The 2012 Excellent Demise of UK Naturopathy, and My Ten Year US Anniversary

here, I cite from reports of the annihilation of public funding for UK naturopathy pseudoscience education [see 001., below]; and then, I recount my personal US naturopathy experience here in Connecticut, a land of licensed falsehood [see 002., below]:

001. UK funding for 'science degrees in the naturopathic' has ended, as reported:

001.a. by Lars Bevanger at Deutsche Welle in "UK Universities Drop Alternative Medicine Degree Programs" [vsc 2012-01-19](2012-01-18) which states:

"as of just a few years ago, there were 45 different degree possibilities across UK universities in what nearly all mainstream scientists would call pseudoscience like homeopathy, naturopathy and reflexology [...] starting this year, it will no longer be possible to receive a degree from a publicly-funded British university in areas of 'alternative medicine,' including homeopathy, naturopathy, and reflexology [...] until last year, students at Salford University in Manchester could take a bachelor of science degree in homeopathy, Chinese medicine or acupuncture - all disciplines regarded as non-scientific in the wider science community [...and as] 'quackery' [...] last year, both the British and German governments called for a halt to public funding of homeopathy [...] nearly all scientists dismiss this and other alternative medicines like acupuncture and chiropractic as unscientific [...] 'they're dishonest, they teach things that aren't true, and things that are dangerous to patients in some cases,' said David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London, who has led the charge to shut down these programs [...] 'there'd be nothing wrong with teaching about acupuncture or chiropractic or homeopathy as quaint things that people used to believe before we knew better,' he said. 'But these are being taught to kids so that they can go out and treat patients as though if it was all true. And this is a terrible situation for a university to be in' [TRULY!...] five years ago, he started campaigning to close what he calls university courses in 'quackery.' Since then, 21 out of a total of 45 courses across six UK universities have been shut down [...] the overwhelming majority of such treatments have not shown that they actually work' [...] said Edzard Ernst, a [former] professor of complimentary medicine at the University of Exeter [...] 'homeopathy has to be taught in such a way that nobody would ever dream of practicing homeopathy because it is not supported by clinical evidence - and therefore academically speaking you cannot support it'."

Note: excellent.  Meanwhile, in the Dodge City / Wild West region known as North America, the naturopathy apparatus -- engaging in what I call licensed falsehood, unfair trade, and mindfucking -- quite blatantly uses labels such as 'homeopathy is a clinical science that is powerful' and 'naturopathy is science based' and 'reflexology is a science'.

002.b. by David Colquhoun actual, in "The Demise of Quackademia: Progress in the Last 5 Years Leaves Michael Driscoll and Geoffrey Petts Isolated" (2012-01-01) which states:

"if you try to put science into homeopathy or naturopathy, the whole subject vanishes in a puff of smoke [agreed!!!...] since writing about [such] anti-scientific degrees in Nature (March 2007), much has been revealed about the nonsense that is taught on these degrees [...] degrees in homeopathy, naturopathy and 'nutritional therapy', reflexology and aromatherapy have vanished altogether from UCAS [...] for many years, Westminster was the biggest supplier of BSc degrees in quackery. [E.g.] at the beginning of 2007 they offered 14 different BSc degrees in homeopathy, naturopathy, nutritional therapy, 'complementary therapies', (western) herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine with acupuncture."

Note: again, excellent.

002. well, an anniversary of sorts:

002.a. a recounting, from Rob Cullen actual:

in the mid 1990s, I'd read the literature of the naturopathy colleges here in the US and began working on prerequisites to attend [sent by USPS, by the way]. They used and still use such labels upon naturopathy as "science-based" and 'same scientific foundation' and 'not a belief system'.  I began attending the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1998 -- which they MARKET as within a "science" division -- and stayed in that program until 2002.  Along the way, I got to know the 'essentially naturopathic' and found it ethically heinous.  Particularly, naturopathy requires homeopathy to graduate and for its licensure exam and QUITE FALSELY labels homeopathy "science".  So, I stopped the program and I can honestly say this: what a pile of bullshit.  I never took the naturopathy oath, I never gained my ND, and never sat for that so false piece of crap called the NPLEX.  Derailed, I decided to publicise what I knew about naturopathy and this continues to this day.  I'm sad that the UK has such higher science standards than the US.  I'm also sad that student rights do not exist in the US.  I've watched the North American naturopathy racket grow, instead, and victimize people more and more with its academic and clinical false commerce.  I see I was right, back in 2002, with 10 years of distance and these great developments from the UK.  Of course, what I'm recounting in this blog isn't merely my opinion: it is directly stated most often in the words of the naturopathillogicalists [trademark Rob Cullen], and top-tier scientists.  Where is the legislation to protect the public from such sectarian predation?  And to compensate the harmed who are victimized financially and whatnot by crap-that-pretends-not-to-be-crap?  My whistle-blowing will continue.