The View from Number 80

Beyond CAM Pair - Two "alternative" therapies have been in use for quite a while, namely chiropractic and homeopathy, the former since 1895, when grocer D D Palmer announced his discovery, and the latter earlier still, which first saw the light of day in the early 19th century when Samuel Hahnemann produced The Organon of Homeopathic Medicine. Many thousands of people all over the world swear as to the effectiveness of both treatments (and many others have made a nice, comfortable living from administering their nostrums). So how come they are still referred to as complementary or alternative (CAM) medicine? One would think that after all this time they would have been incorporated into the "mainstream" evidence-based medical system. Why is this? The reason is that bugbear of CAM slipped into the previous sentence - "evidence-based". No test of either discipline has come even near the standards of evidence for efficacy that regular pharmaceuticals and therapies have to meet. By "standards of evidence for efficacy" one means whether they actually work or not and on all the evidence they don't. They both rely upon beliefs and suppositions that either fail any scientific test or are not amenable to such testing. As the scientific method is the only way to find out, these two practices run into a dead end. Even such desperate methods as conjuring up whole new (and undetectable) phenomena like, in the case of homeopathy, the molecular memory of water, are fruitless and explain nothing whatsoever. Another tactic has been that if the testing regimes for mainstream medicine do not give favorable answers, change the type of test to one that is more sympathetic to the claims being tested. This obviously is no test at all. All trials must be, as far as is humanly possible, objective and unbiased otherwise they are merely wishful thinking. The clue as to what homeopathy and chiropractic really are lies in the fact that in the face of the lack of any supporting evidence they still have a large following based merely upon belief, or faith if you like. This means they are not medicine, they are not alternative or complementary medicine, they are a form of religion. This idea is far from original to 80 but it explains the continued existence of these therapies.

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Testing, Testing - Science, to put it crudely, is inherently testable. An observation is made, a hypothesis is advanced to explain that observation, predictions are made on the basis of that hypothesis. The predictions are tested and, if they fail, the predictions may be modified in the light of new data or discarded as valueless. This is rather a simplistic way of describing the process as the steps can be jumbled but in the main it conveys the general idea. Two quotations from physicist Richard Feynman encapsulate this rather nicely. "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." and "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." Alone among human activities science is self-correcting. The universe doesn't care what answer you want to get. We may go down blind alleys but the method itself will put us back on track. To hammer the point home James Randi says that science "thrives on being corrected and re-directed when its findings are successfully challenged. New data, new interpretations, new approaches, strengthen rather than damage science." This is obviously not so with religion - or more accurately revealed religion. This is where an individual claims to have received knowledge directly from a deity and that it is unerringly correct. This fits characters like St Paul, Mohammed and the Reverend Jim Jones. How can you possibly question what they say as it is divine in origin? It is a neat trick to claim authority for your ideas/delusions because they came straight from God - any doubt, let alone testing, is certainly disrepectful and very likely blasphemous. Religions do not like blasphemers and in the past and still today tend to isolate, punish or kill them. What is the difference between a theory and a belief? You can kill for a belief. This is obviously not to suggest that this obtains in chiropractic or homeopathy but the unquestioned belief system certainly does. (Although the alt. med. community can get pretty unpleasant with debunkers and skeptics)

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D D's Revelation - For a religion to be revealed to the ignorant one must have a prophet to whom divine inspiration is given. In chiropractic we have Palmer and his belief that our bodies have an Innate Intelligence (I.I.) which wants us to be well. This Intelligence is a part of the Universal Intelligence that suffuses the Universe. Sometimes our bones can become partially dislocated (subluxation) and this can cause a blockage of natural healing. By manipulation it is possible to unblock the flow of energies to effect healing of a wide variety of apparently unrelated ailments. Now how on earth can this be tested? Studies of how patients respond to this kind of treatment show that chiropractic manipulation (as with other methods such as "conventional" physiotherapy) can indeed be beneficial for back pain. This is a long way from proving or detecting Innate or Universal Intelligences or healing energy. These remain purely a matter of faith which in 80's view makes chiropractic a faith-based cult. If anyone doubts this take a look at this letter from D D Palmer himself on the excellent Quackfiles website. Here is an enlightening excerpt, "But we must have a religious head, one who is the founder, as did Christ, Mohamed, Jo. Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Martin Luther and other (sic) who have founded religions. I am the fountain head. I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase. Now, if chiorpractors desire to claim me as their head, their leader, the way is clear. My writings have been gradually steering in that direction until now it is time to assume that we have the same right to as has Christian Scientists." It doesn't get much clearer than that - chiropractic is a religion. (Checkout the Quackfiles comprehensive list of Homeolinks)

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Magical Memory - Back when Hahnemann came up with homeopathy the practice of medicine was still very much a hit and miss affair. Some of the treatments such as bleeding or mercury-laced potions were more deadly that what ailed you in the first place. Hahnemann's theory owes a lot to magic - which is another word for religion. He believed that for medicine to work it must enable the body's "vital force" to heal.(Shades of Innate Intelligence!) The magical touch was to believe like is linked to like. This is similar to the very old idea of the Doctrine of Signatures at one time espoused by herbalists. In Hahnemann's case, for example if a substance caused a fever, in order to heal a fever the patient was given a massively dilute dose of that substance. (Not only diluted but also "succussed" ie vigorously shaken in order, Hahnemann believed, to potentiate the spiritual powers and make the substance more effective. 80 has used the same method to cure a recalcitrant laptop.). It is well worth noting that compared to a lot of medical practice in Hahnemann's day at least homeopathy, while doing nothing, at least did no harm. If, as with most ailments, the disease ran its course and/or the patient's immune system triumphed over infection, well, you could chalk it up as another successful homeopathic cure. Modern science has thrown a spanner into the homeopathic works by showing that these massively dilute medicines are unlikely to contain even a single molecule of the original substance. Also, as totally pure water is not achievable there must be many other contaminants in greater concentration than any "healing substance". This is where the CAM world reveals itself prey to a contradictory desire that permeates pseudoscience of all kinds but is rare in the world of organized religion (except for tests of say, the efficacy of prayer in healing) - the desire for scientific respectability. Whether chiros and homeopathists like it or not science undeniably works - the very world in which we live has been remodelled by science and its application, technology. The problem is that the underlying belief system of both of these CAMs are not amenable to testing. When something is capable of being tested, such as the above mentioned dilutions, they are shown to be ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the wriggling attempt to get past an unfavorable outcome by inventing such silliness as the molecular memory of water. Look here for some interesting correspondence on the subject courtesy of Quintessence of the Loon. ( As 80 and others have pointed out before, the water should retain memories of all the substances with which it has come in contact,  not just the intended one. This makes it impossible to attribute any "cure" on the grounds that there is no way of telling which memory had any effect out of possibly thousands or millions. This has led 80 to suggest the idea of Molecular Amnesia.......)

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Chiro and Crohn's - Chiropractic has its own problems - no proper trials have shown the far reaching effects claimed for subluxation by chiros. There is no plausible mechanism for the flow of nervous energies, or their blockage or even the energies themselves. As mentioned before, chiropractic may well help some back problems by manipulation but the claims that the therapy is of use for other illnesses are ludicrous. A recent example was published in the newsletter of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC), of which 80 is a member. This was an article about chiropractic treatment for Crohn's, which is an inflammatory bowel disease, the trigger for which has not been found although there are several candidates. What is likely is that a genetic predisposition to Crohn's is set off by an environmental factor and has the effect of inflammation caused by the patient's own immune system. (There has been some success using immune supressant drugs in treatment.) The article claimed that chiropractic spinal manipulation directly and beneficially affected the patient's immune system.

Here is a direct quote from that study "Dr Yasuhiko Takeda and colleagues found that chiropractic care could correct misalignments and related problems of the spine that affect the function of our nervous and immune systems. Dr Takeda's research involved treating 17 Crohn's patients with spinal adjustments to reduce the spinal displacement in the thoracic and lumbar regions, and comparing these with 34 patients who did not receive spinal adjustments. Of the 17 who were given treatment,12 showed long-term and stable remission in their Crohn's Disease."

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Dangerous Beliefs - Apart from the complete lack of evidence for any detectable mechanism for the effect, Takeda et al don't seem to have grasped even the basics of real medicine which they are trying, unsuccessfully, to ape. The size of the survey is small to the point of being completely meaningless and nowhere does it say whether the patients were also taking "conventional" medicines at the time, medicines which have been shown to control Crohn's in many cases. Again this is an attempt to garner some kind of scientific/medical legitimacy which, in the final analysis, is laughably inept. Neither chiropractic or homeopathy have managed in the course of the last century and more to provide any convincing proof that they work in the way claimed. They subsist on faith in the untestable and unprovable concepts handed down by their founders/prophets. If what they did only affected those believers then that is a matter purely for them - anyone may practise their religion so long as they cause no harm to others. This is not the case. Both therapies pursue, most of the time, when not crawling for scientific respectability, an anti-science agenda. Witness the attempts to peddle a homeopathic 'flu treatment (being pushed by a chiro no less!) or an antidote to anthrax. This is extremely dangerous in that people may forgo effective medical treatment for this quackery. Homeopathy treatments themselves may do no harm physically but belief in this twaddle could kill you by other means.

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Pain in the Neck - Chiropractic, on the other hand is definitely physically dangerous and propelled by a powerful commercial drive. Reports abound of the dangers of triggering a stroke by neck manipulation and some chiropractors even practise their bone-bending chicanery on infants, whose young bones are not up to this kind of treatment. Another alarming fact is that many chiros are in the vanguard of the anti-vaccination lobby. If they want to break their own necks well, good luck to them, but when they propagandize against proven techniques and increase the possibility of the return of epidemics the world thought well rid of they are not just ridiculous but also criminally irresponsible. A visit to many chiro websites shows more attention given to getting the marks/patients through the clinic door than actual treatment. Ideally these quacks would like everyone to visit with them on a regular basis in order to keep spine and joints "tuned" and their bank balances fat. (In California at least things may be about to change. The supposedly pro-chiro Governator of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has kicked them in the wallet with his restructuring of Medi-Cal, the state's free health-care program for the poor, elderly, blind and disabled. "The state wants to continue providing insurance for doctor visits, X-rays, ambulance service, prescription drugs and dental care, but exclude services such as chiropractic care and acupuncture, which are currently covered.")

Where to Find Out - For more information on both these religions do look at the National Council Against Health Fraud position papers on homeopathy and chiropractic. They make for some very interesting reading. For much more information on alternative, complementary and fraudulent medical practices see the Quackfiles, Quackwatch and the sites of the Anti-Quackery WebRing of which 80 is a member. Remember, if some cure-all sounds too good to be true then it very probably is.

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Christian Commerce 2 - an occasional collection pertaining to those folk who have kept the name Christian but have not decided to keep exactly to the letter - "...go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." Mark 10:21 This injunction of Jesus is prominently displayed where you may buy your Gospel Art Picture Kits. Believers with a sweet tooth could well find Testamints irresistible "Each piece is individually wrapped in one of over one hundred and seventy verses from the Old and New Testaments. The perfect way to pass the word during the holidays and special occasions." Now that is a new idea - chew your way into heaven. Lack of teeth could even be a sign of piety - just think of the gummy rapture..... If you enjoy going to the beach for a swim but worry about scanty attire arousing those around you, do buy some Wholesome Wear! Notice that these garments are only for those wicked temptresses known as women - although the Taliban may consider them a little too daring they will suit the guilt-ridden latterday Puritans among us. You have heard of the Care Bears. Well those nauseatingly saccharine little ursiforms can't hold a candle to the Prayer Bears (although 80 recommends a lighted match). "This bear is put together much like us. We are pieced together stitch by stitch with God's loving touch. These bears are shaped with prayers and love just like God shapes us." Speak for yourselves, and as for "This bear comes to you with its arms outreached showing the love of God." this sounds positively creepy. Hooray! there is no need to fasten your seatbelt, no need for an airbag - just fit an Angel auto visor clip! They "are cast in genuine pewter and made with pride in the U.S.A. Every vehicle should be protected by an Angel auto visor clip." They even have "cute" mottos on them like "Never Drive Faster than your Guardian Angel can Fly" It's a pretty crumby angel that can't keep up with one of Detroit's products. (80 has a horrible vision of a driver explaining after an auto accident, "But officer, I didn't see the old lady crossing the road. The weight of my pewter Guardian Angel flipped the visor down in front of my eyes. It was a miracle I survived! Praise be! Uh, I guess she didn't have one......) Finally, get that indoctrination in early, buy your kid a Biblical Action Figure! See their little eyes light up - with disgust - as they had asked for a Playstation...........

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Weird Queries - The home page of this website has a visitor counter from Web-Stat which also supplies a few other statistics - but absolutely nothing personally identifiable. One interesting feature, however, is a list of the most popular phrases entered in search engines that lead the inquirer to 80's outpourings. Reading some of these phrases it seems highly likely that The View from Number 80 was the last thing the searcher expected to find. Here are just a few to give you an idea, with original spelling and grammar intact. "Large Breasted Women", "number of cows in UK", "triple breasted" images", "huge indian milking breast". (Something of a lactation theme is evident.) How about these? "occult webcam women", "email address of fish owners in usa", "missing people caused by legends", "circumcision pictures", "amazing hair raising monsters cards" and "biblical wing having a whale of a time". How or why these queries led to this website is just one of life's spooky mysteries......

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Quotes

" Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln

"Eighty to 90 percent of these studies don't have to be done. They are investments in absurd propositions and methods already disproved." Wallace I Sampson commenting on National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

"False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for everyone takes a salutory pleasure in proving their falseness."  Charles Darwin

"The great tragedy of Science -- the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact." Thomas Henry Huxley

"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority." Thomas Henry Huxley

"The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land."  Thomas Henry Huxley

"It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."  Will Rogers

"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." H.G. Wells