Trick or Treatment—The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine (Electronic book text)

In short, the print media in Canada (and elsewhere) tend to present an overly positive and simplistic view of alternative medicine. The way that alternative medicine is presented in newspapers all too often flies in the face of the evidence.

Turning to television, it seems that daytime programmes are always happy to invite a misguided alternative therapist onto their sofas. The Wright Stuff, for instance, is a largely reputable morning show on Channel Five in the UK, but it can arguably mislead its viewers with its regular slots for alternative practitioners. Jayney Goddard, President of the Complementary Medical Association (CMA), appears frequently on the show, usually promoting homeopathy. Chapter 3 explained that homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo, but innocent viewers of The Wright Stuff are generally given the impression that it is a powerful form of medicine.

It is interesting to note that the CMA’s website claims: ‘Thousands of people have contacted the CMA and The Wright Stuff about some of the products mentioned on the show by Jayney Goddard in the last few weeks.’ This is a conflict of interest, inasmuch as Goddard admits that she helped to formulate a brand of supplements that were promoted on the programme and which are sold on the CMA’s website. Such conflicts of interest turn out to be the rule and not the exception. The programme producers probably feel that they are simply filling fifteen minutes of airtime with some harmless medical chat, but they are actually encouraging a market in unproven treatments. Moreover, The Wright Stuff is indirectly promoting some rather peculiar views, as Goddard is the author of The Survivor’s Guide to Bird Flu: The Complementary Medical Approach, which claims to offer: ‘Information about a specific remedy for the precise symptoms of H5N1.’ There simply is no alternative cure for bird flu, and to say otherwise is irresponsible in the extreme.

Daytime TV has a particular penchant for the truly wacky end of the alternative spectrum, such as miracle healers who have superpowers. In North America, Adam Dreamhealer has been a popular miracle healer ever since a large black bird informed him of all the secrets of the universe. His massive media presence would be comical if it were not for the fact that large numbers of patients put their faith in the supposed healing skills of Mr Dreamhealer. According to his website: ‘Adam uses energy healing in a unique way to merge the auras of all participants with healing intentions. Then he uses holographic views to energetically affect through intention those present.’

The European equivalent of Dreamhealer is Natasha Demkina, who claims to be able to diagnose disease thanks to her X-ray vision, which she has had since she was ten years old: ‘I was at home with my mother and suddenly I had a vision. I could see inside my mother’s body and I started telling her about the organs I could see. Now, I have to switch from my regular vision to what I call medical vision. For a fraction of a second, I see a colorful picture inside the person and then I start to analyze it.’ However, in 2004 she underwent scientific testing and failed to prove that she had X-ray powers.

That same year Demkina appeared on a British daytime TV show called This Morning. She examined the show’s medical expert, Dr Chris Steele, and saw problems with his gallbladder, kidney stones, liver and pancreas. As reported by Andrew Skolnickin in Skeptical Inquirer: ‘The physician rushed off to have a battery of expensive and invasive clinical tests — which found nothing wrong with him. In addition to being exposed to unnecessary diagnostic radiation, he had a colonoscopy, which is not without risks.’ Studies show that 1 in 500 patients who undergo colonoscopic screening suffer a bowel perforation. Viewers who saw Demkina’s appearance on the show were probably impressed by her proclamations. Even though a later programme revealed that her diagnosis turned out to be alarmist and potentially dangerous, only a fraction of the original viewers would have learned of Demkina’s failure.

It might come as no surprise that daytime TV, tabloid newspapers and mass-market magazines are featuring bogus therapies and miracle healers, but it is disappointing when the world’s most respected broadcasters stoop to similarly low standards. In Chapter 2 we discussed how the BBC showed a misleading sequence that implied that acupuncture could act as a powerful anaesthetic for open-heart surgery, which was part of a supposedly authoritative documentary on the evidence for acupuncture. The BBC has a much deserved reputation for high-quality television, but sometimes it seems to lose its critical faculties when it comes to alternative medicine.