Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Naturopathy as Quackademics: Caulfield at the globeandmail.com

here, some criticism of naturopathy:

001. @theglobeandmail.com, Bill Graveland reports in "‘Like a Religion’: Experts Discuss Naturopath ‘Quackademics’" (2016-04-26):

"David and Collet Stephan are charged with failing to provide the necessities of life after treating their 19-month-old sick son, Ezekiel, with smoothies containing hot peppers, onions and horseradish [...] experts say it’s faith in all things natural combined with a distrust of science and possibly authority that leads some to bypass the medical system even to the point where they put themselves or their children at risk [...] a trial in Lethbridge, Alta., has shone a light upon the reliance on natural medicine and the question of when medical attention should be sought for a sick child [...] 'it’s like a religion to them [...] studies have shown that some people are more likely to believe these kinds of things. They’re more likely to believe in the supernatural. They’re more likely to be religious and they’re more likely to buy the entire package of complementary and alternative practices' [...] says Tim Caulfield, research director of the University of Alberta’s Health Law and Science Policy Group [...]"; 

so, what always fascinates me is the "natural" that contains the "supernatural".  It, for me, DEFIES logic. But, Bastyr University states: "the natural health sciences with an emphasis on integrating body, mind, spirit and nature [...aka] science-based natural medicine".  Science subset supernaturalism.  What is the consumer to do?  Why would a university be espousing NONSENSE?  One mass crowd delusion...

"Caulfield is concerned a growing portion of the public is embracing pseudo-science or what he calls 'quackademics' [...] Caulfield wants a national dialogue about what he calls pseudo-science [...] 'it’s almost like there’s this strange, pseudo-science correctiveness that stops us from talking honestly about what these guys provide' [...]"; 

hear, hear.

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