agethey came shuffling down the dustystreets by night, bearing torches andmuttering a litany of tall tales like aProclamation of the Faith. This wasno mindless pack of zombies or medi-eval pilgrims, but a ghost tour out-side Sydney.

Ghost tours offer a wonderfullysubversive opportunity to teachadults something about local history.Every city has them, but each tour isunique to the person in charge. Inthis tour, the guide is none otherthan Liz Vincent, a well-regardedlocal historian. As promising as thisseems, don’t come expecting toomuch of the macabre moments ofPicton’s past. This was more of asupport group for devotees of thesupernatural, so if you believe inghosts, or want to, this is the bestplace to be on a Friday and Saturdaynight.

Just because this is a very ghost-friendly tour does not make it bad.Anybody who is interested in psy-chology would find the tour fascinat-ing. Just remember to pretend yousee ghosts all around you whilekeeping an eye on everybody else…and keep your mouth shut about allthe natural phenomena trotted outas evidence of the supernatural. Thisis the sort of tour that attracts peo-ple who only want to be told they arenot deluded. From the beginning wewere asked if there were any skep-tics in the group. Ghosts, we werewarned, love to pick on skeptics.Worse yet, sometimes the group canturn on skeptics “and it isn’t pretty”.

(Considering how strongly the tourguide feels about ghosts, I had vi-sions that she’d be the one leadingthe lynching.) As a potential wind-chime, and an actual coward, I keptmy mouth shut.

As preparation, people were toldto expect ghosts in any smell, sightor sound. As people got to hearspooky stories and even take photosof ghosts (that look exactly like dustparticles caught in the flash), theyovercame any fear of ridicule andtold of their own experiences. Inevi-tably, people got jumpy, and beforelong ghosts were everywhere. In thisregard I highly recommend the tourbecause if you want a ghostly experi-ence, this is the way to get it. Mutualsupport and a suspension of disbeliefwill keep people coming back formore. As silly as it sounds, it’s still afun night out, being scared or watch-ing others make fools of themselves,and everybody needs a place to feelwelcome.

Go to any fast food chain and thepostgraduate philosophy studentbehind the till will probably tell youthat there are three main ways oflooking at the world. Naturalismsupposes that everything is made upof matter and, as mysterious as theworld appears at times, everythinghas a natural explanation (whetherwe understand it or not). On theother extreme is spiritualism whichsupposes that the physical world isan illusion. If we exist at all, it is asimmortal spiritual entities. In be-tween is dualism and this is wherethe ghost tour treads. Dualism sup-

Philip Peters, an animated animator, wasrecently elected Secretary of NSW Skeptics.After this exploit he is also our InspectreGeneral.

SpookedSkeptic

Report

Amazing apprehension ofapparitions


poses that there isboth a material andspiritual reality. Welive in a world gov-erned by science,but sometimes wehave intruders be-longing to a differ-ent kind of reality.

There is nothingstupid about dual-ism or a belief inghosts. This tourwas not an exampleof the mad leadingthe gullible. Thesewere ordinaryadults who over-whelmingly chose adualistic worldviewand were seekingany confirmation oftheir beliefs with aproportionate antipathy towardsnaturalistic explanations. Evidencetends towards naturalism because itpresupposes that the world followscertain rules. You can prove some-thing exists by getting others to con-firm it independently. The problemwith the supernatural is that thereare no hard and fast laws. You needa consistent universe for proof toalways be valid. The people whobelieve in the supernatural shouldn’tneed evidence, and yet there wewere at the start of the ghost tourbeing warned that anything could beproof of the supernatural. Examplesto watch out for were the black catthat is strangely not see by every-body (explain that skeptics!), butusually appears for the tour thatfinishes in a café. There was also theinexplicable smells, such as cookedmeat in a paddock, which is a faircall. Next time I’m in an elevatorand a strange smell manifests, I’mgoing to look at the trapped occu-pants and nod sagely… “ghosts”.

For myself, the highlight of thetour was spending five minutes inthe dark, in silence, under a hill inthe middle of the night. People werebeside themselves (duality?). In theirchildhood, these people must havemissed out on some very basic sci-ence. It is not unnatural for it to be

cold underground at night. A breezeshould make it even colder — theydo that. If it were a ghost, then theghost did everything a breeze shoulddo. Given time, our eyes can adjustto the dark. Here we had a crowd ofadults on the brink of panicking atsimple variations in light at the endof the tunnel. Don’t they teach ‘diffu-sion’ in primary schools any more?

On a more serious note, I was abit worried about people getting tooscared and panicking, as the tourseemed ill equipped to cope if any-thing went wrong. The tunnel was sodry that one person on the tour hadhis disposable contact lenses shrivelup and was as blind as a bat until hecould get hold of some saline. Nei-ther the tour guide, nor the café atour destination could offer any morethan a Band-Aid. Can anybody spell‘duty of care’?

‘No amount of evidence can con-vince a skeptic’ is something we haveall heard, and it is good that thisghost tour at least attempts to seekthe evidence. We were all encour-aged to take photos, and were “mor-ally obligated” to share the photo’swith the tour guide if they showedanything enigmatic. Clearly peoplebelieved this because at the conclu-sion of the tour we were treated towhole albums of bad photographs.

Reflections, glare,light, shadows…nothing was tooamateurish, but ofcourse these snap-shots take on awhole new meaningwhen viewed bypeople looking forconfirmation aboutwhat they feel to betrue. Without anycritical evaluationto balance its value,this sort of evidenceonly served to rein-force preconceivedideas, which ofcourse is the wholepoint. People paymoney to walk thecold dusty streets,enduring the abuse

from hoons in utes and belligerentdrunken yahoos to get a taste of thesupernatural. Things have taken aturn for the worse lately and thetour has postponed the tunnel visitsuntil they can get better security.

One of the spookiest tales told wasof the ghost road. One of the roadsleading into Picton runs along a pre-cipitous ridge called, mysteriously,Razorback Ridge. (People had moreimagination back then.) The courseof the road has changed over theyears, and sometimes people drivewhere the road used to be, only tofind themselves sailing off into his-tory. It’s all very sad but it is alsokind of sad that this is consideredproof that ghosts kill complacentlocals.

On the way home though, I hadthe best thrill of the night. I hap-pened to be in the car driven by theone guy whose contacts failed him inthe tunnel. If something had hap-pened, the tour guide would havebeen right. Ghosts do pick on skep-tics.

The web site for Liz Vincent GhostTours is:www.lizvincenttours.com.au/. Don’tgo alone!

Ghostly figures (or dust) hover above guests


Australian Skeptics has long re-garded homeopathy as little morethan outdated quackery. (A visit towww.homeowatch.org will give acomprehensive explanation of thisso-called medicine.)

In 2002, Skeptic, Cheryl Freemanexposed the fraudulent sale of fake‘vaccines’ for Meningococcal disease,Hepatitis B and Influenza. Thesehomeopathic vaccines were availablevia the internet or phone orders fromGentle Heal Pty Ltd, of Seven Hills,NSW and Newton’s Pharmacy, YorkSt, Sydney. Cheryl’s actions led to aban on the vaccines and Gentle Healwent on to win the 2002 Bend SpoonAward. (see the Skeptic 22:3 and :4)Have things changed in the lastthree years?

The Sydney launch of ‘World Ho-meopathy Awareness Week’, April10-16, took place at Circular Quay.Having an interest in this topic, Iattended to see what was going on —four information booths, some livemusic, a few people milling aroundand not much else. I was handed aflyer about the wonders of homeopa-thy which said in part:

Did you know? That homeopathycan achieve ‘impossible cures’? Eg: aboy cured from autism … homeopa-thy can work faster than antibiotics… homeopathy can treat viruses likemeasles, ‘flu and herpes?

The only real information it con-tained was that The Australian Ho-meopathic Association Inc (AHA)planned to have a booth at the forth-coming Parents, Babies & Childrens

Expo at Homebush Olympic Park. Ifthese people think that homeopathycan cure autism, which is absurd,what would they be telling parentsat this Expo?

I had my suspicions, which wereconfirmed later that week when Pe-ter Bowditch and I attended theExpo. At the AHA booth, we ap-proached an attendant:

Can you use homeopathy to vacci-nate babies against polio, mumpsand other diseases?

Oh indeed yes! Homeopathy canvaccinate your baby against anydisease and it’s completely safe.

My fears confirmed, we moved toanother attendant:

We’ve just been told that you can usehomeopathy to vaccinate babies. Inever knew this.

Her reply was instructive:

Well, we have to be careful what wesay, you know … but yes, homeopa-thy is a far better way to vaccinatebabies and is much safer than whatthe government is doing. Those vac-cinations actually cause diseases!

More conversation with the pairreinforced this view with furtherwarnings about a global conspiracyby the pharmaceutical companiesagainst alternative medicine.

Letting the cat out of the bagRepresentatives of The AustralianHomeopathic Association Inc havepublicly stated, at a Parents, Babies& Childrens Expo, that homeopathic

Homeopathy Exposed— Again!

Richard Saunders, an independent videoproducer and designer of the Great SkepticCDs, is the Immediate Past President of NSWSkeptics

Report

No matter hopw many timesit is knocked down, it still

bounces back —unfortunately


vaccines are a validway to immunisebabies, and thatparents should notuse conventionalvaccines. This islike saying thatparents should takedown their poolfence and replace itwith a line on theground drawn withchalk. With the hallfull with thousandsof visitors, millingaround over thethree days of theExpo, we can onlywonder how manyparents were dupedby this disgracefuladvise from peopleposing has healthcare experts.

Homeopathswere not the onlyexhibitors to give uscause for concern. Entering theExpo, we were confronted with thealarming sight of babies and toddlersundergoing chiropractic adjust-ments. This stand also had bro-chures recommending against vacci-nations, pointing out a supposed linkto cot-death. When quizzed, one ofthe chiropractors said she wouldrecommend homeopathic vaccina-tions over conventional ones.

During our visit, we resisted thetemptation to take the homeopathsand chiropractors to task as thiswould not have proofed productiveon the day. It was more importantfor us to see first-hand what wasgoing on and give these peopleenough rope. However we made surethat representatives of valid medicalinstitutions, also exhibiting at theExpo, were made aware of the ac-tions of their fellow exhibitors. Thereps from Children’s Hospital atWestmead were particularly horri-fied. Also, on the way out, Peter andI made our concerns known to theorganizers of the Expo who seemedto be disturbed at our findings.

I must say that the Expo itself,apart from the quackery, was a truly

wonderful affair and I would recom-mend it to any parent. There werecertainly enough reps from validmedical institutions and other com-panies to make it worth while.

I have no reason to suppose thatthe representatives of the Homeo-pathic Association, both of whomwould probably regard themselves asqualified homeopaths, do not believein the advice they were giving. How

Homeopathy Awareness Week launch at Circular Quay

else could theypossibly defendtheir actions? Isuspect theythink there isnothing thatcannot be pre-vented or curedby homeopathy.To them, it issimply the besthealth care sys-tem there is andnothing couldconvince themotherwise. A realcase of beingtotally closedminded.

Following ourexposure of theconduct of TheAustralian Ho-meopathic Asso-ciation Inc, Aus-tralian Skepticsissued a press

release, which resulted in a numberof interviews on ABC Radio stations,and a warning to parents. So farAHA has made no comment on thematter. Readers are invited to readour press release and other informa-tion relating to this report by visit-ing Australian Skeptics web site.www.skeptics.com.au

Table showing the volume of water required to make up various homeopathic dilutions

One cc Cubic water container homeopathic(1/4 teaspoon) in of side dimension- dilution1000 cc 10 cm. 3X1,000,000 cc 1 metre 3C1012 cc 100 metres 6C1018 cc 10 kilometres 9C1024 cc 1,000 kilometres 12C1030 cc 100,000 Km. 15C

Note-The more common homeopathic dilution of 30C would require a cubic ves-sel with a side of 100 light years, one light year being equivalent to 1013

Kilometres.Our thanks to Skeptic David Hellstrom for this chart


My colleagues tell me that if we wereall playing parts in one of those Hol-lywood blockbuster disaster films mycharacter would come to a stickyend.

In the opening scenes of this sup-posed Hollywood film I would beseen lecturing my colleagues abouthow most of what they have readand heard about the enhancedGreenhouse effect and the warmingup of the earth, is nonsense. Then inthe succeeding scenes, after somecatastrophic failure in the ecosystemdue to the warming of the earth —perhaps a wholesale, overnight melt-ing of the polar ice caps — the seassuddenly rise to flood out all of Syd-ney CBD. The only way out of ourSydney office building is to take apaddle craft fortuitously washed toone of the sea level windows fromthe recreational lake in nearby Dar-ling Harbour.

We paddle away to save the girl ofthe film but then I am taken by agiant crocodile, which the Hollywoodscript writers have had mutated bypollution from the Uranium mines inthe Northern Territory and movedall the way to flood-bound Sydney. Atthat last moment on screen, before Ivanish into the jaws of this beast,my face shows that I realised my

terrible mistake in doubting thegreenhouse effect.

Blockbuster films aside the officelobby remains dry and I have yet tosee any giant crocodiles in SydneyCBD, but my sin in doubting theenhanced Greenhouse effect is aterrible one indeed. So frequentlydoes the media mention the warmingof the earth and how this and thateffect is due to the warming, andhow scientists are collectively warn-ing the government about its failureto adopt the Kyoto Protocol, that toopenly doubt the Enhanced Green-house effect is to be labelled a“crank”, possibly funded by evil oilcompanies, by the Saintly green-house people. Well I wish I wasbacked by evil oil and coal compa-nies, then I could pay my Visa bills,but call me a crank.

Of late the cranks have been scor-ing a few points.

Whether you are prepared to gowith the crowd or not, a lot of themedia reporting on the Greenhouseeffect is unquestionably doubtful.One article in the Good Weekendmagazine published earlier this yeartalked confidently of a six degree risein the earth’s average temperaturesin a century. Where did that figurecome from? In fact the article was

Mark Lawson is a senior journalist on theAustralian Financial Review and is available forcasting as the fall guy in any big budgetAmerican films on climate change [email protected]

Red Light toGreenhouse

Forum

Journalist challengesthe consensus


quoting the maximum of a very widerange forecast by InternationalPanel on Climate Change. At onepoint the very distinguished scien-tists of the IPCC forecast that in acentury the Earth will be anywherefrom 2 to 6 degrees centigrade hotterthan it is now. Any skeptic familiarwith the history of prediction whosees such a wide range in forecastsfor conditions a century out based onimperfectly understood science,should simply laughat anyone wastingtime on them.

Instead, as skep-tics, let us concernourselves with theimmediate questionsof whether the earthis going through awarming phase and,if it is, whether thatwarming phase canbe connected to hu-man activity. A checkof recently publishedmaterials turns upsome surprising answers.

I was slowly being convinced thatthe climate was changing abnor-mally, and that I could yet be eatenby crocodiles, before I read the pa-pers from a conference “ManagingClimate Change — Practicalities andRealities in a Post-Kyoto Future”held in Canberra in early April andconvened by Alan Oxley, chairman ofthe Apec (Australian Asia PacificEconomic Co-operation) study centreat Monash University in Melbourne.

The conference proved to be agathering of distinguished scientistsand economists who had some harshthings to say about the science be-hind the Greenhouse debate. Chiefamong these was a paper by RossMcKitrick, of the Department ofEconomics at the University ofGuelph in Ontario, Canada. McK-itrick says that a key part of theIPCC case for global warming — andcertainly the centrepiece display inany printed material — is an analy-sis of data mainly from tree rings,but include the likes of ice cores andcoral rings, which seems to show asharp, recent increase in tempera-

ture. This so called “hockey stick”graph, produced by a group of scien-tists led by Michael Mann, a clima-tologist at the University of Virginia,shows that the earth’s average tem-perature was relatively stable untilabout the beginning of the twentiethcentury and then climbed sharplyupwards, warming by about a degreeover the century. The tip of thishockey stick, the last 20 years or so,relies on instrument data.

One of the key points about thisgraph is not so much the sharp in-crease at the end (to be discussedlater) but that it does away with theso called Medieval Warming Period.This is a variation in the earth’sclimate that was widely accepted(that is, before the hockey stickwork) in which the earth warmed upperhaps half a degree or so (thewarm period ) then cooled by a de-gree or so (the little ice age) and thenwarmed up again, all in about 1,000years. Some scholars have triedblaming the Viking raids on thewarm period’s affect on climate inScandinavia and the little ice agehas been blamed for the very coldwinters that feature in the literatureof Dickens. In that previously ac-cepted sequence, even now the earthmight still not have warmed up be-yond Medieval temperatures — ahighly inconvenient fact for green-house proponents.

McKitrick says that the warmperiod-little ice age sequence wasconfirmed by a group led byShaopeng Huang of the University ofMichigan which analysed data from

6,000 boreholes (published in Geo-physical Research Letters in 1997,Vol 24 No 15). That analysis was notshown in the latest IPCC report, andthat report also downplayed satellitemeasurements of tropospheric tem-peratures of the last 20 years or sowhich also did not show any risingtrend in temperatures.

An even bigger problem with thepanel’s case, McKitrick alleges, isthat Mann and his colleagues

messed up theiranalysis. In essencehe is saying theiranalysis gave consid-erable weighting toany temperatureincreases at the endof the data series. Asa result, a set of treerings from a placecalled Sheep Moun-tain in California,known to have beenaffected in the Twen-tieth Century per-haps by the nearby

use of fertiliser, threw out the wholeseries, giving it the hockey stickshape. Take out those tree rings andyou are left with no pronouncedchange. In fact, McKitrick says, ifyou feed in a lot of random signalsthen you still get a hockey stick asMann’s approach emphases any ran-dom increases that occur at the endof the data series. Further, the cor-rected analysis of the original datashows both the medieval warm pe-riod and little ice age. Please notethat this still means the Earth asbeen warning up of late, but as partof its ongoing recovery from the littleice age. Whether there has been any-thing out of the ordinary in the last30 years or so of change is unclear.

This argument is difficult for lay-men such as the writer to assess butthere are indications that McKitrickis winning. A recent article in NewScientist (February 12, 2005), whichotherwise sneers at Greenhouseskeptics as being either retired oroutside the mainstream of environ-mental research, notes that;

skeptics say the methodology system-


atically underestimates past vari-ability by smoothing out peak andtroughs, and they are winning theargument. Scientists at the UK metoffice and other IPCC stalwarts wereamong those who reported late lastyear (in the journal)Science that thehockey stick analysiscontains ‘assumptionsthat are not permissi-ble’.

In fairness, thesame article alsopoints to argumentsover adjustments tothe satellite datawhich has proved tobe inconvenient forGreenhouse propo-nents, saying thoseadjustments are incor-rect.

Other speakers atthe recent climatechange conference inCanberra had wound-ing things to say aboutthe IPCC. A paper by Robert M.Carter of the Marine GeophysicalLaboratory at James Cook Univer-sity in Townsville, says that theIPCC is an unabashedly political,not scientific, organisation”. It hasbased its assertions on the hockeystick graph, ground based tempera-ture measurements (the last part ofthe hockey stick) and computer mod-els used to make predictions 50 to100 years out, “each of which hasbeen demonstrated to be unsound”.Further, the focus of IPCC activityhas been on comparing contempo-rary climate change with that of thelast 1,000-2,000 years. “This is aridiculously short and atypical pe-riod over which to seek to under-stand climate change.”

A lot is now understood aboutlarge scale changes from study ofsediment cores and ice cores, Cartersays, including the general agreedfacts that the earth has been gradu-ally cooling down from a period fivemillion years ago, when it was sev-eral degrees warmer than it is now.Superimposed on that cooling is a

number of heating and cooling cy-cles, controlled by a number of fac-tors including changes in earth’sorbital geometry (the earth’s orbitshifts in a very slow cycle). Thesecycles are widely accepted.

Carter’s paper says that in thelast 0.6 million years the earth hasoscillated between ice ages andwarm or interglacial periods in cy-cles of about 100,000 with the earthbeing mostly much cooler than it isnow. All of human history has occu-pied one such warm period whichhas already reached its use-by date,but there is nothing to indicate thatclimate is now changing at a fasterrate than it has changed in the past.In fact, other interglacial periodshave been warmer. Further, changesin carbon dioxide content of the at-mosphere have followed climatechange instead of preceding it. Thereis still much to understand in theinfluences on climate changes butthe mostly likely future trend, tojudge from the known cycles affect-ing climate, is for the earth to coolrather than warm up, Carter says.Readers who want to explore thisissue further can look at the web site(www.climatechange.com.au) whichincludes papers by heretics, as wellas one or two from the pure faith.

But on the last point about the

Earth cooling rather than warmingup it is worth noting an article in theMarch issue of Scientific Americanby William F. Ruddiman, a marinegeologist at the University of Vir-ginia. In the article Ruddiman

claims that theearth would havebeen much coolerby now had it notbeen for humanagricultural activ-ity throughouthistory. He saysthat greenhousegases stopped fol-lowing the glacial-inter glacial cyclesome eight thou-sand years ago,about when hu-mans inventedagriculture, thanksto all the addi-tional carbon diox-ide and methaneproduced. Themost recentchanges due to

industrial activity is just one part ofhuman affect on climate, which hashad the overall effect of stopping theearth from sliding into the next gla-cial period. However, apparentlyusing the hockey stick numbers forthe last part of his calculations, healso says that the earth will becomemuch hotter than is natural for aninterglacial period, due to the extragases.

Whatever you may make of sucharguments it is not what the Green-house proponents want to hear andthey have not been idle during all ofthis. The March issue of ScientificAmerican cited above, features aninterview with Michael Mann whichsays he published a full reply to hiscritics in the journal Nature in 2004,and showed that the MedievalWarming Period and Little Ice Agewere local phenomena. The maga-zine article says that “petroleuminterests” are behind the criticism.

Mann also defends himself atlength on a website set up in con-junction with like minded scientistswww.realclimate.com . On the site,

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in part he says that the McKitrickand Co’s supposed corrections are inerror due to “censoring by the au-thors of key proxy data in the origi-nal Mann et al (1998) dataset”. Thewebsite notes that the claims havebeen “further discredited” in thepeer-reviewed scientific literature, ina paper in the American Meteoro-logical Society journal, of Climate byRutherford and colleagues (2004).

As everyone involved is quick topoint out, the hockey stick graph isnot the only piece of evidence forundue greenhouse warming, but itwas the most persuasive and is nowlooking doubtful indeed. Consider-ably more work, argument andanalysis of data sets will be requiredbefore anyone can say what is hap-pening, and whether any currentwarming is abnormal.

Mann seems to tentatively agreewith this. In the same refutation ofhis critics cited above he notes:

Numerous studies suggest thathemispheric mean warmth for thelate 20th century (that is, the pastfew decades) appears to exceed thewarmth of any comparable lengthperiod over the past thousand yearsor longer, taking into account theuncertainties in the estimates. Onthe other hand, in the context of thelong-term reconstructions, the early20th century appears to have been arelatively cold period while the mid20th century was comparable inwarmth, by most estimates, to peakMedieval warmth. It is not the aver-age 20th century warmth, but themagnitude of warming during the20th century, and the level ofwarmth observed during the pastfew decades, which appear to beanomalous in a long-term context.

The IPCC is due to meet in May.It is unlikely to abandon its prizepiece of evidence without a fight but,unquestionably, global climate isproving considerably more compli-cated than anyone expected, and Imay yet avoid being eaten by croco-diles.

On Bullshit; Harry G Frankfurt;Princeton University Press 2005.US$9.95 (hardcover).

The top flight American universitypresses (and Princeton certainly isone) are refreshingly uninhibited inthe topics they publish. Hence wehave a small but thoughtful mono-graph on a subject with which weare all too familiar, but is seldom ifat all studied.

Princeton Emeritus PhilosophyProfessor Harry Frankfurt hasdipped his analytical toes into a verymurky pool indeed, attempting todefine what is almost indefinable.Bullshit may range from lies to non-sense. “Never tell a lie when you canbullshit your way through” was A ASimpson’s advice from his father.The intent of bullshit may extendfrom pure deceit to pretension andbombast. These and many othershades of meaning are entertain-ingly explored by Prof Frankfurt. Healso explores the many uses ofbullshit, humbug, bunkum or what-ever you like to call it. I just lovedFrankfurt’s portrayal of some famil-iar bullshit sources. I quote him infull:

The realms of advertising and ofpublic relations, and the nowadaysclosely related realm of politics, arereplete with instances of bullshit sounmitigated that they can serveamong the most indisputable andclassic paradigms of the concept.And in these realms there are exqui-sitely sophisticated craftsmen who— with the help of advanced anddemanding techniques of marketresearch, of public opinion polling,of psychological testing and so forth— dedicate themselves tirelessly togetting every word and image theyproduce exactly right.

Right on!

Prof Frankfurt goes on to discussthe role of intent in distinguishingdownright lying from less seriouscarelessness of truth and detail. Hedrags in a lengthy anecdote onWittgenstein’s purist attitude to acomparison between human experi-ence (of a serious injury) and whatthat person imagines an injured dogmight feel. Mercifully, Frankfurtreturns to clarifying the nature ofbullshit, with examples of usage andterminology. I found myself thinkingthat the word “crap” is sufficientlyaccommodating as a descriptor.

The Macquarie Dictionary citesrubbish and nonsense as valid mean-ings and the Macquarie Thesaurusdoes include the word crap. But crapis a word Frankfurt avoids althoughI believe it to be frequently employedby Americans as a synonym forbullshit.

I must admit that I did not knowquite what to expect from Frank-furt’s 67-page essay. Maybe someconcise advice on how to infalliblyidentify bullshit. As skeptics we liketo think we have pretty good bullshitdetectors but, alas, the same cannotbe said of the general populacewhose gullibility is frequently aston-ishing. On Bullshit is a tad too schol-arly to appeal to the masses. It ismore to the liking of those who wishto explore the motivations of liarsand bullshitters. As a corollary onecan say that where there is money orinfluence to be made from bullshitits originators and propagators willcontinue to operate. In consequence,bullshit will always be with us. It iseven part of our nature.

As Professor Frankfurt concludes,after a scathing summation on howmuch we humans delude ourselves,“sincerity itself is bullshit.”

Colin Keay

Review

A Fertile Fieldfor Skeptics


A recent special screening of the docu-mentary Star Dreams produced byCanadian Robert Nichol was adver-tised as “an exhilarating and provoca-tive documentary about crop circles.The advertising also claimed that theprogram was “highly objective”. It wasanything but objective, as we wereabout to find out.

The vast majority of those in at-tendance appeared to be dedicated“New Agers” and other believers in theparanormal. This fact was borne out inquestion time when, apart from Rich-ard Saunders and myself, there wereno skeptical responses or questions.Among the attendees were members ofSydney’s UFO club who, interestinglyenough, were of the opinion that cropcircles were not caused by UFOs butby other strange paranormal phenom-ena. Despite the enthusiasm of thosepresent, the turnout was only about athird of the cinema’s capacity, not thesellout crowd the organisers hadboasted.

The film displayed footage of a largenumber of crop circles, some of themquite intricate and beautiful. This wasinterspersed with ‘expert analysis’from self-styled UFO researchers,paranormal enthusiasts and farmerson whose properties the circles andpatterns appeared.

One of the explanations put forwardwas that energy fields emitted by‘Mother Earth” created the circles.These were supposedly warnings forhumans to stop damaging the environ-ment and start operating with a more‘holistic’ approach. What they actuallymeant by this was unclear. Some otherexplanations were more specific: cir-cles are the handiwork of gray-col-oured aliens who are dutifully follow-ing the orders of the galacticfederation. This federation was takenas given and spoken about as thoughknowledge of it’s existence was as com-mon as that of the United Nations orNATO.The claims extended well beyond cropcircles. It was even asserted that hu-man beings would all have 13 strands

of DNA by the end of the Mayan calen-dar (2012). Also, human cell structurewill change enabling us to receivehigher vibrations sent to us in theform of messages from aliens. I hopeall the biologists and geneticists outthere are getting ready for this mam-moth change in our makeup. And tothink we were worried about the Y2Kbug!

A number of the crop formations onshow were well known hoaxes with oneeven containing a spelling error. Al-though the evidence is very strong thatall crop circles are the products of tal-ented human artists, the panelistsquickly dismissed this explanationbecause “some of the circles are far toocomplex to be hoaxed overnight”. Havea look at http://circlemakers.org/ forevidence of very intricate and amazingcrop circles that have been made bypeople who do this as their hobby.They even have photos of themselvesmaking them. Another rebuttal prof-fered by the true believers is the al-leged lack of “practice circles” createdby the hoaxers. But funnily enough,when examples of more basic, rudi-mentary designs are given, they alsoattribute these to the paranormal.

The thing that really struck meabout this whole evening was that cropcircle belief is not limited to just UFOsand circles in paddocks. If it were, onecould be forgiven for writing it off asharmless eccentricity. What I discov-ered was that it was only a part of anentire worldview based onpseudoscience and fuzzy thinking.There is no objective approach to de-termining what claims are right orwrong.

The film contained quite a numberof crop circle explanations that wereclearly mutually exclusive — theycouldn’t all be correct. I challenged oneof the crop circle experts on this verypoint in the question time that fol-lowed the film. Her response was thatthis was no problem at all — what canbe true for me may not be the same aswhat is true for another. The advicegiven was to “take your pick” and

choose the explanations that work bestfor you. While this relativistic ap-proach may have some application tosubjective concepts like love or tastesin music, surely a crop circle couldeither have been created by aliensfrom the Galactic Federation or byMother Earth — but not both! I per-sisted with this line but was chastisedfor being a linear thinker like IsaacNewton. Well at least I’m in good com-pany.

As we were leaving, Richard askedone of the organisers whether shethought there was anyone on the filmwhose crop circle theory was just toowhacko or unbelievable. She seemedquite perplexed that anyone shouldhave a negative view of any of thecircle explanations on offer. I made myargument to her that the diverse be-liefs cannot all be correct. Her expres-sion in response revealed that this wasa point she had not pondered untilnow, but she still answered that all thedifferent explanations were equallycorrect.

Particularly disappointing was thepresence of some school-age children inthe audience who seemed to be enthu-siastically supporting the views of thespeakers and the film. We cannot al-low the minds of the young to bemoulded by the pseudoscience andirrationality so prevalent in believerslike this. This is all the more reason toplace a greater emphasis on teachingcritical thinking in schools.

Nonetheless the evening was a goodlearning experience for me. I discov-ered that the mumbo-jumbo preachedby these groups is much weirder andmuch more extensive in its scope thanI had previously assumed.

John Sweatman

Review

Star Dreams


Mark FreemanKuranda. QLD

I live in the small, beautiful villageof Kuranda perched in the naturallyair-conditioned mountains behindCairns. It is an envious lifestyle forthose people who are prepared to dowithout shopping centres, operahouses and cable television. I muchprefer it to the fetid malarial swampbeneath, and certainly to those me-tropolises such as Brisbane and Syd-ney which have climate rather thanweather and where the air actuallysmells bad.

However, this idyllic paradise hasdrawn, like a rotten carcass drawsmaggots, more weirdos per head ofpopulation than most places onearth. I include myself in the cat-egory of being a little eccentric — soI fit in well. I point out that those ofyou drenched in the close confines ofacademia also suffer a large percent-

age of weirdness, but because yourglasses tend to be tinted similarly,you don’t notice it as much. ThisKuranda diversity of opinion, most ofit based on a quagmire foundation ofsupposition and the ranting of selfespoused saviours, has fortunatelyperverted my youthful skepticisminto a positive form of cynicism. Istress the positiveness. I honestlybelieve that most people, includingpoliticians, actively try to do the bestor right thing, but are sadly fre-quently doomed to eventual failuredue to an inability to view their ac-tions in the long term. Most peopleare much better at 20/20 hindsightthan at rational future speculation.As a species, we like to fix problemsand as such, usually do little untilwe have actually created one.

An almost unspoken philosophy,adopted by governments throughoutAustralia and enforced and encour-aged by our legal system, can basi-cally be summed up as “We must notlet the idiot kill himself”. There hasalways been a varying level of thisfeeling in governance, but it hasbecome vastly reinforced over thepast fifty years or so. Perhaps a fewexamples will clarify this philosophyin action.

Falling at the fallsForty years ago, frail grandmothersin long black dresses and carryingumbrellas (to keep the spray off theirblue VO5’ed hair perms), descendedand re-climbed the several hundredslippery stairs that led from theBarron Falls railway station to thebase of the falls. In those days, thestairs were much more dangerousthan now because the falls actually

ran all of the time and as such thestairs were always wet and coveredin slime. Many young men, in a fit ofbravado, used to race down and upthese stairs. If you are stupid, espe-cially if your established immortalitywas reinforced by alcohol, there wereplenty of places where you could falloff the path. Many did and a selectvery few managed to do such a goodjob of it that they fell the 100 or someters to the gorge floor. Surpris-ingly this was not always fatal butalways caused serious dents to theirpersona. Essentially, to save youngidiots from themselves and the gov-ernment from litigation, these stairshave been closed for many years.

This enactment has caused incon-venience to the many in order tosave the few — those who essentiallykilled themselves through stupidityand miss-adventure.

All legislation has this sad effect.It is axiomatic that any legislation orregulation that is designed to dogood in one form, inevitably doesharm in another. The sad contradic-tion is that legislation that is de-signed to do harm, does not neces-sarily do good to anyone! Alllegislation limits freedom. The old“Thou shalt not kill” has the accenton the “not” and limits the freedomof action of some — even if that limi-tation is seen to be to the benefit ofthe vast majority. However, an en-actment that stated “Thou shalt kill”would benefit none and harm many— in the long term.

Childs playThe prior example of the stairwaydoes not really impinge on us be-cause the situation is so removed

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Let The Idiot Kill Himself:or a cynical view of a philosophy of governance.

Mark Freeman DD. (Diogenes Disciple) whoresorted to a pen sketch after totally destroy-ing the digital camera lens of two of his nowunhappy daughters.


from out normal daily lives. How-ever, the following may cut throughthe epidermis and stab a muscle.

Again we go back forty years toprimary schools all over Australia.In those days, children at schoolplayed football, cricket and suchgames as ‘red rover”. They were vio-lent games and demanded physicalstamina, team skills and a will towin against the odds. The more in-formal and unstructured games such“Red Rover” frequently involved theentire school student population.Several additional rules were oftenforced by peer pressure with amend-ments such as “big” kids cannotcatch “little” kids.

There is no doubt that these vio-lent games caused numeroussprains, broken bones and the occa-sional death.

These days, we play “KangaCricket” which is an emasculatedform of the game where much of theviolence (and potential for violence)has been removed. Whilst team workis important, the drive to win hasalso been emasculated. A game like“Red Rover” is totally forbidden. Forevery year since such school sportingviolence was banned, I am sure thatthere are at least five children Aus-tralia wide who avoided death orpermanent disability because of thischange. It seems so obvious that thechange was a “good” thing — even ifonly one child was saved.

Unfortunately, primary schoolstudent participation in exercise hasalso plummeted and Australia’s chil-dren now face levels of obesity, leth-argy and non-involvement neverpreviously seen. Asthma and otherdiseases contributed to by a lack ofphysical fitness are also at recordlevels. These diseases and conditionskill or make infirm, hundreds of chil-dren annually. Are the two con-nected? I certainly don’t know towhat extent, because of the plethoraof other considerations such as fastfood, television, computers and otherlifestyle changes that have also hadconsiderable bearing. But withoutdoubt, there is some connection.Maybe we have saved five and killedfifty. Maybe the opposite is true.

Possibly there is someone out therewho could earn their PhD on such astudy designed to determine exactcorrelation. Unfortunately, the vari-ables are so numerous that whateverresult is determined will never bebelieved by the inevitable opponentsof the findings.

I well understand how the motherwho sees her fit young child struckdown in death due to schoolyardviolent games can say “This must bestopped — it is killing our children!”No mother ever says “Bring backviolent, enjoyable games for our chil-dren’s fitness” as she watches herchild die from acute bronchitis.Therefore the legislators enact thelaws and bureaucrats draw up theguidelines and it can take centuriesbefore the full results of our actionsare realised.

This type of scenario raises thequestion of “Have we gone too far inprotection of the populace?” Shouldwe take a long, strong, skeptical lookat the way we propagate laws andexamine if we really want the limita-tions that they inevitably engender?

Last year in Queensland, the par-liament enacted over 9000 pages ofnew laws. Nobody, including thosewho raised their hands and imposedthese laws, can say they have under-stood what those laws mean, letalone their long term ramifications.Nobody would even have a fullknowledge of what is now illegal thatwas legal a couple of years ago. Theyare so diverse in scope that some ofthem will be repealed or amendedbefore they are even enforced, per-haps decades into the future.

DivorceWithout wanting to sound like theold Oxford song “Forty years onwhen afar …” we will take anotherexample — again involving childrenbecause that is the easiest emotivetrigger. Those short four decadesago, divorce was much more difficultand “incompatibility” had nothing todo with it. Incest, adultery and abso-lute mayhem might do the trick —but then again — maybe it wouldn’t.There were certainly many unhappymarriages, some of which were unac-

ceptably violent. It sounds a lot liketoday really although often they arenow unacceptably violent relation-ships. Many marriages stayed to-gether “because of the kids”. Thenfamily law changed and essentially atwelve month separation was enoughto prove “Irretrievable breakdown inmarriage”. All of a sudden, far morechildren were faced with the situa-tion of partial or total severancefrom a familiar and familial lifestyle.Sure, in the past many had livedwith severe home arguments andunhappy parents. However, they didhave a stable household environ-ment and did have two parents whocontributed to their development.

In many divorces, the biggest con-cern to the children is the uncer-tainty and sundering of the ‘livable’environment. I know there are thou-sands of examples where people willtell me how wrong their relationshipwas and how much better off theirchildren are away from that “beast”.I know that there are thousands ofexamples where the children areactually and provably better off in adivorced environment. I also knowthat there are thousands of caseswhere, whatever viewpoint is pro-posed, can be proved to be the oppo-site.

What I am suggesting is that wehave enacted legislation that hasincreased the freedom of spouses andspices throughout Australia and thatthis legislation has as a direct resultimpinged and reduced the stabilityand beneficial environment of thou-sands of children. Which is better inthe balance? I don’t know and afterreading numerous studies on thesubject — many of whose conclusionsare directly contradictory — I don’tthink anybody has a firm foundationfor their averials.

Without exception, all of the stud-ies ignore or demean relevant data. Idoubt if any report or thesial authorwas surprised by their conclusions. Iwas surprised that some of themreached their conclusions as a resultof the statistics enumerated. How-ever, as academia knows well, “it ishow you play the game that counts”.

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The law is the law (sometimes an ass)These three examples only slightlyimpinge on the tip of the iceberg. Asthe Titanic could attest — it is whatis underneath that counts. What oursociety faces is an acceptance, a con-doning and encouragement of protec-tion at all costs. The third sector ofdemocratic implementation, the judi-ciary, have also supported and imple-mented this societal change. Theirexcuse is that they don’t have achoice because they only rule on en-acted law. However, this is often notthe case because a precedent cantotally change the envisioned resultof a law. I am sure that no politicianever predicted that a burglar couldsuccessfully sue a homeowner whenhe injured himself when breakinginto the house. Nevertheless, thathas occurred.

Another recent example waswhere damages were awarded to agirl who had been told not to play ona neighbour’s trampoline because itwas dangerous. The girl understoodthe instruction and was aware of thedanger — but jumped all the same.Her broken arm cost the trampolineowner $20,000 — because he could(not should) have taken further ac-tion to prevent an injury.

What I am suggesting for yourcogitation is that we have swung toofar towards the protection phase.Maybe we have come from a statewhere protection was too little andnow the pendulum is nearing theapogee — but maybe it isn’t and wewill continue further along the pro-tectionist path.

Maybe our basis of law needs astrongly rational and skeptical ex-amination. Perhaps all vehiclescould have a speed governing devicefitted that would limit top speed to110 kph. Then we can return manyof the traffic police to real policework and still retain the advantagesof the much reduced road fatalitieswe have achieved over the past 40years. The present situation wherenew vehicle advertising stressespower and speed when it is illegal touse it is bizarre. It is like someoneadvertising the use of heroin whensuch use is illegal.

If smoking is so bad, and as asmoker I happily admit it is a dis-gusting addiction, all smoking couldbe limited to the tobacco that yougrow yourself. Perhaps the samecould be implemented for marijuanaand opium poppies. Rather thanlimiting freedoms — we could limitcapability.

It has been known that incarcera-tion in jails has little effect on crimerates since this continent was settledby the British. However, that hasn’tchanged the swings from high to lowlevels of prison population over thecenturies. At the moment we aregoing through a high stage and arere-discovering that it still doesn’twork. Rates of crime are, generallyspeaking, about the same as theywere 200 years ago or 2000 yearsago. Perhaps a rational and skepticallook at the problem may come upwith a colour based, time limitedbranding of foreheads. Say sixmonths with a green forehead forburglary and twenty years of brightpurple for child molestation. Thiswould engender the most importantand effective deterrent available toany societal animal. Peer pressure,especially peer repulsion, has enor-mous ability to reform and modifybehavioural traits.

Protecting people from themselvesPerhaps we should realistically ac-cept that young men are often fool-hardy and manage to kill or seri-ously injure themselves. We couldaccept that no amount of care willstop many young ladies from fallingover backwards as soon as they areold enough to wear high heels. Anylegislation designed to prevent theseoccurrences is doomed to failure. Analternative could be to start educa-tion of primary age children on theperils they face when they turn intoomnipotent buckets of hormones.Adolescence comes as such confusingsurprise to so many — usually withno understanding of what is happen-ing to their being.

Perhaps we should then acceptthat if someone is stupid enough tokill or maim themselves, after warn-ing and education, then it is their

own fault. Sure we would still besorry that a young man was so stupidor unlucky that he died, but recognisethat it was essentially his choice andthat society as a whole is not respon-sible. If he kills or injures others inhis seeking of ego, then he faces thefull penalties for his stupidity.

I am not saying that any of theabove should be implemented. WhatI am saying is that the protectionistpolicy of enactments does not work,has never worked and cannot beamended in any way to make itwork. Misfortune, daring and grossstupidity will invariably defeat anyprotectionist process. We can amelio-rate the process — but the casting offault towards individuals, or societyas a whole, is an unreasoned re-sponse.

I am also saying that legislationshould be looked at rationally andlimitations on freedoms limited.Laws should not damage thousandsin order to save a few. We shouldrecognise that we are mortal and noamount of expenditure, effort or en-actment is going to change the even-tual outcome. We should return theoption of self decision to the indi-vidual, even if it results to their per-sonal harm.

In essence, I am suggesting that afully skeptical and rational view-point towards governance has thepotential of making a freer society.We should apply our intellect to gov-ernance not only at election time,when integrity is at its minimum,but also throughout the term whenthe real lifestyle changes are beingenforced. Hansard is easy to obtainand, fortunately, most parliamentaryrepresentatives cannot dodge easilyif you really want to approach themin a constructive manner. In my ex-perience, most welcome an informed,rational and constructive input.

I admit that sometimes it takesyears to achieve the aim of reasonedenactment — but fortunately onsome issues, I have had those yearsand have had some success.


Iolanda GreyGlenhaven NSW

The Autumn 2005 edition of theSkeptic was the first I’ve ever read,and although I’m very new to“learned skepticism” I have somecomments that I’d like to share withother readers. Things that I learntwhilst undergoing treatment forcancer and a separate, rare braininjury.

AntioxidantsAs everyone will appreciate, cancerpatients and families are very vul-nerable to “quackeries’ and alterna-tive medicine generally, many ofwhich purport to be a medical helpor cure to their problems. After com-pleting chemotherapy but beforestarting radiotherapy, I went to see anaturopath who sold me variousvitamins and antioxidants. It wasonly a few weeks later that I reread“Good advice on diet and cancer” putout by the NSW Cancer Council thatsaid that “supplements containinglarge doses of vitamin A can be dan-gerous to health”.

Bearing in mind this comment, onday 11 of my 18 day radiotherapytreatment, I asked my radiologistwhat it meant, especially consideringI was taking antioxidants (vitaminsA, C and E). To my surprise I wastold that they were bad for my treat-ment as they reduced the potency ofthe radiation treatment. This wasbecause the antioxidants protectedthe cancer cells along with the nor-mal cells. And to think that I specifi-cally didn’t mention it earlier be-cause I thought that vitamins werenatural and thus OK!

The reasoning behind this way ofthinking is simple — it’s thoughtthat the antioxidants protect cellsfrom damage by free radicals andother toxins. They block the chemi-

cal reactions that create free radi-cals, which can damage DNA andpromote a variety of degenerativechanges in cells. Chemotherapy andradiation generate free radicals; thatis how they kill the dividing cells. Bytaking anti-oxidants during treat-ment (whether it be chemotherapy orradiotherapy) it’s thought that youwould be reducing the effectivenessof the treatment.

My radiologist then referred mespecifically to the CARET and ATBCtrials to illustrate how taking a sup-plement — in this instance, of betac-arotene — had resulted in an unex-pected and alarming increase in lungcancer diagnoses in the smokers inthese studies. Up until this timestudies had shown the health ben-efits of betacarotene from foodsources so they didn’t expect any-thing different from these ones.

In 1994 the ATBC study showedthat smokers taking 20mg supple-ments for 5 – 8 years actually in-creased their risk of contracting lungcancer by 20%. There was also a 10%increase in heart disease overall anda 20% increase in strokes amongstthose taking the supplements.

This was followed up in 1996 bythe CARET study that did more thanconfirm the ATBC findings. In fact,there were almost 50% more lungcancer diagnoses (including a 17%higher chance of dying) with thecurrent and former smokers in thisstudy, the results of which were soalarming that the study was stoppedalmost 2 years early. It must benoted however that these studieswere carried out with a high dosageof betacarotene of 20 – 50 mg perday. There is no current evidencethat small amounts of the supple-ment (such as found in a multivita-min) is unsafe.

And as if these studies weren’tbad enough, after further analysis ofthe results a negative effect was

found from taking the betacarotenesupplements on normal fruit andvegetable consumption. That is,those smokers who took the supple-ments didn’t get any nutritional ben-efit from consuming natural fruitand vegetables. The main thing thatI concluded is that supplements arevery different to natural whole foods,and don’t appear have the same pre-ventative benefit. This was con-firmed in July 2004 when research-ers analysed the ATBC study resultsand found that the consumption ofDIETARY anti-oxidants reduced therisk of lung cancer in the smokers by16%.

We all know how government au-thorities need convincing beforemaking public health declarationsand statements. Well, in 2003 UKsafety experts went so far as to ad-vise smokers not to take betacaro-tene supplements and advised every-one to limit their daily intake of highdose betacarotene.

Bearing in mind this ambiguity,and the theoretical and statisticalinformation against anti-oxidants, in1999 I approached the leading anti-oxidant manufacturer, Blackmores,for their comment. Given therehasn’t been any change in the area,I’ll share with you what they had tosay on their site:

I have been asked to write an articleabout cancer and antioxidants basedon the concerns raised by theCARET and ATBC trials. Given thespace limits that I have I am notsure that I will be able to cover allthe relevant points properly and mayeven raise more questions than giveanswers.

The use of antioxidants in cancerpresents a number of paradoxes.

The first of many is that oxygen andiron, while both mandatory for our

Seeking the Truth About AltMed

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existence, are also toxic to us viatheir capacity to produce free radi-cals species (FRS) and as such wehave been forced to develop an anti-oxidant system to protect ourselves.

Whilst increased production of FRShave been implicated in the patho-geneses of cancers either directly orindirectly, it is believed that somecancer cells are actually resistant tofree radical attack making themharder to kill off. It seems that somecancer drugs may work because theygenerate FRS. One novel cancertherapy includes the infusion ofspecific fatty acid compounds, thatin test-tube tests have been shown tobe cytotoxic to certain cancer celllines, because of their ability to gen-erate FRS. Yet tamoxifen is known tobe an antioxidant and it is believedthat under certain conditions highdose antioxidants may act as pro-oxidants!

Epidemiological studies have shownthat diets high in fruits and vegeta-bles (ie high in antioxidants) or us-ers of vitamin supplements can havea lower incidence of cancers. TheCARET and ATBC trials showedthat high dose betacarotene supple-mentation caused an increase incancer risk in those persons alreadyat high risk of lung cancer, particu-larly smokers, causing one of thetrials to be stopped prematurely. Yeta clinical trial with selenium pro-duced a dramatic reduction in manybut not all types of cancers, againcausing the trial to be stopped pre-maturely but for the opposite reason.

Are antioxidant supplements likelyto be of use when a person has can-cer? I believe a blanket yes or nocannot be given at this point. Thereappears, as highlighted above, to becontradictory basic scientific evi-dence. Yet we do know that antioxi-dant supplementation withconcurrent cancer therapy can bebeneficial in terms of reducing side-

effects hence perhaps prolonging theability to receive therapy. On a moreactive front a preliminary trial intothe effect of vitamin E and seleniumin prostate cancer is to begin in Aus-tralia this year. It is also importantto point out that antioxidant vita-mins such as vitamin C, E and caro-tene have non-antioxidant functionsthat may be important in cancer aswell.

Chris Oliver

Blackmores Research Centre

Unfortunately there is no answeras yet as to the risks or benefits to begained from taking supplements.The jury is still out.

SweetenersSecond, I’d like to reinforce and addsomething to what Glen Cardwellsaid in passing in his Nutrition Mythcolumn on artificial sweeteners. Hesaid “don’t think that sugar substi-tutes will make you … immune totooth decay”, however only men-tioned the “need to brush and flossyour teeth”. One enormous problemis that of dental erosion. My braininjury has given me chronic thirstand my radiotherapy regime was onmy neck and consequently near mymouth, so I experienced significantthirst and oral discomfort overall.My long term saliva production isalso lower because of permanentradiation damage to the largest ofthe salivary glands, the parotidgland. But this should also be ofinterest to “healthy” people as somemay have low saliva levels and drymouths for other reasons. Or elsethey might be consuming them in away or at a time that puts them at ahigh risk of erosion.

At the time I thought I was look-ing after my teeth by drinking nosugar (artificially sweetened) lemoncordial and sucking artificiallysweetened lemon sweets. But what Ididn’t know was that the lemon fla-

vouring was acidic and the manysmall sips I was taking were rottinga rear molar, which ultimately re-quired me to have root canal therapyon that tooth. My low saliva levelsmeant that I had less natural salivato buffer the acids in the cordial andsweets. The low pH of the cordialthat I was sipping had actuallycaused the tooth enamel to dissolve.When I looked into it further I foundthat pH levels lower than 5.5 havethe potential to erode tooth enamel.(pH basically measures acidity levels— the lower the pH the higher theacidity). Just visit Coca-Cola’sinternet site and you’ll see themopenly disclose pH levels between2.5 and 3.2 in their drinks. Highlyerosive if you drink them on a drypalate (for example, during or afterexercise) or in small and frequentsips.

As you can see, trying to do what’sbest for yourself is very difficult, andyou certainly can’t believe every-thing you read and hear, even if it’sfrom people who you think you cantrust. But then you shouldn’t let itall dictate your life. A happy mediumis definitely best.

Some Relevant Referenceswww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/

query.fcgi?db=PubMed

www.blackmores.com.au/news/news_detail.asp?art=38

www.supplementwatch.com/supatoz/supplement.asp?format=printable&supplementId=40www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/healthrpt/

stories/s865284.htm

www.nutraingredients.com/news/news-NG.asp?id=54057

www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1331225.htm www.ada.org.au/media/documents/Products_Publications/Journal%20Archives/2002%20Archive/September/0209Siri.pdf

www.sugar.org/health/impactdental.html

National Convention Aug 13-14


LettersWho’s to Blame?

Sydney BocknerCrafers SA

Barry Williams’ remarkable editorial(25:1) on the December 26 tsunamiwas a valuable lesson on how skepticsshould deal with their aversion to re-ligion. The attitude he adopts wasmeasured, thoughtful and dispassion-ate. There was no ridicule and no hu-mour (at the victims’ expense).

One may be tempted to describe re-ligion as a ridiculous superstition. Dis-asters such as storms, earthquakesand tsunamis are acts of God, as de-fined by insurance companies. If anybeing could be responsible for suchacts he would be diagnosed as a psy-chopathic personality. But before lay-ing blame it is as well to recall Rich-ard Dawkins who writes;

Nature is not cruel, only pitilessly in-different. This is one of the hardestlessons for humans to learn. We can-not admit that things might be nei-ther good nor evil, neither cruel norkind, but simply callous— indifferentto all suffering, lacking all purpose.

(River Out of Eden, 1995, p.96)

Behaviour and belief

David FisherCashmere QLD

In the Autumn 2005 issue of ‘theskeptic’ Daniel Stewart wrote:

When I read the first Harry Potter

book it struck me that Harry was agreat example of Christian living! Herisked his life so that, for unselfish rea-sons, he could fight for good againstthe forces of evil.

As a skeptic I know of no reliableevidence that Christians behave anybetter than other people. A Jew mightsay of a person whose behaviour he orshe approved of, “He’s a real Jew.” Inthe USSR, “He’s a real communist.”might have been said of a good per-son.

I am not aware that Harry Potterbelieves in any of the unprovablepropositions Christians are suppose toagree with. Fighting for good does notmake one a Christian. Even Jesus, thecentre of the Christian religion, wassupposed to be sinless but he was nota Christian.

It is common among believers of anystripe to equate goodness with shar-ing their belief.

Anecdotal not enough

Loretta MarronBurpengary QLD

In response to Ron Marke “Anecdotalsupport” (Letters, 25:1 p56). As abreast cancer survivor I get really an-gry at anecdotal statements from peo-ple like Ron who talk about “one ladyI know quite well” being pronounced‘cancer free’ 10 years ago after takinggreen barley, multivitamins, andherbal preparations. What a load ofBollocks!!! I can tell you now she neverhad breast cancer. Get her to emailme and let me hear it first hand. Make

sure she also sends along a copy of herbiopsy report — let’s debunk this mythNOW.

Thirty women are diagnosed everyday and five women die every day inAustralia from breast cancer. Ridicu-lous and clearly inaccurate statementsby Ron can lead women to an unnec-essarily early grave.

I also have a friend I have knownover 20 years who swears by hisnaturopath and will do nothing with-out consulting her. After being diag-nosed with lung cancer he moved tothe countryside and grew wheatgrassand was soon claiming it had curedhim of his lung cancer. His crop wasexcellent and he gained quite a follow-ing of cancer patients eager to pur-chase his herbal remedy. He has soldhis produce with this same ‘cured mycancer’ story for the past two years.

Earlier this year he was diagnosedwith cancer in both lungs and he alsocontracted pneumonia. He would nottake any orthodox medication until heconsulted with his naturopath. Shetold him that the only reason he hadlived so long was because he had notundergone orthodox treatment andhad taken his wheatgrass but she didgive him permission to take antibiot-ics for his pneumonia. He now has onlymonths to live.

Anecdotal statements are manipu-lative, misinformed and can be ex-tremely harmful to people at a stagein their lives when they are vulnerableand desperate. The Skeptics philoso-phy is to ‘seek the evidence’. Ron,please ‘seek the evidence’ and leave themisinformed, dangerous, claptrap tothe alternate’s who wallow in it.


F is where you find it

Michael VnukNewmarket, Qld

In Anthony Wheeler’s article, “HowReliable is Our Consciousness” (24:3),he discussed counting the letter ‘f ’ ina short passage, for which most peo-ple undercount. He says that theundercounting (due to missing ‘f ’ inseveral instances of the word ‘of’ ) isusually explained by saying that wenotice only what we expect to notice.(I got the test correct, but I’ve seen itmany times before. I can’t rememberhow I fared the first time.)

Although this is a satisfactory ex-planation for many other instanceswhere the brain is tricked, I find itinsufficient here. What exactly are wenot expecting to notice? Whenever I’veseen the test, the text of the passagehas varied a bit, but only the ‘f ’ s areto be counted, so my guess is that theundercounting might have somethingto do with the letter itself. If peoplemiss an ‘f ’ , they invariably miss it inthe word ‘of’ , which is one of the fewwords in English where ‘f ’ is pro-nounced as a ‘v’. So, I think that aspeople read the passage to themselves,their internal pronunciation does notmake them notice the ‘f’ in ‘of’. Thefact that ‘of’ is a short word possiblycompounds the undercounting.

My theory could be tested in sev-eral ways. For instance, for findingthe ‘f ’s in a passage with no ‘of’s, Iwould predict a more accurate count.Or, if people are asked to look in a pas-sage for a letter which has only onepronunciation, such as ‘m’, I wouldpredict a fairly accurate count. And, ifthe letter in a passage to be countedhas multiple pronunciations (eg ‘a’ or‘e’), or if it is sometimes silent, suchas ‘b’, then I would predict a less ac-curate count, somewhat similar tocounting ‘f’s in a passage with ‘of’s.

Alternatively, people could be askedto read the original passage from bot-tom to top. I would predict a more ac-curate count, because people are lessinclined to skim while reading thewords, and more likely to read slowlyand see the individual letters. Cer-

tainly, reading from bottom to top issometimes used as a technique by edi-tors and proofreaders as a way ofchecking for particular types of errors.

A far more original answer to count-ing the number of ‘f ’s, pointed out bymy wife Rowena, only works if theoriginal passage is all in upper case.Then, the number of ‘F’s is 21: that is,6 on their own, and a further 15 hid-den in the ‘E’s.

Pestiferous

Winston JacksonEast Fremantle WA

I was interested to read the articleabout plug in electronic pest controldevices (25:1).Whilst I have never heard of the “PestFree” gadget, I have had some experi-ence with another brand. I have ahobby farm with a house in which ourfamily visits about once or twice amonth. The mouse population in thehouse was prolific to say the least andsometimes we were able to trap up to10 mice in a 3 or 4 day visit.

When I mentioned the problem toan electrical engineer acquaintance,he said that he had bought a devicecalled “PestXit Duo” from Dick SmithElectronics to try in his mouse popu-lated farmhouse. As a skeptical per-son like me, he could not accept that“ultrasonic and electromagnetic” tech-nology could banish a comfortablepopulation of rodents, but as the costwas modest, (about $70.00) he wasprepared to give it a try and not di-vulge his stupidity to anyone. Heclaimed that to his surprise it workedand was therefore willing to exposehimself.

I bought one and plugged it in. Thatwas about 8 months ago. I continuedto place mouse traps for about 3months but caught no more mice. Thelazy cats in our family show no recog-nition of the device when it is switchedon and off, even when they are placedclose to it. We have seen no evidenceof mice since using the device. No

chewed food containers, no droppings,no mice running across the floor. Noth-ing! The device also claims to banishinsects. In this regard it has made noapparent difference.

As a dyed in the wool Skeptic, I don’tbelieve dubious claims without sup-portive evidence. As a professionalengineer, and having carried out acrude test, the evidence tends to sup-port the claim. I can think of no otherchanges made to the environmentother than turning on the gadget.

Surely I didn’t catch the last mousejust before I bought the device. Thereare still plenty in the hay shed.

Bunkum

Tony TruslerHawthorne QLD

I said to my wife, “I think I must bepsychic”. Unable to sleep, I was drivento watch a TV movie in the early hoursof the morning for the first time inabout 25 years. For a sceptic, I couldnot have chosen better. On the ABCwas a 1950 black and white movie,Bunco Squad. The story revolvedaround members of this special policesquad in Los Angeles, established toinvestigate and, if possible, prosecutepersons setting themselves up as for-tune tellers, Tarot card readers, me-diums and assorted peddlers of whatwe would call New Age claptrap today(not sure what the equivalent termwas back then).

The plot involved a particularlynasty crook who organised a numberof independent operators into a groupso as to perpetrate a scam on a wealthywidow. Via an elaborate ruse theytricked her into believing that her de-parted husband wanted her to donateall her money to their organisation.

No doubt the movie did not winmany awards at the time. The storyline, however, was fascinating. Wasthere really a special police squad inLos Angeles that did nothing else buttry to expose and jail peddlers of theparanormal? Where did the name


“Bunco” come from? If the movie wasan accurate portrayal of general com-munity feeling towards clairvoyantsand their ilk at that time, then it isvery obvious that the general level ofscepticism has deteriorated markedlyin the past 50 years (particularly inCalifornia!)

Mead debate

James Gerrand.Kew VIC

Mark Newbrook in his continuation ofthe Mead debate does not add any-thing significant to it. He is a greatdiscounter of evidence. I take him upon his discounting of Martin Gardner’sconclusion — “ Derek Freeman’s con-clusions are unshakeable. Mead’sreputation will continue to go down-hill and her most famous book hasbecome worthless.”

Gardner’s reputation as a commen-tator on science matters has been wellearned as a former veteran columnistwith Scientific American and the Skep-tical Inquirer and author or editor ofover sixty books. He featured in PaulKurtz’s latest collection Science andReligion with his article “Science andthe Unknowable”.

This correspondence is now closed. Ed

As a contribution to public discus-sion on contemporary issues of con-cern, the Humanist Society of Victo-ria, has organised this HumanistEssay Award, in cooperation withHumanist Societies in other statesand the Council of Australian Hu-manist Societies.

Theme:

Creating a better Australia.

EntrantsOpen to all persons currently resid-ing in Australia, other than HSVCommittee and Essay judging paneland their families.

Prizes

First prize – $2,000;second prize – $500

Both essays to be published in theAustralian Humanist.

EntriesLengthbetween 2,500 – 3,000 wordsin English.

Essay must be consistent with thetheme, be previously unpublishedand unawarded, and not concur-rently submitted elsewhere.

Entries are to be typed, double-spaced and single sided.

Author’s name must not appearon the essay pages. A separate coversheet should provide the writers

name, essay title, birth date, ad-dress, telephone number and email.

Must be lodged at the HSV office,Humanist Society of Victoria Inc.

GPO Box 1555, Melbourne VIC3001 on or before 31 August 2005.

Essays cannot be returned.

Criteria

Quality writing, forward-lookingideas, freshness of content and ap-proach, and consulted sources will bemajor elements sought in submittedessays. Contributors may addresseither one or several issues of theirchoice consonant with the theme.

Evaluation

The prize winners will be, notifiedand announced in Australian Hu-manist No. 80, on or before 30 Octo-ber 2005.

Entries will be judged by a panelof members of the Humanist Societyof Victoria. The HSV reserves theright not to award any prizes in theabsence of quality entries.

Humanism is a life philosophythat advocates the use of reason,experience, creativity and free in-quiry. Humanist ethics are based onshared human values and the con-viction that humanity must takeresponsibility for its own destiny.

Humanist Society of Victoria Inc.(Reg. No. A0020272M)Website: home.vicnet.net.au/~hu-

manist

Humanist Essay AwardBlatant Plug

Deadlines

Deadlines for contributions to the Skeptic :

Spring — August 1

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Winter — March 1(Not that contributors ever meet them.)

Visit the Skeptics website:www.skeptics.com.au

for new and interesting matters skepticaland our online shop

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and much more.


AUSTRALIAN SKEPTICS NATIONAL CONVENTION 2005

August 13th – 14thBond University,

University Drive, Robina,

Gold Coast Qld

Each day six or seven speakers will give presentations on topics and issues relating to health, science,education, critical thinking and others of a more general nature.

Morning & Afternoon Tea and a light lunch will be served by the Bond University Catering Service.A 3-course Dinner (with after-dinner entertainment) will be held at the Private Function Room of the

Broadbeach Bowls Club, Surf Parade, on Saturday Night.

Speakers will include:Prof Chris Del Mar: Dean of Medicine, Bond UniversityThe Teaching and Practice of Evidence-based Medicine

Dr Hugh Crone: Microbiologist (formerly of the Dept of Defence Science)Knowledge and Beliefs in the New Age

Dr Robert Henry, Southern Cross UniversityThe Social Impact of Biotechnology—A Scientist’s View of GM Food

Dr Colin Keay: Physicist/AstronomerThe Perils of Part Time Power

Peter Bowditch: VP Australian Skeptics, proprietor of ratbags.comScams and Mind Control in Multi-level Marketing

Prof Jim Allan: Lawyer, University of QldDr William Grey: Philosopher, University of Qld

Hume on MiraclesLoretta Marron - The Jelly Bean Lady

DIY Health Information ResearchBarry Williams, Editor of the Skeptic

Conspiracy Theories for Every Occasion (if they don’t get at him first)A Panel of Senior Students from G.C. High Schools is being arranged

Critical Thinking is Cool

The completed list will be posted on the Australian Skeptics website:www.skeptics.com.au

Inquiries and Bookings:Lilian Derrick – Hon Secretary, Convention Planning Committee

P.O.Box 8348; Gold Coast Mail Centre, Qld 9726 Tel/Fax: (07) 5593 1882 Email:[email protected]

or from the online shop at www.skeptics.com.au

Notice


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Documents

the Skeptic Volume 25 Number 1 - Australian Skeptics Inc...the Skeptic Vol 25, No 2 Winter 2005 ISSN 0726-9897 Editor Barry Williams Contributing Editors Tim Mendham Steve Roberts