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March 16, 2007
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Table of Contents:
DC-Area folks NCAS Free Randi Lecture March 18
National Capital Area Skeptics NCAS 20th Anniversary Celebration - FREE - No Reservations
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MORE MEDICAL NONSENSE FROM AFRICAThe incredible retreat-from-reality in Africa continues. From reader Leonardo Mesquita, a BBC report: A claim by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh that he can cure AIDS in three days, has been lambasted by a leading South African HIV/AIDS specialist. "I'm astonished. The danger of a president standing up [to say this] is shocking," Jerry Coovadia told the BBC. Mr. Jammeh said last month he had begun treating 10 patients on Thursdays with secret medicinal herb ingredients. His health minister backs his claims, saying in trials so far, patients had gained weight and physically improved. "A response within three to 10 days and a three-day course is almost inconceivable for a disease like HIV/AIDS," said Prof. Coovadia, who heads the HIV research team at the University of KwaZulu Natal and is a member of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign. He said that science was many years away from finding a cure "so the fact that someone announces a cure like this is exceedingly difficult to accept." President Jammeh, who says he can also cure asthma, made his announcement to a gathering of foreign diplomats last month. Within three days the person should be tested again and I can tell you that he/she will be negative," he said in a statement. Gambian Health Minister Tamsir Mbow says the herbal medicines are taken orally and applied to the body. "We cannot actually tell you the type of herbs we are using presently, it will be known to the whole world later on," Dr. Mbow told the BBC. One of the patients currently undergoing the treatment is Gambian university lecturer Ousman Sowe. "I've noticed I've increased weight substantially over the last 10 days. I am no longer suffering from constipation, but we have yet to receive result of the tests," he told the BBC. "I have 100% confidence in the president and I'm taking the medication with all confidence." But Mr. Coovadia said it was tragic that Gambia had a "political environment that allows a minister of health and a president to violate every foundation of science and public health." "The entire exercise is circumscribed by secrecy – that's not how science works… It would be impossible to measure the negative impact of Mr. Jammeh's claims, but it could lead to risky sexual behavior, instead of following preventative advice.” The World Health Organization told the BBC it did not wish to comment on the issue at this stage. Last year [see http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-08/082506yet.html#i8] South Africa's health minister came in for severe criticism for promoting a diet of garlic and beetroot to those with HIV, while not rolling out the anti-retroviral drugs which are the only recognized treatment. We’re told that South Africa has now reversed its controversial advice. But why was such a juvenile statement made, in the first place? Are African countries determined to stay back in the Dark Ages, rather than moving into the twenty-first century along with the rest of the world? My brief visit there brought me hope that not only were they leaving behind the disgrace of apartheid, but also the supernatural mythology that it appears they still insist on embracing. It’s time to sweep out that trash along with the medieval notions of racial superiority and discredited ideas of magical influences. Yes, it takes some courage to do so, but if the leaders don’t accept reality rather than trying to keep their people in an atmosphere of ignorance and superstition, these countires will remain on a road to nowhere. And its citizens will continue to die from their leaders’ lack of rationality… |
OPRAH-BASHING CONTINUESReader “Marc” sends us to www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/03/05/the_secret/. He writes: I enjoyed reading your Oprah Fiasco piece yesterday. So imagine my surprise at coming across a similar article today on Salon. Have you read it? Amazing... I’m well aware that Oprah has been very effectively active in moving against illiteracy and obesity, and has founded a girl’s school in South Africa. She must be congratulated for these positive moves. But the damage she has done by endorsing the movie “The Secret” and by supporting and advertising the “speaking-to-the-dead” con artists, has been very damaging. I wish I could speak with her… |
EASILY CONVINCED?
Reader Nyles Bauer, a Ph.D. Candidate at the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, writes: I went out to an Irish Pub with the fellow graduate students in my consciousness class. All very educated and bright. At one point after a few beers, I pulled some spoons from my pocket and asked if they wanted to see something weird. They always do, don't they? I was doing my take on [Richard] Osterland's spoon bending routine. Everyone was into it, when I heard, not really a shout, but a loud gasp. The woman right next to me got up and ran outside. I've never had such a dramatic reaction. From inside, I could look out the window and see her shaking, grabbing her head. One of the other students ran out to see if she was OK. Obviously very shaken up, she regained some composure, and started telling me about the psychic energy she was feeling. I never present this as anything but an illusion. Anyway, I shortened the routine so it had ended before she got back inside. She really was shaken up! Who was she? She said she was one of Gary Schwartz's graduate researchers! |
SATISFACTIONReader Christian Vellandi forwards us this satisfactory response from a responsible official at “Edmund Scientifics” about our item at www.randi.org/jr/2007-03/030207harpo.html#i3: The product description for this particular item has recently been changed on our website (last night we thought). We simply used the description that the manufacturer provided us and pasted it on our website. We received such a negative backlash (such as yours) that we agreed that the description was very much misrepresenting the product. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions at any time. Thank you for your valuable feedback. A very complete and satisfactory answer, Mr. Miles. Thank you! |
A DUTCH EPIPHANYReader Pieter Minnaar, in the Netherlands, writes: Thank you so much for what you are doing. It is so nice to tell anyone from the woo-woo world that if they can prove it they can earn a million. No further arguments required. If only I could have been exposed to the type of material on your site when I was younger I believe my life would have turned out much better (for one thing I would have had more money). As a teenager I was a firm believer in almost anything; astral traveling, telepathy, Lobsang Rampa!! [See www.randi.org/jr/2006-11/111706rampa.html#i1] I do not know how I could have fallen for all these things – I am now astounded at my own stupidity. Later I went on to become a born-again Christian and I then believed in all the things associated with the charismatic movement. It all started to change for me when I said that I would not try to rationalise anything – a sort of Occam's Razor decision for my life. Slowly but surely, all the things that I believed as a Christian had to fall. Miraculous healings, speaking in tongues, demons, creationism; all these things could not stand when I applied the Occam's Razor idea to it. For a while there, I was redesigning the things that I believe in and trying to find a reasonable solution so that I could still be a Christian. Eventually I realised that the bucket that I was patching was in fact a sieve. Your website certainly played a part in my getting myself so far as to admit that (horror of horrors) I had become an atheist. “The Devil's Chaplain” of Richard Dawkins also did some mopping up work at the end. What really convinced me was when I tried to make the idea of a “saviour” fit with evolution. The idea was that the Bible says that because of the sin of the first Adam we need a saviour. This made me realise that with no Adam there was also no sin and hence no salvation. I then tried to identify a man called Adam that could have been a spiritual first man. In my mind there had to be a clear moment where the first man (or group of people) emerged – else the whole doctrine of a saviour that dies for our sins, falls apart. It was simply a question of who was the first man – even though I tried to create him, Occam's Razor just kept on cutting him down. There was never a first person that stood up and defied god. People that believe in the Bible and evolution do not fully understand the how evolution removes the idea of sin. I also wanted to tell you something about homeopathy. My son had an eye infection (probably more an irritation) recently and because it was on a weekend the only "medicine" I could get was some homeopathic cream. I told the person on the shop that I would not bother and left. My son's eye looked quite badly but within hours it had cleared up, I can just imagine what would happen to someone that did buy the cream – they would have been hooked for life. |
MORE BELLADONNA
Reader Dana Turgeon, of Regina, Saskatchewan, comments on last week’s item at www.randi.org/jr/2007-03/030907bomb.html#i9: Greetings from Canada. Long-time reader, first time commenter. I have long admired your work, Mr. Randi, and hope you continue in good health for many years so you can continue to fight the good fight! As the mother of a 20 month-old son, I wish I were surprised and amused by this homeopathic colic story, but I'm not. Once you have a small child, you realize just how many nutbar products there are out there in the "homeopathic child care" category. One product recommended over and over on parenting boards, magazines, etc, is Hyland's homeopathic Teething Tablets. From the website www.hylands.com/products/teething.php:
I guess it's a lucky thing that it's all a bunch of homeopathic hooey – who'd want to give an infant an actual, real dose of belladonna? It's really a shame. When you're a parent, you want the best for your kid, but you're always kind of wary to give a little person a dose of medication, especially for a condition like teething when you know in your rational mind the only cure is time. I would give my son a little infant acetaminophen at bedtime, but I was always a little reluctant to be constantly pushing painkillers when cold washcloths worked just as well. It's a shame that these companies exploit panicky parents like they do. For my own child, when he was teething but before he had any teeth poking through, I found the application of a cold dill pickle to be more effective than Hyland's. He could hold onto it, it was cold on his little gums, it tasted good, and he couldn't chew off any chunks. I doubt a homeopathic dose of dill pickle would have worked as well! But hold on. Look back at that third ingredient. “Coffea Cruda” is pharmaceutical – and homeopathic – talk for “coffee bean.” Now, since .8% to 2.5% of a bean is actual caffeine, that means that 8 to 25 millionths of each one-grain tablet is caffeine! That’s a dose of .0000005 grams to .000002 grams of caffeine in each dose! That is such a minute amount, it could only have zero effect on a patient! Those dosages amount to from 1/4,540,000 to 1/1,135,000 of the weight of a dime! Ah, but did you spot the even greater farce involved here? Think: what are the two major results of the ingestion of caffeine? That’s right: stimulation of the waking state, and a diuretic effect. And this ingredient in “Hylands Quick-dissolving Teething Tablets” is “for wakefulness and diuresis”! Of course, one of the rules of homeopathy is that you administer zero doses of exactly the opposite ingredient that a real doctor would use – so homeopathic sleeping pills usually have caffeine as the major ingredient… Don’t look at me, that’s their idea of rationality, not mine…! And Hylands is a major manufacturer and distributor of homeopathic preparations, all over the world…! And, I've just finished my third engagement in the last fifteen months, following my recovery from surgery, at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Not a perfect lecture, but the supportive faculty and the high-quality student body were a delight to meet and interact with. |
IN CLOSING…A web site is advertising… Are you or do you know a time traveler? We are searching for people that have traveled either back in time to the present or who may have experienced time travel to the future however briefly. We are shooting a pilot and looking to find some testimonials and interviews of people who have been time travelers. We would also like to hear from anyone who may have experienced inter-dimensional relocation. Our production is extremely open minded and this phenomenon is being treated in a serious manner. So “open minded,” their brains have fallen out...? My apologies. I’ve been so very busy that I’ve not had time to prepare another trick-exposure, but the watch-advancing stunt will be here next week. Promise… |
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