ND Parker's NAET, Homeopathy, CST and Naturopathy: Falsely Labeled Science-Ejected Nonsense

here, I cite from the web pages of an ND who uses NAET, homeopathy, and CST [see 001.a., below]; and claims naturopathy is science, while based upon the supernatural and vitalistic science-exterior [see 001.b, below]; claims homeopathy is a science [see 001.c. and d., below]; and details NAET [see 001.e., below]; then, I provide an ACTUAL scientific context for these quite false science claims upon nonscience and quite weird therapeutic and diagnostic activities that have neither efficacy nor plausible rationale [see 002., below]; then I muse [see 003., below]:

001. Parker, R.M. (ND Bastyr 2007) states [all vsc 2011-02-05]:

001.a. in "Rebecca Maya Parker, ND":

"Rebecca Maya Parker, ND is a board-certified naturopathic doctor [...] a graduate of Bastyr University and the New England School of Homeopathy [...] who specializes in classical homeopathy and NAET allergy elimination [...] in addition to homeopathy, Dr. Parker uses NAET allergy elimination [and] craniosacral therapy [CST]."

Note: so, she is of Bastyr, into homeopathy, NAET, and CST.  Bastyr's clinical arm is into homeopathy and CST, and I'm wondering how much, if any, NAET.

001.b. in "Naturopathic Medicine":

"naturopathic medical schools include extensive training in medical science and diagnosis [...] Bastyr University [her alma mater...] is one of the world's leading academic centers for advancing knowledge in the natural health sciences."

Note: so, there's the blanket "science" claim over naturopathy.  And the claim of "natural". So, you'd think that if it's all science, and if the education was so "leading" and "extensive", that the actual naturopathy-stuff would be able to survive scientific scrutiny.

Furthermore, on the same page, ND Parker explains the bases of naturopathy:

"naturopathic doctors follow these principles: [#1] nature has a tendency toward health and healing [NHTTHH]. Naturopathic doctors support this tendency in their patients [coded vitalism]. Naturopathic doctors treat their patients as whole people. The body, mind, and spirit are not separate from each other [some kind of sectarian supernaturalism]."

Note: there is no vital force, live force, vitalism, vitalistic, or medicatrix mentioned on ANY web page of this practice, that I've found.  So much for informed consent. But do not fear, that is what NHTTHH means, preponderantly. So, claimed within science is the nonscientific / science-exterior / science-ejected vitalistic and supernatural.  I'm not sure what it means to not be able to separate a body from a mind from a spirit.  It's a belief of some kind.  Of course, bodies and minds have their own sciences to study them, and the spirit stuff is religiosity of a kind.

001.c. in "Homeopathy":

"homeopathy is a scientific method of triggering your body’s self-healing potential [YBSHP, coded vitalism]."

Note: the vitalistic is again coded. Being a classical homeopath, ND Parker is being quite opaque here since they are sooooo Hahnemann-literal in classical homeopathy.

001.d. in "Dear New Patient":

"homeopathy is a scientific method of triggering your body’s self-healing potential."

Note: that science label again upon homeopathy.  That coded vitalism again.  Yes, that's a pediatric intake form explaining homeopathy and NAET.

001.e. in "NAET":

"NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique) is a systematic way of training the body to recognize which substances are not toxic [...] NAET is a safe, natural, and remarkably effective method of removing allergies and other reactions against healthy substances [...] NAET allergy elimination is an effective treatment for conditions such as: asthma, migraines, chronic sinusitis, chronic ear infections, ADD, ADHD, autism, fibromyalgia, and much more. Dr. Parker has been trained in the practice of NAET by Dr. Devi Nambudripad, MD, DC, LAc, PhD—who developed NAET by combining techniques from her expertise as a medical doctor, a chiropractor, and an acupuncturist."

Note: NAET galore, with lots of promise of efficacy for many quite serious diseases.

002. what ACTUAL science says [not that 'naturopathic science laxity'] about NAET, homeopathy, CST:

002.a. the [pedestrian!] Wikipedia has, as its entry for "NAET" [saved 2011-02-05], this to say [and, by the way, I've never been a contributor to Wikipedia]:

"Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) is an alternative medicine technique intended as a treatment for allergies and chemical sensitivities. Founded in 1983 by Devi Nambudripad [...] NAET draws on ideas from acupuncture, applied kinesiology, and allergy medicine. NAET attracts controversy due to the lack of scientific justification of the therapeutic approach, and absence of supporting scientific evidence of its clinical effectiveness."

Note: ouch, the reality STINGS US PRECIOUS.  NAET is a bogus clinical parlor trick.

002.b. the 2009 evidence check on homeopathy by the UK government:

states that homeopathy is actually so implausible and so without efficacy that no further study is needed to whole-heartedly dismiss it on scientific and ethical grounds.

002.c. and regarding craniosacral therapy, MD Barrett states at Quackwatch in "Why Craniosacral Therapy Is Silly":

"the scientific viewpoint: I do not believe that craniosacral therapy has any therapeutic value. Its underlying theory is false because the bones of the skull fuse by the end of adolescence and no research has ever demonstrated that manual manipulation can move the individual cranial bones [...] in 2002, two basic science professors at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine concluded: 'our own and previously published findings suggest that the proposed mechanism for cranial osteopathy is invalid and that interexaminer (and, therefore, diagnostic) reliability is approximately zero. Since no properly randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled outcome studies have been published, we conclude that cranial osteopathy should be removed from curricula of colleges of osteopathic medicine and from osteopathic licensing examinations.' I certainly agree! In fact, I believe that most practitioners of craniosacral therapy have such poor judgment that they should be delicensed."

Note: ouch, again precious.

003. the knowledge-type disease of naturopathy [perhaps why all this happens in the first place -- the root cause]:

Bastyr, the alma mater of ND Parker, has a marketing slogan for naturopathy that states "Bastyr At a Glance" [vsc 2011-02-05]:

"Bastyr University  [...has] a multidisciplinary curriculum in science-based natural medicine [...] Bastyr's international faculty teaches the natural health sciences with an emphasis on integrating mind, body, spirit and nature [coded vitalism]. A pioneer in natural [coded supernaturalism] medicine since its inception, Bastyr continues to be in the forefront of developing the model for 21st-century medicine [as if the past is now future]."

What's happened in that 'knowledge model' is that science has been redefined -- without explicitly stating so --  to include what science can't include.  I've labeled this phenomenon 'epistemic conflation', the blending of knowledge types.  So, by way of Bastyr's language and my knowledge of the contents of the naturopathic belief system, Bastyr decrees that science contains the science-ejected supernatural and vitalistic.

With science no longer requiring evidence of a rigorous scientific nature [not to pun], it is no wonder that NDs do crap stuff and claim it is science.  And I'll make an emphasis here that the practitioner's experience and the patient's feedback do not constitute scientific evidence.  Such is anecdote, the weakest quality / kind of evidence / knowledge.

Knowing how meaningless the term science is, in reality, as regards 'the naturopathic', it is no wonder that NAET, CST, homeopathy and the vitalistic-spiritistic are falsely claimed as science by naturopathyland.

WTNH's Reiki Advertisement - Magical Beliefs Strangely Categorized as Health and Fitness, and Natural

here, is an example of a magical belief masquerading as a plain Jane health and fitness article [see 001., below]; then, I cite from a recent Skeptic North article on magical beliefs [see 002., below]; then, from my own compilation covering how 'vitalism is science ejected' [see 003., below]; and finally, from the Quackwatch article on reiki [see 004., below]: 

001. Connecticut's WTNH states in "Relax with Reiki" (2010-10-25)[vsc 2010-10-26]:

"reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing that treats the whole person [...a] Japanese term [...] 'rei' means universal and 'ki' means 'life force energy' [LFE...it is] the energy found within all living things [...and is] passed from the practitioner to the recipient through the practitioner’s hands [...and] brings balance and maintains health and well-being [...this is] a natural way to heal the body [...] it encourages the body’s healing response [...] reiki can help with a variety of emotional and physical ailments from anxiety and stress to injury, and cancer."

Note: so, by use of hands, we're naturally healed by LFE.  I argue that reiki is an engagement with the supernatural, and that LFE is imaginary.  There is a six minute video segment on the WTNH page, where we're told it has "amazing benefits."  And, of course, the terms "chakra" and "meridians" come up.  I call this an advertisement because it is completely credulous and offers no other opinion besides overwhelming support.  Even the so often fair-balanced distortion at least would be bad journalism.  This isn't journalism.

002. Skeptic North's recent post "A Skeptic’s Guide to Magical Thinking – Part 1" (2010-10-25) states:

"by tying it to the scientific method, we admit that there are three possible values for a magical belief: the belief has not been tested, the belief is un-testable by scientific means, the belief has been tested and is false [...] vitalism – the belief that living things posses an animating energy or life force [...] I['ve] lumped everything that had to do with a life force or vital essence [...including] reiki [...such] animism is generally considered alongside theism as a religious belief, yet its spirits typically profess no intelligence, making them more akin to a vital energy than a god."

Note:  so, reiki categorically is in the magical, animistic, vitalistic woo area.

003. LFE is science ejected.

004. Reiki's cousin, therapeutic touch, specifically, was scientifically dismantled by an 10 year old girl.  See "Reiki is Nonsense" at Quackwatch where we're reminded:

"reiki has no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale. Science-based healthcare settings should not tolerate its use, and scarce government research dollars should not be used to study it further."

Note: hoo-ya.

N.D. Hulda Clark Has Died - Hey, Nobody Really Noticed [Or Cared That Much, Which is Good]:

here, I cite recent postings by Orac and Dr. Barrett mentioning the death of naturopath Hulda Clark [see 001., below]; and I do a Google search per "Hulda Clark Dies" for a sense of her significance [see 002., below];

001.a. at Respectful Insolence, Orac writes in "Requiem For A Quack":

"what can one say about 'Dr.' Hulda Regehr Clark? I call her a quack, because that's what she was [...] this is a woman who for over two decades has [...] preyed upon the fears and scientific ignorance of average cancer patients in order to sell them useless 'cures' [...] far be it for me to be hypocritical and feign much in the way of sorrow when a woman who has done so much harm to so many patients for so many years is finally [...] rendered unable to do any further harm [...] she could rightly be called the Dark Lord of Quackery."

001.b. Dr. Barrett states in "Consumer Health Digest 09-37":

"Hulda Regehr Clark, author of The Cure for All Cancers, The Cure for All Diseases, and a few similar books, died on September 3, 2009 at the age of 80 [...] Clark wrote that all cancers and many other diseases are caused by 'parasites, toxins, and pollutants' and can be cured by killing the parasites and ridding the body of environmental chemicals [...] admirers portray her as a great 'research scientist' even though she published no scientific reports. Critics regard Clark as a quack and charge that she exploited desperate patients [and Quackwatch has the article The Bizarre Claims of Hulda Clark which states 'Clark also listed a naturopathic (N.D.) degree from the Clayton College of Natural Health' and mentions that infamous-to-me N.D. Pizzorno testified AGAINST her in terms of her zapper contraption]."

002. searching Google, per "Hulda Clark Dies" reveals some interestingly trivial rankings [these are the top three as of 2009-09-12]:

002.a. a memorial page for Dr. Clark, "to honor the legacy of healing Hulda Clark left us with";

002.b. a link to Respectful Insolence [not to say this blog is insignificant];

002.c. a link to the Cancer Treatment Watch article "How Hulda Clark Victimized My Parents" by Patricia Chavez;

Note: on the bright side, these are not major media outlets in the sense of television or cable, or large newspapers communicating a 'significant cultural loss'. And in that sense, Clark's passing has not been noticed. Wikipedia, by the way, has an entry for her that seems very N.D. sympathetic, whereby again Pizzorno is cited for his expert opinion regarding physiology [ha!] and the article states Clark "held a naturopathy degree from the Clayton College of Natural Health, a school that lacks accreditation from any accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education."

Danger! The USDE, whom I've written to many times, has done nothing about the 'naturopathy education racket': as I have often written, there are MANY fully-accredited naturopathy schools that are completely bogus in their claims of what actually is scientific and science-based [Pizzorno's Bastyr, my alma mater U.B. -- for starters, check out 'The Education Robbers'].

003. I should also mention that today's North East Conference on Science and Skepticism had a small mention of Clark's harmfulness and passing during the live Skeptics' Guide to the Universe taping. My impression was that the audience was aghast at her activities and that her activities had gone on for so long in supposedly civilized and lawful North America.