University of Toronto: Anti-vaccine Homeopathy Course Is Fine

The University of Toronto recently undertook an investigation of one of its courses, a bachelor-level health class that taught both anti-vaccination materials and the "science" of homeopathy. The investigation was undertaken because of complaints from professors and other scientific and medical experts. Surprisingly, the university concluded that the class was just fine. "Students taking (the course) ... are in their final year of study and are expected to approach controversial topics with a critical lens. The instructor reports that she provides these readings as the students have already seen the other side in previous courses." The course's syllabus is available for reading. It contains quotes like this: "There are broad concepts that bind various 'alternative' medical modalities together. Among these is the assertion that the human organism, which developed as an integrated unit in its formation, also functions as an integrated unit; that mind, body, and spirit are inextricably linked. Disorder or disturbance in any one of these areas can cause disease in another area."
Update: 07/13 14:14 GMT by S : Reader Gallenod points out that the University has now decided that the course will not be taught during the 2015-2016 academic year, or over the summer.

Comments

Against Vaccines or About Against Vaccines?

[CaptainPinko]

I have no problem with a course teaching about what anti-vaccine supporters claim if it helps doctors debunk it in person and helps them dismantle it in person. I hope this is what it is about.

Re:Against Vaccines or About Against Vaccines?

[pr0t0]

You have to wonder if we live in a time where any opposing viewpoint merits a "teach the controversy" approach. Can I claim anything, convince hoards of mouth-breathers desperate for something to cling to, and have it taught at a university, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

I'd also like to take a moment to quote Tim Minchin's awesome beat poem rant "Storm" which seems relevant:

"By definition", I begin
"Alternative Medicine", I continue
"Has either not been proved to work,
Or been proved not to work.
You know what they call "alternative medicine"
That's been proved to work?
Medicine."

If you haven't seen or heard it, I highly recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:That's cool though

[Njorthbiatr]

Indeed and it's not fine.

It's not being fair, that's being unfair. It's unfair to those who hold themselves to a higher standard of truth and realistic accuracy that someone with a handful of internet links can waltz in and be given the same platform. Why bother actually researching anything when you can just complain you're not being given an equal voice and have it handed to you because you poor little thing being left out in the cold by the big bad mean people.

But hey diversity is always a good thing right?

Dear University of Toronto, please remove your head out of your ass. Homeopathy should not be given any legitimate platform, nor should any other form of ridiculous pseudoscience. If you want students to have a critical lens, then teach them more rigor about the scientific method and drawing proper conclusions. Teach about flawed experiment designs, fabricated data, and the dangers of pay to publish journals.

Sometimes I don't even know why I bother.

Re:magic is the same as science?

[khasim]

Remember, it isn't "magic" if you say it's "quantum mechanics".

Quantum physics is a branch of physics that understands the interrelationship between matter
and energy. This science offers clear explanations as to why homeopathic remedies with seemingly no chemical trace of the original substance are able to resolve chronic diseases, why
acupuncture can offer patients enough pain relief to undergo surgery without anesthesia, why meditation alone
can, in some instances, reduce the size of cancerous tumors.

No it does not.

And as part of the "course goals":

Understand the difference between Newtonian physics and Quantum physics and their corresponding impacts
on biology.

Bullshit.

Intelligently address the concerns of those afraid of alternative medicine or skeptical about its efficacy.

It's called the placebo effect.

Re:Theology is better than those

[Dog-Cow]

No it's not. Theology doesn't study the natural world, and offers zero testable hypothesis. It's definitely useful knowledge, if one wishes to understand motivations of large groups of people, but it's no science.

Re: That's cool though

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely, and not only is it giving undue volume to a bunch of nutters, it's legitimizing a viewpoint that kills people. Desperate folks eschew actual medicine, some of which may actually save their lives. It gives false hope to the terminally ill and inflates huckster's wallets. This garbage is truly despicable.

Re: magic is the same as science?

[MightyYar]

It is trivial to observe that the placebo effect occurs with a sugar pill or with a homeopathic remedy. If there is "quantum mechanics" involved, it is almost certainly not the mechanism described by homeopathy.

Okay, okay ... aaand, you lost me.

[goodmanj]

I teach physics at a liberal arts college, I am totally on board with exposing students to cross-disciplinary ideas that go against accepted norms. So as I'm reading through the syllabus, I'm fine with things like this:

Alternative medicine ... has gained unprecedented popularity among patients ... The focus of the course is not on the shortcomings or limitations of conventional medicine, but on the ways in which various alternative ... modalities reflect a paradigm of health, disease, and healing that stand in contrast to the scientific, biomedicalized paradigm, the standard understanding in the West.

Sure, no problem, let's do a compare-and-contrast, it's popular enough that we need to be familiar with it whether we think it's baloney or not, and considerations of how states of mind affect states of health are real and useful. But then we hit page 2:

We will delve into a quantum physics’ understanding of disease and alternative medicine to provide a scientific hypothesis of how these modalities may work. Quantum physics is a branch of physics that understands the interrelationship between matter and energy. This science offers clear explanations as to why homeopathic remedies with seemingly no chemical trace of the original substance are able to resolve chronic diseases, why acupuncture can offer patients enough pain relief to undergo surgery without anesthesia, why meditation alone can, in some instances, reduce the size of cancerous tumors.

No. The author has no idea what quantum physics is, and is using it as a magic wand made of pure bullshit. Uttering the phrase "quantum physics" is, of course, a pretty common and cliched way to sound impressive without knowing anything, but it demonstrates that the "honest intellectual inquiry" thing is just a disguise, and the professor is here to sell snake oil.

Get the hell out of my ivory tower.

Re:Teaching the science of homeopathy.

[maligor]

Welcome students, to this course delving deep into all the science that is the foundation of homeopathy.
Let's start.
No questions?

I have a question:

Assuming I've understood the concept correctly, and it's about water remembering, wouldn't the water coming out of the tap have once in it's life been in a continuous body of water that has already come into contact with every single possible contaminant, and therefore should cure every disease known to man?