As James Randi continues his recovery from heart surgery, he's asked Hal Bidlack to line up some stellar guest writers for Swift.
This Week's Swift was written by Hal Bidlack, David Federlein, and James Randi.
Let me begin this week’s commentary with a clarification on last week’s. A reader emailed me to express his concern that in my comments as to the power of history to inspire and motivate, I was saying knowing actual dates of historic events was unimportant. Nothing could be further from the truth. The point I was trying to make was that if history is taught only as dates to memorize, the subject loses much of its magic, its excitement. Certainly, people should know the framework of dates and places, but I think a good teacher uses that basic knowledge to help his or her students soar well beyond just rote memorization. Learn the dates and places, please, but as part of a larger educational program, m’kay?
This week our guest writer talks about his battle with cancer and how that experience educated him on alternative medicine, and a variety of silly things people believe. This subject is exceptionally close to my heart. As those of you who heard my talk at TAM4 know, I lost my wife to cancer in 2003. During that time I was dealing with her medical challenges, supporting our children, and often running a gauntlet of well-meaning people urging us to try a variety of highly questionable medical ideas. I turned down well intended offers of magnetic blankets, special vitamins, herbs, and other wonders. The people who sell this snake oil must truly be the lowest form of human life. To be willing to profit on the suffering of others, to be willing to dissuade people from using proven medical treatments in order to swallow their hokum, is to be homicidal and vicious. I do not for one moment blame the sick for falling into these traps. I blame the charlatans.
But there is also a part of me that is concerned about the label “alternative medicine.” I feel this label is too broad. Many current mainstream techniques were once seen as wild and suspect. Alexander Hamilton, during a yellow fever crisis, was publicly chastised for daring to not follow the traditional medical procedure of bleeding when his children fell ill. They survived, many treated with the traditional medicine of the time did not. President Washington was, essentially, killed by his doctors, who drained him of large amounts of blood to ‘cure’ what we now think was simply a bad case of strep throat. The “alternative medicine” of the day, warm compresses and tea, might have prevented a case of iatrogenic death in the father of our nation.[1] And who might have guessed, 50 years ago, that the bark of the Pacific yew tree would yield taxol, a critically important anti-cancer drug?
Alternative is not always bad, it seems to me, when the word refers to new and testable. I worry that with our skeptical hats firmly in place, we may from time to time dismiss out of hand a viable and important medical advance because it seems, in the context of the time, too weird. I know from my own family experience that, for example, one’s mental attitude toward chemotherapy can play a significant role, not in the effectiveness in killing cancer, but rather in the ease or discomfort with which one endures the side effects of the treatment.
So how do we distinguish between “good” alternate and “bad” alternate medicine? Happily, the scientific method awaits as the tool of choice. Double blind studies, proper clinical trials, and good basic research will suggest which new alternatives in treatment are useful, and which are bogus. I want to be very, very clear here: I am NOT supporting a single bit of the nonsense that masquerades as medical treatment today that is not based on quality scientific research. This is why I wish we had two terms for what is now called “alternative medicine.” I worry that a reader may think I am endorsing magnets, crystals, or peach pits in place of proven treatments. Nothing could be farther from the truth. What I support is what I assume most folks support: common sense. If a method of treating an illness can be shown to be truly effective, it is retained. If not, it is discarded. So a better term could be something like “new and untested alternatives” and the other “fake junk that doesn’t really help alternatives.” Perhaps that is a bit wordy though.
Sometimes, however, the lines are not as clear as they might be. This can be illustrated clearly in the realm of psychiatric illness. By way of example, due to my experiences in the Pentagon on 9/11, I’ve developed a case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that mostly manifests itself in regular nightmares. These get tiring after a while, so I sought help from what the Air Force calls the “Life Skills” office.[2] None of the “talk therapy” seemed to do me much good, so I was offered the chance to experience “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,” or EMDR. This treatment, as I experienced it, involves talking about the traumatic experience while the doctor waves a pen or a finger back and forth in front of you. Your job is to track the object with your eyes while talking about the upsetting event. The theory, as it was explained to me, is that your brain is forced to multitask. Part of your brain is watching the pen, and part thinking about the bad stuff, and, together, your brain sections are able work better.
Well, it certainly didn’t work for me, and it seemed very questionable as an alternative treatment to me. In point of fact, as I sat there my mind wandered to other things, and I was suddenly amused by how I would explain this silliness to Mr. Randi. After all, I was one of the enlightened ones, who knew bunk when he saw it.
I did more research, however, and found that while it did nothing for me, EMDR does seem to have helped others. I can’t help but think my suspicion a priori may have doomed the treatment. Had I believed it might work, perhaps it might have. What’s my point? Simply that in the case of psychiatric illness, what seemed radically “alternative” to me may have been an effective treatment for others. Clearly, this is more likely in the mental heath area. One cannot “believe” his or her appendicitis away. But we must be careful to ensure we do not dismiss out of prejudice, but out of scientific analysis. I believe skepticism is always the logical starting point for medical claims, and from there logic, evidence, and reason should be our guides.
[1] With apologies to our international readers, for whom Washington was likely not the father of their nations.
[2] It was more commonly known as the Mental Health Clinic, but the name was changed some years back. I suspect in part this stemmed from concern over the stigma sometimes attached to seeking such help. In my own case, I confess I do feel some level of embarrassment over the PTSD, but I have decided I should not. I would not be ashamed of, say, a case of psoriasis, so why should I be ashamed over seeking treatment for the after effects of 9/11? Therefore, I share this with you.
And with that rambling diversion, I’m pleased by two things this week. First, is the pleasure of introducing David Federlein to you. As you will read below, his story is most compelling. He’s a nice fellow, and I’m so sorry he has had to endure such illness. But I’m also so very pleased that scientific advancements have made such a significant difference for him as he battles cancer.
Secondly, I’m very happy to report my imminent firing as “guest commentary guy.” Mr. Randi continues to improve daily, and he seems very much his old self to me now. And while the healing process continues, he is now ready to write again! This is good news without qualification. I feel very honored to have participated in the SWIFT for the past few weeks, and I am very grateful to the kind folks who provided me with their thoughts and words. But, in the words of T.S. Eliot, "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." And so, with this end, we start again with Mr. Randi. I can’t wait.
And so, I introduce to you, David Federlein…
Good morning, good day, good afternoon, good evening and good night, as Randi once said in his radio broadcasts. I am honored to be writing this for James Randi’s commentary as he recovers. It was with tears of joy and relief that I listened intently to his mp3 messages, and it is with empathy and hope that I wish him a fast recovery. I have only met Randi once at TAM 4. He was every bit as gracious and kind as I had expected. He was also saucy enough to rib me about the length of my beard in contrast to my friend, who looks like a member of ZZ-Top. Randi, when you read this, I want you to know that I fully expect you to re-evaluate my beard’s “seriousness” at TAM5. Since you aptly noted at TAM4 that my beard was not of length specifications befitting a proper skeptic, I now strive to grow such serious grooming as to befit skeptical standards, albeit to the minor annoyance of my soon-to-be wife. Hey, sacrifices must be made.
Ok, on a serious note, let me introduce myself. I’m not an eloquent and well published skeptic. I am not the founder of a women’s skeptical movement. I have not single-handedly debunked a fraud collecting money on her lies besmirching the gravity of 9/11 nor have I written a vast resource of skeptical topics in dictionary form. I don’t know much about astronomy, and I’m not even famous despite my best musical efforts. I’m simply a struggling musician and sound engineer, and unfortunately what brought me to the JREF and my conversion to skepticism isn’t even unusual. It was cancer and sadly, cancer is an all too common affliction.
I was diagnosed with Solitary Plasmacytoma of Bone in early 2004. By the time it was caught in MRI scans, my 9th thoracic vertebrate was completely obliterated. I could barely walk and was losing feeling from the waist down. In November 2004, I had an 11-hour operation to restore my spine using bone grafts and titanium implants, and began radiation treatments shortly thereafter. I have 95% of my mobility back, 100% feeling in my legs again, and I now do bone surveys, blood tests and bone marrow biopsies every 3 months or so to determine if my Solitary Plasmacytoma has developed into Multiple Myeloma. Like Randi, I owe my life to very talented, and dedicated medical professionals. I owe my life to science.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I want to discuss several things regarding modern medicine, and the science that forms the solid brick foundation of medical advancements. You see, there’s some folks out there that believe some very strange things. Some believe magnets can heal anything. Others believe that disease is caused by negative emotions. I’ve even heard of some cancer “cures” that are downright laughable. The problem in telling the difference between something that is good science-based treatments with supporting evidence and those unproven, untestable, and at the best ineffective (at the worst harmful) treatments is often difficult due to the very real and very difficult emotional states a patient and their family is in.
From the moment I was diagnosed it seemed a flood of information about the newest “Alternative Treatments” submerged me for weeks. Coral Calcium, magnet therapy, touch therapy, crystals, homeopathic treatments, meditation - you name it, I heard it. I received no less than 5 copies of Kevin Trudeau’s book. Cancer is pretty scary, and in desperation, sometimes critical thinking is lost.
I began to read Quackwatch.com. I began asking my oncologist about everything. I wanted to know everything I could about what was the most proven and effective treatment. I’ll share what I have learned with you.
Firstly, I want to address the clique of “alternative therapists” that advocate magnet therapy. The average power of a kitchen magnet’s magnetic field, if of high quality, is roughly 1000 gauss (.1 tesla.) These magnets sold as bracelets, rings, or pendants are said to cure chronic pain of muscles and bones. The average MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan has a magnetic field power of 30,000 gauss (3 tesla.) Here is the MRI scan of my spine before the surgery:
I can assure you, I was still in pain after that MRI. If I wasn’t cured of pain after that, surely it follows that a kitchen magnet is not actually relieving pain. The power of suggestion to temporarily relieve symptoms is known as the Placebo Effect. In the long run, placebo does nothing.
Homeopathy is another “alternative” treatment that works on the placebo effect. Medically it does nothing to cure any disease. Diluted water dripped on a sugar pill does nothing. Period. Any effect of this treatment is also the power of suggestion, and temporary.
Coral Calcium also has no proven effect on cancer along with laetrile or shark cartilage. Vitamin C in the 1970’s was shown to kill cancer cells in massive dose in a test tube, but has no ability to effect cancer cells when ingested, and massive doses of vitamin C would do more harm to the person taking it than to the cancer itself. In fact, studies show ingested vitamin C is not even effective against the common cold or flu.
The suggestion is sometimes made that negative emotions cause cancer. This is a very disturbing way to blame the cancer patient for the disease, and it is fairly offensive to me. That a cancer patient would have negative emotions is to be expected. How dare anyone insinuate everything should be flowers and puppies during such a frightening and stressful time. More to the point, though, I have yet to see any scientific evidence that negative emotions are capable of affecting cells in a way as to cause a faulty mitosis and clone out of control. It simply does not work that way.
However, something must be said for meditative techniques aimed at controlling stress and the high emotions that accompany such an ordeal as cancer. I am not going to tell you these activities will cure cancer in any way, but they can help relaxation and help to gain control of the wild emotional moods normal to cancer patients and families thereof. This isn’t woo treatment, however. This is the very real, very earthly ability to use breathing techniques to regain composure, and calm oneself.
What is at the heart of this problem is simply the inability of “alternative” treatments to actually effect disease and recovery in meaningful and empirical ways. Science uses double blind testing for a reason: The power of suggestion can fool even the most intelligent scientist. Confirmation bias can mask the reality that a given hypothesis regarding treatments is completely wrong. Carl Sagan said it best in “Demon Haunted World.” Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This is why medical treatments are not approved based on testimonials alone.
Should you trust your doctors? Yes, though a second opinion is always recommended. Should you trust someone with no evidence to back up their claims? Never.
Finally, I want to say that this conspiracy theory of “Big Pharma” is a horrible red herring. Yes, companies do want to make money. The business of medicine’s flaws are not compelling reasons to distrust the empirical studies medicine is based on. In other words: just as humans make mistakes so do corporations. In the end, “alternative” treatments do not have scientific study to show their effectiveness. When it is your life, your health, and your recovery on the line wouldn’t you want the best possible treatments that are shown to be effective based on real evidence? To place your health in the hands of wishful and magical thinking will eventually only end in tragedy.
Everyone has their wishful thinking. Everyone has their own untestable beliefs. Mine is that one day the Detroit Lions might actually make it to the Super Bowl, but the past evidence certainly does not support it. When it comes to untestable beliefs, people are more important than faith.
Your life is more important than magical thinking about unproven medical treatments. I would hope everyone makes choices about their health care based on fact, not fiction.
Thank you for your time, and thank you to James Randi and the JREF, who continue to be a source of inspiration, education, and hope to so many.
Mike McCarron was nice enough to send us this from www.mikesweeklyskepticrant.blogspot.com:
One such show called Unexplained Mysteries was about "Psychic Healers" and whether or not they're real. Due to the fact that I'm writing this, I'm sure you can guess the answer they gave. The show talked, in part, about a man named Henry Rucker, who is a "healer" that seemingly works with people's "energy" to fix what ails them. He was backed up by a man named Dr. Norman Shealy who had worked with Henry for years and years. I took the liberty of looking up Dr. Shealy on the interhole and found this tidbit of information.
How many "doctors" that you know endorse something called, "Magic Oil" or "Sacred Water"? Seriously, take a couple of minutes and read through that linked page there - it's worth it just for such gems as, "(T)his Sacred Water acts like a lubricant. It seems to detoxify the body"... Super Water, Holy Water, Sacred Water. We may well be on the verge of discovering the Fountain of Youth", and, "Magic Water is the basic liquid found in the origin of life, and compares to the vital liquid of embryonic fluid". And the show I watched used this guy as a credible resource.
Oh, one last note on Shealy; he uses this little phrase in all seriousness: "...if you have accepted your mortality, if you are planning to grow old and die, then these products should not be incorporated into your life, as they may seriously interfere with your graceful aging and demise...a living organism, such as the human body, (is like) rechargeable batteries, noting that if it is maintained at peak operating efficiency, it will last a very long time, and theoretically forever."
Yeah, maybe he should hook up with Deepak "Green Jaguar" Chopra and just start saying "quantum" every six seconds in the hopes that someone will take him seriously. Also, check out the Skeptic's Dictionary entry on DHEA.
The show also did a segment on "psychic healer" Dean Craft (Kraft?). After searching for him a bit I found that the most information I could dig up was on sites about Laverne and Shirley where viewers were asking about how to find him. (Cindy Williams, who played Shirley, was "healed" by Dean and gave a ringing endorsement - is there anything that C-list "celebrities" don't know? Also, Henry Winkler produced the show - Fonzie, you've dropped so low...) Surprisingly, it seems that Kraft (or Craft) charges $750/session and is quite hard to find.
I'd think that if I could cure ALS with mind power, I'd be yelling pretty loudly. Maybe Dean is just shy.
Next up is Roger La Borde, who claims to contact coma victims. If you go to his site, you'll see the usual stuff (there's the obligatory Einstein quote about "mystery", and of course it's called "shaman's door"...of course it is), but you'll get an intersting view of him in the "Roger" section under "Door Swings Open". There it describes his life falling apart prior to his "discovery" of entering the "shaman's world". It has been my experience that people who think they have special powers usually have had something in their lives go horribly wrong, most times it's having their spouse leave them, thus making them feel worthless. They need something to make them "special" again.
There was a woman who came to talk to our massage therapy class in our graduating year, and I apologize that I can't remember her name, but she claimed to do "energy work" and proceeded to do the standard sideshow tricks of pushing down on the arm, etc. She said that, "...the body cannot tell a lie", and used the arm trick to diagnose problems. I remember asking her that if the body can't lie, basically you should never make an incorrect diagnoses because all you'd have to do is play 20 Questions to narrow the illness to its specific name, then treat accordingly - so why do we need all these expensive imaging machines and such? She danced around that question and then said that she guides people through past-life experiences to heal them. Did you get that? Past life regression therapy. Man....
My point about her is that she also related a divorce story where her husband left her before she "discovered" her gifts. Seems to be a common trait. A man on the Unexplained Mysteries show who had been in a horrible accident and wasn't supposed to walk again was "healed" by a special person, then proceeded to become a "healer" himself. Tragedy + belief + placebo effect = new healer.
Lastly, I have to tell you that one Russian woman was actually "proven" to be effective by use of...wait for it...Kirlian photography. No foolin'. I never fail to be amazed at the rehashing of debunked crap, its steaming carcass flung on the public for one more sniff. Hey, let's prove psychics are real by using phrenology!
We need a bigger skeptical presence on television to call these people out and show them for what they are - disillusioned, dishonest, or fraudulent. Please can I be on the show with John Edward? Please!? Man, I hope that guy gets a papercut.
Randi comments: Thank you, Hal, Mike McCarron, and Mr. Federlein. These contributions have kept SWIFT going, and now that I’m much more mobile and somewhat stronger, it’s time for me to saddle up and lead the troops again. I’ve stuck my “walker” in the closet, I only use my cane occasionally, and I’m slowly being weaned off the spectrum of medications assigned to me. My voice quality improves daily, I actually had a haircut, and tap-dancing is just around the corner!
I’ll just drop in a couple of items for you here, to show that I haven’t lost my touch. An application for the JREF prize – one that is too irresistible to not mention – has arrived, and I simply must quote from it:
Colors are actually electromagnetic energies that are contained within each photon of white light…
No, I won’t go into the depth of ignorance shown here; that’s beyond my diminished energy level. I’ll just give you a critical point that this applicant makes, to show how some 60 pages of his mad theory can be bypassed, and a proper test decided upon. He writes:
We shall also prove the existence of auras and the exact relationship between physics and psychology; solve the mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the Seven Rays of Hinduism; and prove the exact nature of God and the Superstring.
So there. But I’ll settle on “the existence of auras” for a test. After deciding what the applicant wants to offer as proof of an “aura,” we can conduct such a test easily by finding a willing volunteer in Tennessee. Pending the outcome of that test, we can proceed.
A second gem of news is that Dr. Gary Schwartz, the professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona who first came to our attention back at www.randi.org/jr/03-23-2001.html, and who believes he has established the idea that consciousness lives on after we die, now believes that some people who have received organ transplants seem to undergo major personality transformations, and even develop new abilities which the organ donor possessed. No, read that again; there are no errors of translation.
Now, how Schwartz can possibly believe that a transplanted heart – for example – would contribute to the recipient such a quality as playing the piano, is beyond me, and perhaps equally beyond you. However, this is the Woo-Woo Land we examine, willy-nilly.
Finally, go to www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006120265,00.html and see the photo of Uri Geller that appears there. How the man would ever permit such a representation to be published, is beyond me. But read the accompanying article, and you’ll see just how desperate he must be to grab media space…
Also, we're very excited to announce that Banchek will be joining us on the Amaz!ng Adventure. He's a world reknowned mentalist and a very good personal friend of mine, and he will knock your socks off. There's still time to book at a 10% discount, but only for a few more days. Visit www.amazingmeeting.com for more info.
Until next week, this is Amazing telling you all that your encouragement and good wishes brought me to my recovery much faster, I’m sure, and that sounds a bit paranormal. Surely, with the recent research that bombed out prayer as an aid to cardiac bypass patients, the argument can be made that since millions did not pray for me, I did as well as observed…?
