AltMed
Chiropractic Awareness Week 2008-2010
The British Chiropractic Association has finally dropped their misconceived libel action against Dr Simon Singh.
Best of all, the BCA have done this in Chiropractic Awareness Week.
The first announcement of it was from the Chambers of one of Simon’s QCs, William McCormick:
British Chiropractic Association v Singh – BCA admits defeat.
The BCA today served a Notice of Discontinuance bringing to an end its ill-fated libel claim against Dr Simon Singh arising out of criticisms he made of its promotion of treatments for childhood ailments.
Dr Singh’s predicament as the sole defendant in an action brought in respect of a comment piece in the Guardian newspaper (to which the BCA never directed any complaint) was seen as a rallying point for those concerned about the abuse of UK libel laws in connection with scientific debate.
Interest intensified when Eady J ruled that his words were not comment and that in order to defend himself he would have to prove the objective truth of what he wrote.
Earlier this month the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling and this has lead the BCA to abandon its claim.
William McCormick QC acted for Dr Singh instructed by Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave LLP.
This is great news, but the question of costs still has to be resolved. However, even if he recovers his costs, Simon has still spent the last two years fighting this misconceived and unnecessary libel case.
It is not known what will happen to the BCA: their finances are in a bit of a sorry state and their members should be asking a lot of searching questions of those individuals responsible. Indeed, those running the BCA need to do a lot of soul searching. But that’s up to them.
And the nominees are…
The inimitable Jack of Kent has been longlisted for the Orwell Prize 2010 and he will find out later today if he has been shortlisted.
Perhaps the BCA should also receive a prize: Lifetime Achievement Award for their contribution to Chiropractic Awareness Week?
They get my nomination.
Update
The Guardian has now reinstated the original article Simon wrote for Chiropractic Awareness Week 2008, the one that the BCA had such a hissy fit about: Beware the spinal trap
What better way to celebrate Chiropractic Awareness Week 2010 and make everyone aware of chiropractic.
OfQuack: not fit for purpose
Fellow scourge of chiropractors, Simon Perry, has just blogged about the admission by the CNHC — the quack’s regulator — that they are refusing to, well, regulate: OfQuack launches six-month bullshit amnesty: the regulator that doesn’t regulate.
NHS Choices
The NHS Choices website has the tag line “Your health, your choices” and aims to inform the public:
NHS Choices is the online ‘front door’ to the NHS. It is the country’s biggest health website and gives all the information you need to make choices about your health.
They provide first-rate information about your health, illnesses, careers, etc as well as helping you find a local GP or other NHS services.
They also have some pages on alternative therapies such as homeopathy. On the page for homeopathy, they say:
Homeopathy is a type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAMs are treatments that are not based on conventional scientific theories. Other CAMS include:
- acupuncture – where needles are placed in certain parts of the body,
- chiropractic – where physical manipulation of the spine and joints is used to try to relieve symptoms, and
- faith healing.
It’s good to see them place chiropractic firmly along side homeopathy, acupuncture and faith healing.
All change!
The GCC’s Bronfort report is starting to have an effect. And not before time.
The British Chiropractic Association removed their Happy Families leaflet from their website last year, but it is still on the websites of some chiropractors (for example Weston Chiropractic Clinic here (cached).
Over the intervening months, various chiropractors have removed loads of claims from their websites, with one of them even asking Skeptic Barista if he could check they had made the appropriate changes!
As part of the ongoing complaint process, I have received observations on my complaints from 290 chiropractors (so far) and some have included ‘before and after’ screenshots of their websites, showing what they have removed or changed. (Don’t worry, I intend to write about what’s been happening and what the current position of my complaints is very soon.)
Now, presumably as a result of the Bronfort report, the BCA have removed various statements from their website over the last few days.
Curbing the quacks & protecting the public
In November last year, there was speculation that the ASA’s remit might be extended to cover claims on advertisers’ own websites, rather than just third-party online adverts (the so-called digital remit).
In launching their new Code of Advertising Practice today (which comes into force on 1 September 2010), the ASA/CAP have given more details:
Talking the talk
The first few pages of Bronfort et al. certainly talk the right talk:
EBH [Evidence-Based Healthcare] is about doing the right things for the right people at the right time. It does so by promoting the examination of best available clinical research evidence as the preferred process of decision making where higher quality evidence is available. This reduces the emphasis on unsystematic clinical experience and pathophysiological rationale alone while increasing the likelihood of improving clinical outcomes. The fact that randomized clinical trial (RCT) derived evidence of potentially effective interventions in population studies may not be translated in a straight forward manner to the management of individual cases is widely recognized. However, RCTs comprise the body of information best able to meet existing standards for claims of benefit from care delivery. The evidence provided by RCTs constitutes the first line of recommended action for patients and contributes, along with informed patient preference, in guiding care. (page 4)
Spot the difference
The first photo was taken in East Kilbride shopping centre on 16 August 2009. The second was taken this morning.
Spot the difference:
Answer: Today’s advert has the claims for “Children with colic & ear infections” covered up.
The removal of these claims may have been due to the GCC’s recently released Bronfort report, or perhaps they’ve now read the ASA guidance they’re supposed to follow. Who knows.
The claims left are for: “headaches and migraines, neck, back and shoulder pains, sciatica or disc injuries, sports or accident injuries, pins and needles in arms and legs”.
A step in the right direction, but a long way to go yet.
What’s Polish for ‘chiropractor’?
Czego mogę się spodziewać podczas wizyty u kręgarza?
If your Polish isn’t up to scratch, this roughly translates as: What can I expect when visiting a chiropractor?
Ah! I hear you say. Is it just a coincidence that this is suspiciously close to What can I expect when I see a chiropractor?
No, of course it isn’t. That was the title of the GCC’s leaflet that Simon Perry (Adventures in Nonsense, Leicester Skeptics in the Pub and skeptical columnist for the Leicester Mercury) complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about last year. Read the rest of this entry »
The GCC’s Plethora
Well. The GCC’s ‘independent’ review of the effectiveness of chiropractic has finally been published: Effectiveness of manual therapies: the UK evidence report (although not yet on the GCC’s website).
Paid for by the GCC (see page 77), this document runs to 113 pages and there is additional commentary by two others, adding a further 13 pages.
It’ll take time to read through and digest fully, but here’s a handy summary of what they did — and didn’t — find evidence for. They have listed conditions in three categories: effective, inconclusive and ineffective. Read the rest of this entry »
Discover Chiropractic
No. I’ve not been converted and I’m not urging you all to realise that the future of humanity and an end to all pain, suffering and diseases known to man lies in the chiropractic way.
It’s the name of a chiropractic clinic in Edinburgh. They wanted to spread the word about the benefits of chiropractic and decided to advertise.
Oops! You’d have thought… No. I won’t say it again.
