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$1.4 Million Raised on GoFundMe For 'Garbage' Homeopathy Cancer Treatment Scams (gizmodo.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the lack-of-wisdom-of-crowds dept.

"Medical crowdfunding has become a billion-dollar industry practically overnight, led by sites like GoFundMe," reports Gizmodo, citing new research on its dark side: over a million dollars in donations "funneled to ludicrous, unscientific treatments for life-threatening diseases like cancer." The authors of the study, published Thursday in The Lancet, searched for a particular kind of medical crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe: campaigns for cancer treatments that involved the use of homeopathy. Homeopathy might easily be considered the lowest-hanging fruit of medical quackery. The theory behind how it works is nonsensical (in short, its proponents claim water can be programmed with the "memory" of toxic substances that will then treat the symptoms they normally cause); there are no good studies that show it works; and its practitioners are some of the most brazen cranks this side of P.T. Barnum still kicking. "These treatments are the bunkiest of the bunk, just complete garbage," lead author Jeremy Snyder, a bioethicist at Simon Fraser University in Canada, told Gizmodo.

Snyder and his co-author found that over 200 GoFundMe campaigns, as of June 2018, had been created to help fund homeopathic cancer treatments...and were shared on Facebook more than 100,000 times in total. They collectively asked for more than $5 million in funding, and raised $1.4 million from over 13,000 donors.... Snyder and his co-author also tried to find out what ultimately happened to the people behind all these campaigns. Sometimes, the campaigns would have final updates reporting the person had died; other times, they were able to track down obituaries. In total, they found that 28 percent of the people had died by the time of their search. But even that might be an underestimate...
A third of campaigns even explicitly stated that all contributions went to people who'd chosen to avoid doctors. "I have a huge amount of sympathy for these people. They're very sick and desperate," Snyder says. "But it's concerning to see them be taken in by these claims." Gizmodo adds, "That's to say nothing of the kind people who are being roped into donating their money to medical charlatans."

"[W]e believe it is not our place to tell them what decision to make," GoFundMe said in a statement. They added that "ultimately it is up to the GoFundMe community to decide which campaigns to donate to."

113 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Criminal by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    Should it be a criminal offence to mislead somebody into taking actions that will lead to their certain death, e.g. telling someone not to seek professional medical attention & to take sugar pills instead when they have cancer? "Alternative medicine" vendors should have to provide valid, reliable evidence that their claims are correct, just like the pharma companies are supposed to. Not a perfect system but at least you can sue a pharma company when they lie about their drugs.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
    1. Re:Criminal by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Alternative medicine" vendors should have to provide valid, reliable evidence that their claims are correct

      They ARE required to do that, IF they are selling medicine. But they aren't.

      First, they make no specific claims that their product cures anything. They may imply that it will help, but they don't actually say it. So they don't have to support their claims, since there are no claims.

      Second, there is nothing to regulate. Homeopathic "medicine" doesn't have any active ingredients. There is nothing in it.

      You can only go so far in protecting stupid people from themselves. In a free society, at some point you have to accept that some people will make stupid decisions.

      Btw, the new money hole for stupid people is "alkaline water". My neighbor bought a $4000 water ionizer. She was disappointed when I showed her she could get the same effect with a 50 cent box of baking soda, and that there is zero evidence that "alkaline water" is healthy in any way.

    2. Re:Criminal by gweihir · · Score: 1

      While I agree, a lot of what the Big Pharma got rich on and is continuing to rake in money by the shipload is not providing benefits and sometimes is outright harmful. So there is huge opposition to any such requirements already.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    3. Re:Criminal by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      I was wondering why I keep seeing bottled water with their PH value on the packaging. It's just water that is more expensive and designed for morons. Good to know.

      Multiply the pH by ten, and then subtract it from 100. That will tell you the IQ of the targeted customer.

    4. Re:Criminal by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      All my water bottles have their pH values as well as their mineral composition and other data.

      Worth noting that almost all bottled water in France, where I live, is spring water, even the cheap ones, so I suppose it is a legal obligation. It looks like it is the same in other European countries.

      I've never seen it used as a marketing argument though. It is usually more about "low/zero nitrates".

    5. Re:Criminal by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So ... people buying water with regular carbonic acid are stupider than the goofballs paying premium for the "alcaline" water?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Criminal by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So... it's all basic water. Unless heavily carbonated.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Criminal by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I find the nutrition value way more funny.

      Just recently I found "calorie free" water. And was sorely disappointed as people actually bought it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:Criminal by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      Nothing you can do with the "may help reduce the symptoms of"

    9. Re:Criminal by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      I genuinely have seen gluten free water, so nothing surprises me.

    10. Re:Criminal by Instantlemming · · Score: 1

      Uh, no, if you have very acidic water (say pH 1), you multiply by 10 = 10.

      Subtract that from 100, and you end up with 90.
      That's more than alkaline water (starts at 8) will yield in this formula.

      I think you drank too much alkaline water already :-)

    11. Re:Criminal by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Ok, subtract it from 100, not subtract 100... Not that that made any more sense, I guess. Never post before your first coffee...

      Anyone know the PH value of that?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    12. Re:Criminal by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

      In contrast, the "alternative medicine" and dietary supplement industries have almost no restrictions on them. They can claim whatever they like. They're worse than the cosmetics industry.

      --
      Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
    13. Re:Criminal by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

      In a free society, at some point you have to accept that some people will make stupid decisions.

      Go. Ahead. Blame. The. Victims.

      Fraud is fraud, no matter how they dress it up. Alternative medicine needs to be publicly & prominently exposed for what it is. The alternative medicine industry tends to be aggressively litigious when scientists, the press, or anyone else tries to do this. When it's a problem affecting a significant number of citizens, it's the government's job to do something about it, not sitting on their hands or blaming the victims.

      Or do we count freedom to deceive, manipulate, exploit, & cause harm in with a free society?

      --
      Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
    14. Re:Criminal by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Hmm... I don't know. Time to call their marketing department and let them know they sorely lack an important information sticker!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Slats by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1.4 Million Raised on GoFundMe For 'Garbage' Homeopathy Cancer Treatment Scams

    That's nothing. There's been over $18 million raised to build a wall to boost the ego of a demented wannabe dictator. A wall that would be a little less effective than homeopathy cancer treatments.

    But hope springs eternal. They've only got $24,982,000,000.00 to go. Where sheep go one, they go all.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Slats by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      The folks charged with securing the border overwhelmingly want a wall to assist their job. I think they have a little more experience, knowledge - and investment - in the wall issue than you do...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re: Slats by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you're stupid enough to think that a wall is as ineffective as homeopathy. Intelligent people understand their utility.

      You should ask the Chinese about the effectiveness of walls.

      History has shown it is wise to constructively engage with your neighbors. Building walls is the opposite of that.

      Also, net migration from Mexico is near zero. The main reason for that is economic growth and better job opportunities in Mexico.

      Today, most illegals are coming from further south: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. $25B spent on economic cooperation with these countries would do infinitely more good than the same money spent on a wall.

    3. Re: Slats by Strider- · · Score: 2

      The only way that you will ever stem the flow of economic, political, and poverty refugees and migrants it's too achieve the same level of development, freedom, and security of person as their origin country. Personally I would rather see this be done by raising their standard of living rather than sinking to theirs.

      Canada and the US have the world's longest undefended border and there is very little irregular migration across it. In most places it's marked by nothing more than a drainage ditch or a 20' wide cut through the forest. This is because Canada and the US have relatively similar standards of living. If there were to be a new Marshall plan to radically improve Mexico and Latin America, the flows would stop. But that will never happen.

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    4. Re: Slats by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The only way that you will ever stem the flow of economic, political, and poverty refugees and migrants it's too achieve the same level of development, freedom, and security of person as their origin country.

      Bullcrap. Mexico is an obvious counterexample. Their economy is no where near America's level, but it is "good enough" for people to stay home.

      Illegal migrants are now coming from countries further south that are much poorer and dangerous than Mexico. El Salvador has the world's highest murder rate, and Honduras the 2nd highest, both driven by illegal drug demand in the USA. Comprehensive legalization would be a far better solution than a wall.

    5. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      If you're retarded enough to characterise 130,000 Mexicans arrested trying to cross the border in 2017 as "Mexicans staying home", then there's certainly no helping you.

    6. Re: Slats by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      If you're retarded enough to characterise 130,000 Mexicans arrested trying to cross the border in 2017 as "Mexicans staying home", then there's certainly no helping you.

      Do you know what "net migration" means? In 2017, the number of Mexican immigrants living in America went DOWN by 300k, from 11.6M to 11.3M.

    7. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Yes I know what "net migration" means. You apparently don't know what "staying home" means. Not surprising given that you're the same simpleton who tried to argue that walls are useless because China was invaded.

    8. Re: Slats by reanjr · · Score: 1

      Yet, for some reason we stopped building castles. Hmmm... it's almost as if technology made them obsolete...

    9. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      That's wonderful; now we just have to wait for someone to propose building a castle and your comment will instantly become relevant!

    10. Re:Slats by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're letting them make the decision - who are the ones who use Nazi/brownshirt tactics, and who are the ones who protect criminals? Face it - you're ashamed of your own success, and want to make yourself feel better by supporting a completely open border. Why do you hate people? Why do you lock your doors, or not leave your keys in your car, unlocked?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    11. Re:Slats by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      Ironically, in their pursuit of it, they are now not getting paid. More over, the people who REALLY stop lots of smuggling (the Coast Guard) are also not getting paid either.

      In any case, to have that wall will require either martial law being declared, in order to seize the land (Trump is working on this, under the guise of National Emergency), or an insane amount of money spent just slugging out the legal hassles with landowners.

    12. Re: Slats by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 2

      Nice way of deflecting from the fact that net migration is negative.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    13. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Nice way of pretending that net migration is relevant.

    14. Re:Slats by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      At least they're carrying out the overwhelming will of the people. If only Chuck and Nancy would listen to the full electorate - not just those they want to listen to. Perhaps they don't want to be offended by listening to ideas that are incredibly popular and supported by the vast majority but just want to live in their own little echo chambers safely protected by a wall.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    15. Re: Slats by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      You apparently don't know what "staying home" means.

      Look, I understand your fixation on literal meanings. I am an Aspie myself. But when I said Mexicans are "staying home", I didn't mean that every single Mexican refuses to leave their house, and has food delivered by drone.

      I meant it figuratively. They are emigrating at far lower rates than in the past, and emigration is more than balanced out by Mexicans returning to Mexico to take advantage of the greater economic opportunities.

      I apologize if this went over your head. In the future, I will try to use language more precisely.

    16. Re:Slats by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      If walls are so stupid and pointless then why did Israel build one?

      That, my friend, is a question that answers itself.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    17. Re: Slats by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you're stupid enough to think that a wall is as ineffective as homeopathy. Intelligent people understand their utility.

      You should ask the Chinese about the effectiveness of walls.

      History has shown it is wise to constructively engage with your neighbors. Building walls is the opposite of that.

      Also, net migration from Mexico is near zero. The main reason for that is economic growth and better job opportunities in Mexico.

      Today, most illegals are coming from further south: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. $25B spent on economic cooperation with these countries would do infinitely more good than the same money spent on a wall.

      Lots of rich liberals have walls around their homes and/or neighborhoods, so they seem to believe that they work.

      And the greater their proximity to the poor and desperate, the more likely they are to have those walls.

    18. Re: Slats by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Lots of rich liberals have walls around their homes and/or neighborhoods, so they seem to believe that they work.

      They are wrong. Gated communities don't have less crime.

      Walls don't work.

    19. Re: Slats by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Oh, so numbers don't matter. Only your feelings of being scared.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    20. Re: Slats by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Today, most illegals are coming from further south: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. $25B spent on economic cooperation with these countries would do infinitely more good than the same money spent on a wall.

      The problem is if you send economic assistance to those countries, you get accused of helping prop up corrupt governments. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

      I think a wall is a stupid idea. But I also think welcoming refugees from those countries with open arms does more damage than good. Ultimately, changing the government of a country for the better is the social and moral responsibility of the citizens of that country. Outsiders cannot intervene on their behalf for the same reason we're upset that Russia meddled in our elections. So if we accept any and all refugees, we just delay the political reform or revolution that's necessary to fix those countries up so its citizens no longer wish to flee them. Every refugee you accept is one fewer voter or freedom fighter in the battle to free the country from government corruption.

      Accepting the refugees may seem like the humanitarian thing to do, but it actually prolongs and increases the suffering in the countries producing refugees, by delaying the socio-political reform that's badly needed there. Reform that morally can only originate from the refugees themselves. People in other countries cannot do it for them without violating their own democratic ideals.

    21. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Look, I understand your fixation on literal meanings. I am an Aspie myself. But when I said Mexicans are "staying home", I didn't mean that every single Mexican refuses to leave their house, and has food delivered by drone.

      I meant it figuratively.

      If you think that 130,000 illegal immigrants being arrested in one year can be " figuratively" characterised as "people staying home", you're not an aspie, you're an idiot.

      They are emigrating at far lower rates than in the past, and emigration is more than balanced out by Mexicans returning to Mexico to take advantage of the greater economic opportunities.

      Which is completely fucking irrelevant when we are talking about border security. It would be relevant if your primary concern was how many Mexicans are in the US at any given time, but that's not at all what the discussion is about. I can see why you've reached the idiotic conclusion that walls are useless, though; you seem to have no clue what their purpose is.

    22. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Walls don't work

      From your own article:

      "gated communities do lower the odds of experiencing a residential burglary even when controlling for housing unit factors such as tenure, income, and geographical location as well as individual characteristics such as age [and] race"

      You really are retarded.

    23. Re:Slats by meglon · · Score: 1

      https://thehill.com/homenews/a...

      https://trofire.com/2019/01/01...

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    24. Re:Slats by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Not exactly. About $0 of that will go towards the wall, and everything else will go to the pockets of the guy who got the idea to start the collection.

      Which really is the perfect metaphor for the Trump era.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    25. Re: Slats by reanjr · · Score: 2

      No, someone just invented the ladder and the tunnel.

    26. Re: Slats by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      You and your logic and reason, there's no place for that here... Hadrian's wall didn't work that well either. As my Scottish sister-in-law could testify. But of cause the comb-over in chief is the best at history so he probably knows more than the historians do.

    27. Re: Slats by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      Your confusing reducing a crime of opportunity and stopping desperate and needy people. There are always homes without walls, burglars would always chose those. If the wall ever got built they would have no option when they got there. They would find a way over under or around the wall. An empty alarm box will deter a burglar, it wouldn't do much to stop migrants.

    28. Re: Slats by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Right, those didn't exist when we first started building castles.

    29. Re:Slats by sjames · · Score: 1

      Chuck and Nancy are implementing the will of the people by insisting on spending taxpayer money on things that might actually work. Stroking Trump's ego is an incredibly ineffective strategy for securing the border.

  3. American here by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I know some folks into homeopathy and it's been because they couldn't afford real doctors and medicine. I can buy some fake cure on Amazon for $50 bucks. That won't even get me in a doc's office if I don't have insurance.

    Nearly all medical go fund me's fail. It's only that there's so many of them that makes it a billion dollar industry (that and a billion dollars isn't a lot of money anymore, not globally, it's just that we humans are bad with numbers over a few thousand). I suspect that's what's going on here. Folks aren't expecting to get enough money for cancer treatment (which can be millions) so they're doing what they think they can.

    Bottom line most people can't live without hope. Nerds often can, and it's one of the things that makes us nerds.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re: American here by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know some folks into homeopathy and it's been because they couldn't afford real doctors and medicine

      No, it's been because they didn't really understand what they were buying. If you're already poor you're certainly not going to waste money on something you know doesn't work. If I can't pay my electric bill I'm not going to go out and buy a perpetual motion machine.

      As someone else pointed out earlier, Steve Jobs wasted his time and money on alternative medicine when conventional medicine had a very strong chance of helping him live another decade or two. Are you going to tell me he couldn't afford actual medicine?

      The problem isn't money; it's ignorance.

    2. Re:American here by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      I know some folks into homeopathy and it's been because they couldn't afford real doctors and medicine.

      Homeopathy is WAY more popular in the UK and many EU countries that it is in the US. These are countries with mostly single-payer healthcare. There is no evidence that homeopathy is driven by affordability.

      Use of homeopathy across the world

    3. Re: American here by andreicio · · Score: 1

      It's not ignorance, it's fear. When conventional medicine tells you that the best you can hope for is another 10 years with cancer and someone comes saying you could be cured, fear takes over. You tell yourself anything just to be able to avoid accepting the truth.

    4. Re:American here by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > Homeopathy is WAY more popular in the UK and many EU countries that it is in the US

      Everyone read this several times. I wish I could upvote it to 5 right now.

    5. Re: American here by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

      If I can't pay my electric bill I'm not going to go out and buy a perpetual motion machine.

      You might if you have a somewhat weak understanding of physics and the person selling the perpetual motion machine promises that for about the price of one electric bill you can be free of the power company forever! And after all, Big Power exists solely to perpetuate itself. It quashes all the free-energy machines because they're not profitable. Don't be a rube! Buy our perpetual motion machine and stick it to the man! This is exactly the rhetoric charlatans use against "big medical" stomping on the cheap and natural homeopathic treatments that Doctors Don't Want You To Know About!

      The problem isn't money; it's ignorance.

      It's both, plus a large serving of deep-seated resentment for experts and authority.

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    6. Re: American here by Cochonou · · Score: 2

      You know well that statistics can be misleading. Use of homeopathy is high in Europe... for things such as treating a flu. Which might not be such a bad thing after all, since over medication and over use of antibiotics is a current concern. I do not think the use of homeopathy is so high for more serious illness cases - especially since public health insurance systems will provide access to modern medecine treatments.

  4. Re: As if that's even the fucking problem by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Thanks, I needed a new idea for a GoFund me scam.

  5. Re: Preying on the desperate is very low by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Funny

    A hippie marketing guru who considered LSD one of the most important things he did in his life was conned by alternative medicine bullshit? No way! I don't believe it!

  6. Re:Antivaxxers by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you believe in homeopathy and are an antivaxxer, you probably get your left and right mixed up.

    Homeopaths are only harming themselves (and their children who presumably carry the same defective genes). Anti-vaxxers endanger all of us. So they aren't really comparable.

  7. Mueller will see you now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You got conned by a life-long fraud and wrestling promoter and Hillary Clinton backer turned Conservative Fuhrer and traitor. Mueller will see you now.

  8. Peopel are guillable by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I worked with someone who believed in homepathy and the power of crystals to cure diseases. Her attitude was "So what if there is no proof it works; what if it does and everyone is wrong?" She was well educated, and not ill, but for whatever reason would not accept any data that conflicted with her belief. That is in line with a recent study I heard about that shoiws presenting data that conflicts with a person's viewpopint just hardens their position rather than convinces them to change it.

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    1. Re: Peopel are guillable by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      I fully support your desire to stop eating chemicals. Electricity is so much better for you. I know a guy whose father was dying from cancer until he stuck a fork in a wall outlet and now he's an Olympic boxer.

    2. Re:Peopel are guillable by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Another failure of "education". Worthwhile education allows you to challenge, verify and, if needed, adjust your beliefs. Yes, it is hard getting there and yes, most people generally thought to be "educated" are in fact not.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    3. Re: Peopel are guillable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And you know what? Old roommate's mom had breast cancer. She spent 3 or 6 months in South America with a shaman. Came back devoid of cancer.

      Sometimes, cancer disappear on its own. The immune system succeeds in some "easy cases".

      Which is why you have to look at statistics, rather than single cases. We know the survival rates for untreated breast cancer and survival rates for current hospital treatments. Now, what is the survival rate for shaman treatment? How many out of 1000 patients survive? How many tried the shaman way?

      There could be something to this. Perhaps the shaman uses some plant medicine that actually works, but not yet documented in medical literature. Or perhaps this one case was just luck - the cancer failed on its own. Tell us when 40 people has tried this treatment. . .

    4. Re:Peopel are guillable by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Another failure of "education". Worthwhile education allows you to challenge, verify and, if needed, adjust your beliefs. Yes, it is hard getting there and yes, most people generally thought to be "educated" are in fact not.

      While I agree with you, deep seated beliefs, even if they are wrong, are hard to change. When presented with facts counter to those beliefs people tend to discount them. It’s not a matter of education but rather human nature. A recent article on this topic is https://www.npr.org/2017/12/25...

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    5. Re:Peopel are guillable by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      "He who cures is right" is one of the arguments I get to hear quite often. It cures, after all, doesn't it? I feel better when I take it, so it's good.

      That's why I started Pizzapathy now. Whenever I have a headache, I eat a pizza tonno. And 2 to 20 hours later it's gone. Sometimes it gets worse, that shows me that the therapy is working. That's the initial worsening. Then, I immediately eat another pizza tonno and it's gone. Occasionally it doesn't work. But that's probably due to the pizza not having been stored correctly, or maybe someone made a mistake in the manufacturing process because usually, at the very least 9 out of 10 times, it works.

      He who cures is right!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing!) by kevmeister · · Score: 1

    I have a friend who is well educated, though in the arts, who reacted very negatively when I made a comment about the silliness of homeopathy. I was informed that in Europe it was generally accepted and had repeatedly been proven effective. He blamed big drug companies for bogus studies showing that it didn't work.

    Guess this type of argument actually pre-dates Trump.

    --
    Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer, Retired
  10. Re:There is no cure for cancer = the cause by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    Completely untrue. Many cancers are curable with extremely high success rates if caught early, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (98%) and localized (non-metastatic) prostate cancer (~100%).

    And even stage 4 metastatic cancer is sometimes cured, thanks to immunotherapy.

    The only thing absolutely certain is that water has a 0% cure rate for any illness other than dehydration, and always will.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  11. Re: Antivaxxers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm facepalming over the fact that I haven't thought of this before. People that buy homeopathic medicine are really stupid, they don't realize that it's a total placebo effect (which is very strong.) The best thing is, you can sell it to them knowing its shit, and any claims you make about its authenticity can't be disproven, so it's not like they can sue you for it not working. It doesn't actually have to work, you just can't matter of factly claim that it does things that it won't do. It just has to come as more of an opinion or hearsay, and you're on good legal ground. Besides, if you didn't take their money, some other asshole would. Even if you try to tell them that it's a total load of shit, they'll still buy from the other asshole anyways. May as well be the beneficiary of their inevitable stupidity.

  12. I don't see a problem by quonset · · Score: 1

    This solves two problems. Those who undergo this "treatment" will die off and the fools who fund this nonsense will be out their money.

    1. Re:I don't see a problem by ledow · · Score: 1

      Someone somewhere is being paid to take water, sell it to others, claim it's curing them, being funded to the hilt to continue to do so, and has no comeback from "unsatisfied customers".

      Though an ideal business model, it's also a scam that shouldn't be allowed to proliferate, especially with any kind of "medical" claim behind it.

      I don't give a damn about the people paying, or the people stupid enough to rely on this stuff. I do give a damn about people making a business from fraud and potentially enticing the weak-of-mind, vulnerable, desperate and soon-to-depart to part with their money, or stop real medical treatment, on the basis of a lie.

    2. Re:I don't see a problem by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      No, it doesn't. It creates a giant fucking problem, which is all of our problem: Preventable and curable illnesses addressed early cost far, far less to deal with than they do later. Unless you think very ill and dying people vanish in a puff of smoke, you should realize that every person who takes an ambulance ride to the ER costs the medical system money. Everyone who needs long-term care because their treatable or preventable illness didn't get medical treatment is a drain on the system. Every family that loses a breadwinner or caregiver to a treatable or preventable illness can also become a drain on our social systems. All the money spent on non-treatments could have been used to make families healthier, wealthier, and better educated.

      We live in a very well connected society, not in isolated caves up in the mountains. Fake treatments end up hurting all of us, although some far more than others.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  13. Nothing compared to Big Pharma's robbery by Btrot69 · · Score: 1

    This is chicken shit.

    200 GoFundMe campaigns raised $1.4 million from 13,000 donors, over several years ?

    This is a giant problem that requires government intervention ?

    Come on, we live in a "free" society and there are stupid people everywhere.

    Most of the donors were just being "nice" to a dying person who didn't trust doctors.

    Now lets pay some attention attentions to the 10's if not 100's of BILLIONS of dollars that Big Pharma robs from us every DAY!

    1. Re: Nothing compared to Big Pharma's robbery by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Big Pharma is just being nice to people who don't trust snakeoil salesmen.

  14. Re:There is no cure for cancer = the cause by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    The only thing absolutely certain is that water has a 0% cure rate for any illness other than dehydration, and always will.

    Water is also effective against kidney stones and gout.

  15. Re: Preying on the desperate is very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    He probably could have got more than that. When his liver cancer was first found, it was a super rare kind that was very slow growing. It could have been surgically removed with little chance of returning and no lasting effects (your liver 100% regrows to its fully needed size very quickly, hence you can donate one liver lobe to somebody, and the remaining lobe grows to full size in both you and your recipient.)

    Yet Jobs, following this hippie medicine shit, and against very strong objection from his medical team, went to a naturopath that put him on a juice diet. Two liver transplants later, he's dead, all because of willful neglect on his part. Totally avoidable, and two livers were wasted. As a kidney transplant recipient myself, that pisses me off, especially given his personal jet gave him the ability to list in all 9 UNOS regions (means you'll quickly go to the front of the list.) I had to wait 3.5 years vs a few months for him, and I was lucky because I was offered and accepted from a high risk donor. I have IgA nephropathy, I couldn't even do shit to stop by kidneys from failing, and this asshole who let his liver die on purpose got shortcuts.

  16. It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, I will not call homeopathy "medicine", because it is not. However, while homeopathy is basically a really screwed up belief, medicine is not doing so well. It would not be an overstatement that it is one of the worst and perhaps the worst performer in the STEM field. Still nothing really good on cancer, took half a century with AIDS and still no real treatment, still nothing effective against the flu or the common cold, the upcoming antibiotics crisis, etc. In addition hugely disproportional costs, probably because treatments are generally not really good. The list of failures of medicine is really long and it is totally inadequate for what science and technology can do today and what other STEM fields achieve.

    As a result, people look for alternatives. And when you do not understand science and see the pretty bad options medicine has for cancer (e.g.), it is understandable that homeopathy may look like an "alternative". That it is not based on science and offers basically the 0-rate of cures (patients gets better by themselves, which even for cancer is not zero), is something people have trouble seeing. But the root-cause for this thing being still around is that the offering by medicine is so bad. Hence the fix for things like homeopathy is to have medical research finally get their asses in gear and start doing solid science, start bringing cost down and effectiveness and quality of outcome up. And, in particular, get their egos under control and admit where they really stand and begin to do something about it.

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    1. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by Strider- · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Still nothing really good on cancer, took half a century with AIDS and still no real treatment

      I'll challenge you on the AIDS claim. Modern medicine has done an incredible job at turning what was one a short term death sentence into what is now a manageable chronic condition. We have become so good at it that the hospital here in Vancouver, which was once at the heart of one of the worst outbreaks in the developed world, choose to shut down their AIDS ward because they hadn't had a patient in over a year. This was a few years ago.

      Given how the mechanism behind the disease, this is truly remarkable and a triumph of modern medicine.

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    2. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Managing a chronic condition" is not curing it. It is just creation of somebody permanently dependent on treatment. (Probably intentional, as this is the most profitable case: permanent sickness, but late death.) I think the whole thing is an abysmal failure and nicely illustrates the incapability of modern medicine.

      Oh, sure, for what they have, this is impressive. But what they have in insight and tools and methods is pathetic and an utter disgrace. It is basically the same thing if computer engineers were proud of having finally moved off the relays 10 years ago and now really rocking the vacuum tubes. Only that medicine has been a lot longer at it and should hence be a lot more advanced. They are not. They are backwards and slow. And it is a fundamental problem with them.

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    3. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      From raging deadly epidemic to hardly any deaths in ~20 years... a disgrace!!! So outrageous.
      By what standard? Do you think somehow that medical advances should follow Moore's Law or some dumb shit?

      Perhaps you should lend your immense brainpower to the medical establishment... simply explain that they need a paradigm shift, like away from relay, right past vacuum tubes, straight to transistors! If you dream it, you can do it. Clearly there are no smart people in the field.

      Take a look at some other fields... progress is not easy. How about attacking battery technology (batteries still suck, in spite of daily 'revolutionary advancement' press releases). Or on the more theoretical side, GUT. Jeez, how hard can that be. Einstein and a few others got us 80% of the way there... why can't those dumb ass theoretical physicists get it over the finish line?

    4. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This could possibly be the most misinformed rant I have read in a very long time.

      Simple truth is that modern medicine since the 1900's is the overwhelming contributor to over doubling average lifespan across the globe.

      Care to give another STEM field that can boast that claim? ... didn't think so.

      You also fail to understand that medicine is possibly THE MOST DIFFICULT OF THE SCIENCES. In essence the charter is to reverse engineer a mind bogglingly complicated machine AND external elements that may damage said machine and then develop counters and protections to these issues without destroying said machine... that you still need to reverse engineer... because you don't have the blueprints in understandable form.

    5. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by dwpro · · Score: 2

      Also, you can only experiment on the machines in predictably non-destructive ways, and building reasonable facimiles for experimentation will land you in morally precarious positions.

      --
      Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
    6. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 1

      You must never have heard of double-blind studies....

      With finally starting to use sound statistical tools recently (compared to how long medicine has been bumbling about), some progress has been made in the aspects of methods. It is still a mess, mostly.

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      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    7. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Oh, easily: Agriculture. It prevents people from dying very early due to starvation. Your argument is entirely bogus.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by dwpro · · Score: 1

      Double blind doesn't mean you can shoot your magic cancer drug into a person and see if it works. Hell, you can barely get a diet regimen through IRB.

      --
      Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
    9. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Oh god, which fucktards upvoted this bullshit?

      Nothing really good on cancer? How about going from a certain killer to simple preventative cheap vaccine in the space of 15 years? That's HPV, if you didn't know.

      There are loads of examples like that.

    10. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 1

      The "S" stands for Science. I am lamenting that medicine is not really doing too well in belonging into that class.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    11. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by gweihir · · Score: 1

      There are loads of examples like that.

      There _really_ are not. This is a rare success story and that is why it gets so hyped.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    12. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      You are pretty much totally wrong.

      The current management routines are dropping HIV to what is essentially a non-transmissible level in the blood. And no, for the individual person, that's not a cure. But over time, this is dramatically reducing the transmission rate, and over the next couple of decades, it's going to head very rapidly the way polio went. Unless you're going to define "cure" so narrowly that we haven't cured polio?

      And that is even if we don't actually find an individual cure it in the near future.

      I'm not sure what your problem with modern medicine is, but it seems to be coming from a place of deep ignorance.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    13. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Well, one way of bringing down the cost would be to start at the liability. Because believe it or not, one big part of medical costs is liability insurance (or, in case of large pharma corporation, a sizable legal and liability reserve. You'll notice a curious coincidence of the price of medical procedures and pharmaceuticals and the amount of money you can milk from "malpractice". If it has to be actual malpractice, i.e. a doctor deliberately or in gross negligence actually causing you harm, it's usually way cheaper than when courts hand out verdicts of malpractice for basically unavoidable side effects or bullshit like "mental anguish".

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    14. Re:It is the weakness of medicine by sjames · · Score: 1

      Yet when Texas capped liability, the cost of healthcare didn't budge.

  17. Fools and their money by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

    Fools and their bitcoin are soon parted.

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
  18. Re:Preying on the desperate is very low by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Jobs saw the pretty extreme and not really appealing options modern medicine is offering and made the mistake to think the promises by "alternative medicine" are about as honest and accurate. With that, the "alternatives" look pretty appealing. But if you are not a scientist or engineer like Jobs (he never finished his studies), separating fact from fiction can get difficult. Anybody with a sound scientific education can immediately spot the scam, jobs could not. And the scam has been known for a long, long time. For example, the 3rd Reich was unsatisfied with the 30% cure rate classical medicine gave on pneumonia and looked into alternatives. (There were also political and philosophical reasons, I believe.) At that time, there was a big homeopathic "hospital" in Berlin that also did "treat" pneumonia. But search as they might, homeopathy had not provided a single cure, everybody "treated" homeopathically had died.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  19. Re:Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing! by gweihir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a friend who is well educated, though in the arts, who reacted very negatively when I made a comment about the silliness of homeopathy.

    Not "well" educated. May have learned some facts but never got what facts are or how they are found.

    I was informed that in Europe it was generally accepted and had repeatedly been proven effective.

    A complete lie. What happened a while ago is that some private insurers started to offer paying for some "alternative" treatments (only cheap ones). It makes perfect sense for them to do so economically, as they are competing for customers (you select your on insurance in most of Europe) and many of their customers are clueless how medicine works and unaware of that. The utter failure of politics was to not stop that.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  20. You absolutely are by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Homeopathy scams are much, much more popular with the poor (as is faith healing in general).

    Human beings will always seek out hope, and bastards will always be there to sell the false kind to them.

    --
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  21. Medicine is COMPLICATED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think you fully appreciate just how complicated medicine is. There are a lot of factors in every disease and progress is necessarily slow.

    As for factors, what you call "cancer" is actually a few dozen distinct diseases with similar etiology (DNA somewhere in some cell broke) but completely different presentations and treatments. What works for one does not necessarily work for the other. HIV is a retrovirus made of RNA and mutates constantly. There are two distinct strains and several different recognizable subgroups. The flu isn't a retrovirus but similarly mutates constantly. Every year we get a little genetic drift and every few years we get a genetic shift and we get screwed until it gets under control.

    As for progress, the progress we've made is incredible in the last decades. Your comparisons are completely off base. If an electrical engineer lets the magic smoke out of a few components on a PCB he just gets new components or a new PCB. If a physician or medical researcher destroys a few organs in a patient he just killed a human being. You simply cannot move fast and break things in this field. Breast cancer (probably the best funded) survival is now over 90%. Want to see truly huge gains? Try leukemia.. HIV has improved, too. PrEP can prevent the spread and maybe in a few generations we won't have to worry about finding a cure for it because we have eradicated it like we did smallpox. Oh! Remember seeing that one recently? No. You didn't. Because vaccines have made it possible to completely eradicated diseases. Polio is only endemic in a handful of countries now. Why? Because medicine DOES work.

    Maybe you're not happy with the speed of progress but that's because of your broken standards, not because we're moving too slow.

  22. Re:Antivaxxers by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    Homeopaths treat infectious disease too.

  23. money laundering? by kiviQr · · Score: 1

    how much of it is money laundering?

  24. And? by ledow · · Score: 1

    People give millions every year to TV evangelists, conmen, conspiracy theory pushers... what's the difference?

    I'm much more concerned at the billions given to churches and the Vatican to polish their gold-and-diamond-encrusted religious items, than some nutter funding another's own willing death.

    1. Re:And? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      But I I wanted to fund someone else's death, I could just invest in some weapon manufacturer. I get revenue, they get killed, it's just so win-win.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  25. Re:Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing! by ledow · · Score: 1

    In my European country (which may not be true in a few month's time, which kinda gives away which one it is), claiming or even implying that homeopathy - or indeed any non-medical treatment - cures cancer is actually illegal without proper peer-reviewed science behind it.

    We also have laws that psychics and other charlatans must only advertise if they have a visible clause that it's "for entertainment purposes only".

    Neither are generally accepted anywhere, except by morons.

  26. Maybe it's not in the UK by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    here in America it is. And I think the reason Homeopathy is "less popular" here is that we've got the Evangelical faith healers who compete with the Homeopaths.

    It's actually become a major source of irritation in the athiest community because more Americans are professing "none" for their religion (which takes them out of the running for faith healers) but then turning to pseudo science "woo" like homeopathy.

    Regardless it's not about money, it's about hope. In America money gets involved because there's lots of solutions to health problems that are unobtainable w/o lots of money. Buddy of mine spent a year living with kidney stones because he couldn't come up with the money for the proper meds. I found out later or I'd have just come up with the money for it, but in the meantime he drunk magic tea that was supposed to cure him. To this day he'll tell you the tea worked because eventually the stones passed. The tea was just a placebo.

    This in and of itself wouldn't piss me off if he'd also had the proper meds (he could have been done with the pain in a few months instead of a year if he had). Now, he knows damn well the tea didn't do squat (the water mighta helped though) but like I said, folks need to feel like they're doing _something_. Hope sells well.

    --
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  27. Re:Antivaxxers by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If your vaccines actually work then you'll be protected against the disease, so why worry?

    Because vaccines are not 100% effective, and some people can't take them for legitimate medical reasons.

    Vaccines work primarily through herd immunity, not individual immunity.

    "No shots = No school" needs to be enforced. Religious freedom doesn't give anyone the right to endanger my kid.

  28. Re:There is no cure for cancer = the cause by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    Kidney stones can be caused by lack of water, but once you have them, AFAIK, water won't do anything to dissolve them. And although water is preventative for gout, I don't think it is curative (but I could be wrong). Both conditions, however, can be improved with citrus juice.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  29. Re:Antivaxxers by michelcolman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Vaccines don't give 100% protection. But 99% is enough to protect a population: some people will still get sick, but not enough to let the disease spread. It then dies out rather quickly for lack of transmission.

    However, if you have a bunch of people that have not been vaccinated, the disease will spread among them and then sicken 1% of the vaccinated people they come into contact with. That's the difference between herd immunity and individual immunity.

    Also, unvaccinated people provide a pool for the disease to survive and mutate in. Until it happens to mutate into a version against which the vaccine is not effective anymore.

    So yes, unvaccinated people are a danger to the others.

  30. Re:There is no cure for cancer = the cause by meglon · · Score: 1

    It's not even preventative for gout, although it can help relieve the symptoms a little (not immediately like a good does of drugs though) if your gout is brought on by dehydration. Gout is usually caused by eating too many things with high purine content... like red meat, or alcohol (the yeast), and especially gravies. If you're borderline with gout and increase your consumption of those things, you'll have an attack. Becoming dehydrated will also do it if you're borderline, but because it decreases plasma volume allowing more uric acid crystals to form. Citrus juice doesn't help, only modifying your diet to eliminate some of the purines does (or drugs, although that only masks the symptoms, does nothing for the pathology).

    As for kidney stones, i put the lemon juice cure down as an old wives tale, just like cranberry juice. The only real thing (for symptoms) that helps is a good dose of sister morphine... or... several good doses. A buildup of kidney stones is either a round or two of ultrasound to break them up (and a LOT of pain passing them), or even surgery (depending on the size).

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  31. Water has memory? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Gee. Considering how many times I flushed the toilet and used it to transport shit, let's hope it doesn't hold grudges.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Water has memory? by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      Now you're showing your ignorance. Water only has memory if you hit it against a horsehair saddle. Unless you're one of those fluxion blasphemers. That's how the magic works. I work in the water industry, and can tell you that the water from a treatment centre doesn't cure anything except thirst, that's how I prove that the horsehair saddle works. Some people would say that it's all bunkum, but they said that about perpetual motion and I've got an orbo phone charger to prove them wrong.

  32. Re:The placebo effect is formidable by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    As people get stupider, they're more ready to believe bullshit. Makes sense when you think about it.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  33. Re:Everything Homeopathy is a Scam by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Globules is maybe the most decadent form of sugar for your tea.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  34. Re:Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Europe here. It's not.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  35. Re:I think this is great!!! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    You don't think that this will change anything, do you? If people by now don't get that it's quackery, they won't, ever. We're at the point where they WANT it to work, no matter whether it does. I don't really get that, but I've seen it in politics a lot. People vote for a politician and no matter how much he turns out to be inapt, a crook or simply and plainly unfit for the office, they defend him, call anything brought forth against him fake news and slander, even if the solid proof is right there at hand, even if the buffoon boasts about it himself.

    Reality doesn't matter anymore. What matters is how it makes you feel.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  36. Re:There is no cure for cancer = the cause by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    This is dangerous bullshit, and people readily believe it.

    Yes, people die of cancer. Yes, there is a high risk involved with the therapy because, yes, chemotherapy is poisoning your body and radiation therapy is bombarding it with ionizing radiation (hint: that's the kind of radiation that's really good at killing people).

    The reason we subject patients to this is that this gives them a chance for survival. By now we're pretty good at finding just the right dosage to kill the cancer and not the patient. This is very dependent on the patient and his or her physiology and that alone should tell you that it's not something that you as a complete layman should do at home.

    Since doctors are not by default sadists that thrive on inflicting pain and suffering on their patients (well, maybe with the exception of dentists), they don't do this because it's easy for them or because it makes them shitloads of money (it's not. If you want shitloads of money as a medical professional, get your very own MRT, aka the money printing machine. Oncology is the field where you spend hours and hours with every patient, desperately trying to figure out JUST that special sweet spot where you JUST don't kill him while getting rid of his cancer). They do this because it's the only chance.

    If you're stupid enough to instead rely on water and sugar to cure you, you pretty much save your oncologist a lot of time, and your retirement insurance a lot of money.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  37. Re:Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing! by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

    Well it's a bit more complicated than that (when isn't it) But I'm sure you would want to know a better picture. It has not, and never can be proven to work here in Europe. But we do have the head of state in waiting (Prince Charles whose only job is waiting for the Queen to die) who promotes it. We have a Royal homoeopathic hospital as well. No sensible person uses it, but there are a lot of people who do. Mostly middle class worried well taking it for colds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is one leading academics on alternative medicine who was a sugar pill pusher as a doctor, but decided to study it as evidence based medicine and found it to be bunk. I've seen him on tour with Simon Singh (sued by the back crackers for saying they knowingly lied https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...). So yes it is popular amongst the chattering classes and the NHS does spend money on it (probably saving cash, sugar pills are cheaper than antibiotics and both do the same level of good for a cold.) but it's far from mainstream and is often derided by comedians.

  38. Re:Many educated elieve in homeopathy (depressing! by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

    Are you calling my future King a moron? Well fair play to you. Carry on.

  39. Alternative Medicine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What do they call alternative medicine that actually works?

    Medicine!

  40. Re: Preying on the desperate is very low by Pipiska · · Score: 1

    A year ago I had cancer. Thank God there were no complications and the operation was successful. But since then I have a constant feeling of anxiety and have to use the CDB to calm. If someone need, here is a link https://www.marijuanabreak.com...