Homeopathy and the Art of Rhetoric

This blog post was inspired by a Twitter conversation between @Blue_Wode and @mattlodder. You can follow me on Twitter here. I’m really very funny.

 Yesterday evening, I was sent a link to another London 10:23 video. I promise I will post it here as soon as possible, as it was absolutely hilarious. It jogged my memory of a few reasons we chose the particular prominent skeptics to kick off the “overdose” – Simon Singh, Evan Harris, and Dave Gorman – all three are great at rhetoric. Lucky for me, I’m related to my dad, so I’m pretty good at rhetoric too. My dad isn’t a particularly famous person (unless you have a keen interest in British field hockey) but he’s bloody good at arguing. He’s so good at arguing, that sometimes he’ll forget which side of the argument he was on the first time he had a particular discussion. He’s a genuine devil’s advocate.

 It would be pertinent of me to clarify that I don’t ever really start arguments with people, not because I know I’ll win (often I don’t know), but because arguing about something isn’t always the best way to solve a problem. Like many things in life, it’s usually a bit more complicated. When it comes to a subject like alternative medicine, it’s really handy to remember that whichever side of the argument you’re on, the other person cares about public health too.

 Recently, at a dinner party, the hostess was congratulating me on getting my picture in the Sunday Torygraph. A friend of hers (who I’ve blogged about before) approached me to try and convince me yet again that homeopathy works, with the phrase:

 “But it worked for me…”

 If someone’s going to use an anecdote as their main argument, the easiest rebuttal is a bigger anecdote like:

 “Yeah you said that last time, but it still didn’t work for me, or my brother, or my aunt who had breast cancer, or my mates cat who was, like, 16 years old.”

 It’s childish, but it seemed to get the point across succinctly and without my mum having to raise her eyes up to heaven at her brilliant but arrogant daughter irking up her sensitive friends. Just try explaining the value of double/triple blind randomised placebo controlled trials to someone who has no interest in science. I’ve been there. It’s not pretty. It comes across as obnoxious, smug, and really bloody patronising. When discussing a subject as sensitive as this with people who have a vested interest in homeopathy (whether they earn a living out of it, or use it a lot), it does little good to call them charlatans and quacks etc – they care about public health too.

 The 10:23 campaign was really successful I think because there was none of that patronising tone. We simply asked “what’s in it?” The website is beautiful because it has a few handy quips from both sides in the Twitter stream on the left, as well as a further delve into the science behind it if people want to read it. I was thrilled when I read the comments section on the Daily Mail article – look allopaths, normal people can be smart too!! Omglmao.

 I’ve attended debates on alternative medicine with prominent speakers on both sides, and it’s pretty clear that science alone doesn’t win debates, rhetoric does. This is why people like Simon Singh, Evan Harris, and Dave Gorman are so useful to us lay skeptics. Science is on our side, if we want to win the argument then perhaps we should learn a bit of rhetoric? Yes, it’s a bit, you know, “evil”, but it’s exactly what’s working for those who don’t have science on their side.

Martin Robbins and I will be giving a talk on the 10:23 campaign on Monday 15th at the Penderel’s Oak. You can register your place here. All are welcome, it’s £2 to cover their overheads, and they serve food, and drinks, and you’ll get to see my fancy new haircut

10:23 – Was it good for you too?

Photo courtesy of Kelly Haddow, photographer and mamajama extraordinaire.

 

A few months ago, I almost blew the entire covert operation we call 10:23. I wrote a blog post (now deleted, although I may re-post it for sentimental reasons) called “SUICIDE!” in which I called to arms my fellow skeptics to join me in a crusade against the often ridiculous claims of homeopathy. It got retweeted, people talked about it, prominent skeptics approached me in the pub to get involved. Little did I know that a group of bold, brave, and allegedly beautiful people had already been planning exactly the same thing for weeks – and I was on the verge of killing it completely!

Before I had the chance to destroy everything, their chief, Andy, got in touch with me to find out if I wanted to help with theirs. At first, I had no idea what skills I could offer. I’m just a normal person who occasionally tours the periphery of geekdom. My talents are audio-typing (70+ WPM I’ll have you know!), quoting Star Wars on Twitter and offending women with children (perhaps monitor your child’s online activities, rather than seeking to censor my free speech?) – I was stumped. Initially, they needed someone for London Skeptics in the Pub, and someone to help get in touch with all the Skeptic in the Pub groups in the UK. Easy. Most of them were on my Twitter feed, I just had to Google the rest and raise some hell. As it became clear that I had the ability, time, and passion to do more, my role became more involved.

Maybe, around this point, it would be good to make a couple of things clear:

1. I am not, nor have I ever have been employed by any pharmaceutical or science based company. My CV consists of mainly office PA/secretarial work for law firms and more recently, a fine arts company; and voluntary events work (for London-based raves if you must know, I like to party). I once applied for a job at the Science Museum gift shop but I didn’t get it, probably because it was the summer and a lot of people wanted to work there. I’m a relatively normal person, ok? Really, I am.
2. Nobody got paid any money at all for 10:23. The t-shirts were sold to cover our expenses, which included breakfast for my voluntary helpers (in the form of delicious cake and fruit!) and a round of drinks in the pub after the Trick or Treatment conference we attended. Every single person participating purchased their own bottle of pills, including Simon Singh, Evan Harris and Dave Gorman. If we were doing this for a profit, my helpers would have got lunch as well.
3. The reason I did this out of love and not money was because I care about public health. I see no reason for a sane person to argue against evidence based healthcare. It has been posited that the 10:23 campaign is “attacking homeopathy”, to that I say why not? If it’s strong enough to withstand scrutiny as so many supporters of homeopathy claim, what’s your beef? The #ten23 column in my Tweetdeck contains a few studies showing homeopathy to be effective (mainly by @DrNancyMalik), and yet it only takes a very brief understanding of scientific papers (or a mate who knows how to read them) to see that every single one of these studies has either shown to have the slightest possible benefit, or none at all. If conventional medicine showed these same results, there would be hardly any conventional medicine.

Friday night, I couldn’t sleep. During the day, we were told (incorrectly) that we were not allowed to film in Conway Hall. My laptop decided to use the precise moment at which I sent a message to all 120 of my Swallowers and Followers to fail and I was on the verge of tears. My lovely housemate took me out to get a fry up (the vegetarianism is going well by the way, four months in and just three slip ups, all drunken) before I trekked up to North London to see my esteemed associate Tessa. We needed to send notification out to everyone, and I needed to choose an outfit. In retrospect, Tessa was right, the shorts were a bad idea.

Every so often, the 10:23 HQ would send some of their hate mail to us in case we wanted to respond. I’ve received a distinct lack of hate mail so it’s always nice when someone gets angry enough to get involved. At about 11pm on Friday night, I received one such message. I got a surprisingly polite reply back and we had a conversation til about 1am. It turns out that although Anna and I might not be singing from the same hymn sheet, we are at least in the same key. She, like most people, cares just as much about public health as I do, and I can honestly say it was refreshing to converse with someone who, despite not agreeing with most of the time, came across as an intelligent and articulate person. After our first ranty response (mine was just as bad as hers!) we had a rather civil discussion. I recommended a couple of books, and invited her to come to Skeptics in the Pub sometime. To any homeopathy supporters reading this, please do come to Skeptics in the Pub. There have been some really snotty messages on Twitter about the sorts of people who attend. At least give us the benefit of face to face conversations before you make public your assumptions about us. We’re a lovely bunch really!

After about four hours sleep, I managed to somehow wake up before the first of three alarms (!), made a cup of tea, got dressed, ticked off everything in my to-do list (which I’d already done before bed), put some make up on, checked my emails and Twitter feed, and left my house. My bedroom looks onto a small park and a block of flats opposite, I generally don’t open my curtains, so I was FLABBERGASTED when I opened my front door to find out it was SNOWING. To say I was unimpressed would be a gross understatement. I was livid. Jamie, one of my lovely volunteers met me at the station and took the brunt of my foul morning temper. He deserved cake slightly more than most!

We eventually got to Red Lion Square in Holborn to find Martin (the editor of http://www.layscience.net and Science PR legend) there with a TV crew, looking all cold. Skeptic friends Alan, Maria, Sarah, Mark, Francis, Snowy (haha) and Simon were there to distribute t-shirts, sign people in, mingle around looking fabulous in their 10:23 t-shirts. Paolo was on hand to provide crowd control in the form of his big booming voice, and I pretty much hugged everyone I could for missioning it into London in the freezing cold!

At time of writing, no one has experienced any side effects from their overdose. I had a brief scare when someone on Twitter had a cold, but she said it was unrelated. I’ve been a bit tired since Saturday morning, but I think that has more to do with a lack of sleep due to the incredible emails I’ve been receiving at all times of the day, rather than downing a bottle of Belladonna 30C. Pretty much everyones videos and photos had been uploaded by Sunday evening when I eventually sat down with my laptop (now working), and I got really emotional. Everyone who took part was smiling and laughing, it just made all that hard work better than worthwhile.

I am so proud of everyone in the world who took part and showed their support, and I am genuinely honoured to be associated with all of you. In particular, I’d like to thank Tessa, Martin, Simon, David, Imran, Andy W, Marsh, and a mate who provided the money for extra t-shirts at the last minute, as well as Evan Harris MP, Dave Gorman, Chris French, Andy Lewis, and my excellent 10:23 London Team – Simon, Alan, Maria, Jamie, Francis, Sarah, Sandra and Paolo as well as Michael Willoughby and James O’Malley for their excellent films, and the stunning Kelly Haddow for her expert photography skills.

Can’t wait to do another one!

10:23 – Why I Care

A few months ago, I was chatting to a friend of mine in a pub about a horrific story in the papers at the time about a very young girl who died of septicaemia from untreated eczema. I say “untreated”… her father was a homeopath.

It was around the same time we in the UK were hearing more horror stories, like “Baby P” and Madeleine McCann, so it tied in with a general child abuse theme that seemed to keep cropping up.

My friend and I were talking about how something needed to be done. Something that would get public attention, so that people would be given a balanced view of certain types of healthcare. After all, Simon and I knew that homeopathy doesn’t work beyond the placebo effect, everyone else should have the right to know too. Once the public are aware of different sides of the argument, it would enable them to choose whether they wanted magic water or a medicine that has been scientifically proven to work. In Gloria’s case, a bit of E45 or possibly hydrocortisone would have done the trick – I should know, I get eczema too.

A few weeks later, I was contacted by a lovely bloke called Andy, Simon had passed my details on to him. Andy oop North needed a Londoner to help out with organising a nationwide event to make the public aware of the quack that we call “homeopathy”. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. This is exactly what I had in mind.

Then in December, a major spokesperson for Boots (one of the leading pharmacists in the UK, a bit of an institution really!) announced that it didn’t matter to Boots that they know homeopathy doesn’t work, they were going to keep peddling it anyway! Hang on, yes, that’s right: homeopathic pills turn over a profit, therefore they’re going to keep selling it. And homeopaths accuse *me* of being big pharma shill!

The 10:23 campaign means such a lot to me, not because I’m big pharma (I’m not, incidentally. I’m an admin clerk for a fine arts company!) but because it’s something we should all care about.

Admittedly, I’ve taken Bach’s Remedy and Relief for exam stress and it worked. It worked even better if I took double the recommended dose. But as soon as I googled the ingredients and discovered it was all in my mind (and I’d failed one of my A-Levels) its effect completely stopped. Perhaps by taking away the belief in a dummy-medicine (placebo) I’m doing the world a disservice. Or perhaps you, me, Gloria, and the millions of HIV positive and AIDs sufferers in Africa deserve the right to an informed, evidence based decision about what goes into our bodies.

For more information about 10:23, and to take part, please visit our website.

What Women Want: The Pill

Tired of trying to figure out what women want? Fear no more for I’ve invented a pill. Here’s how I did it…

First, I took the essence of a natural selection of things women hate (P):
Skid marks
Football-related depression
Overuse of the word “cunt”
A lack of shoes in the correct size
Skinny 19 year old goth girls
Petrol-station flowers
Light rain

Next I purchased enough natural Volvic mineral water (M) to fill my local swimming pool thirty times. I chose Purley Swimming Pool and Recreation Centre, because children piss in it, and women hate that too. Then I filled the swimming pool up with one part P to 99 parts M. Then I continued to dilute this formula until I ended up with literally none of P left in the solution (PMS). Now, logic-deniers among you might think that because PMS contains none of the original ingredients, it would be ineffective. But you would be WRONG because I remember doing it, and water has a memory. It’s literally like quantum physics, only without all that unnecessary bumf. Like quantum theory. And physics.

Finally, using an eco-friendly, naturally quantifiable pipette, I put a drop of PMS onto some Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (Tutti Frutti) and voila!

Each bag of 100 PMS pills will set you back £299.99 plus VAT (get in there before Jan 1st to take advantage of UK current VAT rate of just 15%!)

The pills can be taken orally, but for maximum effect, just stare at them, and you will naturally absorb this potent synthesised PMS, naturally.

*In case of overdose, please consult your doctor. Not suitable for diabetics. Always read the label. But you should be fine because it’s a natural remedy.

10:23

Homeopathy WTF

Hello again! My life has apparently given me the breathing space to knock this quick blog post together to satisfy you, my clever skeptical inordinately attractive and wonderful readers

Homeopathy wtf, right? What is it? Why do people care about it? Why does it work? (Oi! No laughing at the back, a lot of people reckon it works, even though there’s no actual evidence to demonstrate that it works, but it works ok? Even though… there’s no…. does it even work?)

So first: What is it? Wikipedia, that bastion of eternal knowledge, says:

“Dilution often continues until none of the original substance remains.”

Oh.

Wolf-like in appearance and temerity (but with far superior table manners), Crispian demonstrated this using that oh-so-modern media: video. Do check it out, it’s marvellous. Even I was cringing at the end.

Hold on then, have I got this right? You take a drop of something that causes an affliction (so, lets say coffee causes you to stay awake, therefore if you wanted to go to sleep it’d be great as a cure for… what?)… then you dilute that in 100 drops of water. Then you do that again and again and again… until you’ve got to thirty. Wouldn’t there be none of the original substance left? Is it kind of like the science of the bible, where we can’t judge it by modern “enlightened” standards like reason and scientific method because people might get upset?

Now, I’m no physicist, but I am a lover of Ribena. Cold Ribena should be diluted one parts yummy sugary goodness to five parts water. Hot Ribena must be diluted one parts prrrrr to four parts water, because scientifically, when you’re feeling down, you need more Ribena in your water.

If someone was to tell me that I could only have one drop of Ribena in a pint glass, I’d be very upset. I might hit them. Who are they to dictate how much Ribena I’m allowed? Is that the point? The less Ribena involved, the more miserable you get? If it was reduced to one molecule of Ribena in a pool of pure water the size of the Pacific Ocean and I had to drink a glass of it, I’d be pretty pissed off. Hmmm… ask a homeopath. Is 30C Ribena a cure for happiness?

Why do people care about it and why does it work?According to some guy called Kent Wood, who has no decent google links to anything useful, other than the delectable Martin Robbins’ website, 10% of the UK population has sought homeopathic remedies, therefore they should be taken seriously. Erm… anyone else spot a problem here? Approximately 12% of the UK population (under 9′s) believe in Santa… that doesn’t mean he should be taken seriously. All “ho ho ho” and shit. That’s not even a proper phrase unless you’re in Tiger Tiger on a Friday night. Plus, I’m still waiting for my pony. The bastard.

In one of my earliest posts back when I was a mere enthusiastic whippersnapper (in May of this year) I looked at a couple of studies examining reasons for people to take up alternative medicine. Specifically, I was interested in women, as I was slightly taken aback by a comment that Edzard Ernst had made about “Four F’s” but the reasons seem pretty straightforward. People either use alternative medicines in addition to actual medicine, or they use it as a last resort.

Recently, at a dinner party, I got into a discussion with a woman for whom homeopathy works. She gets eczema and uses a homeopathic remedy (I forget which one) and her eczema is fine. I asked her if she used any specific moisturisers and she said “Oh yes, of course. I use E45“. Face, meet palm.

So basically, essentially, what this all waters down to is that homeopathy only works when it is used in conjuction with something that has been scientifically proven to work. But doesn’t work on its own, because there’s literally nothing in it.

Is it ethical for Boots to be selling medicines that don’t work to people who are ill?

Edit: Remember this?

10:23