Another letter

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Michael

The Kennebec Journal (KJ) has done what has become rare and published something which is full of sense and science: a letter by me.

Naturopathic medicine is pure bull.

Let’s not beat around the bush on this one. Those who practice naturopathy are quacks. They may be sincere quacks, but sincerity does not translate to evidence — or your health.

The Ontario legislature is considering giving naturopathic “doctors” prescription rights. This presents a serious danger to the health of any Canadian ignorant enough to be duped into the “care” of these charlatans.

But it hits closer to home than that. Maine is just one of several states that give these vastly underqualified “doctors” such rights. This presents a serious risk. They have no relevant medical training for offering prescriptions; this makes them highly susceptible to blindly doling out contra-indicated drugs, among other dangerous possibilities.

I cannot overstate this fact: Naturopaths are not doctors and they are not qualified.

They cherry-pick evidence, often lie and misrepresent facts.

Recently, a local naturopathic “doctor,” Christopher Maloney, wrote a letter in which he committed himself to that third possibility. He implied H1N1 vaccination properties for black elderberry. The only relevant studies on black elderberry are for the regular flu, do not show vaccination properties, and far larger studies are needed (as noted by the original researchers).

I implore anyone considering naturopathic “medicine” to not do it and/or cross-check Maloney’s “facts.” Naturopathy is not a science in any sense of the word; it is not to be trusted.

A long laundry list countering false naturopathic claims can be found at the qualified page Terra Sig on http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2009/11/more_naturopathic_nonsense_in.php

If everyone began to demand evidence, we could do away with this naturopathic “medicine” malarkey. We’d be all the safer for it.

Michael Hawkins

Augusta

withoutapologyinmaine@gmail.com

I’m glad I was able to sneak that email address in there. Without Apology is my publication and the sister site to FTSOS. That little advertisement is probably the best I can do there since I’m sure the KJ won’t let me link back to myself.

Anyway.

I don’t know if it was because I recently laid out a short summary of the sort of antics this paper has been playing (and then subsequently emailed the link the head honcho), but it took me some time to get this letter published. I originally wanted a much more comprehensive letter published, but Jim Evans lied to me and wouldn’t admit that libel was his concern, so I settled for a pro-atheism letter. Seeing through Evans’ lies, I rewrote my letter so that I could call Maloney a charlatan without directly saying it and submitted that. And then resubmitted it. And again. It looks like persistence won the day. (And that’s fortunate for Evans because once finals were over I planned on paying him a personal visit to get him to just tell me the truth. I mean, goodness. Just say what you mean.)

In the comment section of this letter, “homesteps” of Chelsea speaks of his/her experience being treated by Maloney. S/he says this.

Chris is very good at looking at factors that may impact mysterious conditions. He helps patients with food diaries and elimination diets. He encourages them to embrace an all-around healthier lifestyle. On top of these qualities, he is focused on finding the true underlying problems and treating the whole patient. He often recommends that people see their regular medical doctors, as he recognizes the limitations of any one-size-fits-all approach. He is one of the most caring doctors we have been to.

Maloney is NOT a doctor by any reasonable measures – and Maine’s measures are not reasonable! He has NO qualifications which earn him that title beyond the state’s bogus measurements!** It’s all fine and dandy if someone wants to waste money on someone telling them to not eat crappy foods* (should I be charging you readers for that nugget of advice?), but let’s not pretend that these people are actually qualified to be doling out medical advice. As I note in my letter, people run the risk of taking contra-indicated drugs if we start treating naturopaths as real doctors.

*I’m not disparaging true nutritionists or implying that their advice is a waste. My comment is more specific; think of going up to some random schlub on the street and asking him for dietary advice. He may rightly tell you that eating a lot of trans fat is bad for you, but that doesn’t mean that he has done anything to earn payment from you.

**Maloney whined to WordPress to make me change this. I originally said he was not a doctor at all. Under the technicality of Maine law, he is a doctor. But he’s a dangerous one because he lies about the efficacy of treatments to suit his purposes. And, again, he is not allowed to practice naturopathy in two states.

Filed under: News, Science | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Cowardice and lies

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Michael

I recently wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper, the Kennebec Journal. Here it is.

My very first job was at Hannaford on Willow Street. Starting pay for a high school student was relatively good, key word “relatively”. My friends made minimum wage whereas Hannaford started me a quarter above. That’s not fantastic, but again, I had good pay relative to my peers.

It has recently come to my attention through acquaintances working at that dingy, grimy, ugly little place more commonly known as Ghettoford, that they have a coworker – an employee of 12 years – who has just reached the $9 mark. Nine. Really? I mean, REALLY?

I quit that job for the very fact that said employee was making under $8 in 2005. Inflation is apparently a concept foreign to Hannaford.

The manager at the time, John Gibson – now demoted to assistant manager for Skowhegan – touted the company line and refused to admit that less than $8 was a livable wage for an adult.

When pressed to actually be human, he reverted to the company line that Hannaford pays ‘well’ relative to other human-hating stores. The man had no good answer. Bad wages are bad wages, even if the next guy is worse.

Gibson knew $8 was an insult then, and I’m sure he knows $9 is an insult now. Worst yet, he is representative of the culture that Hannaford promotes. The people in charge of forcing poverty upon the employees at this wretched business are filthy trash who don’t give a damn about anything but their vacuous bottom line.

I have no link to offer because, well, it never got published. I received an email from Opinions Page Editor Naomi Schalit. Here it is.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your recent letter to the editor. Your letter contains some
allegations which we are unable to verify. We will not be able to publish
your letter as it would be unfair to print just one side of the issue.

Please feel free to write us on other topics.

I am honestly torn. I’m sitting here wondering if I should begin my response on FTSOS “HAHAHAHAHA” or with simple dismay.

This response is an act of cowardice. Furthermore, it is a lie. I’ve been losing confidence in this paper for quite some time now. This only solidifies my dismissal of the majority of this publication as worthwhile.

Letters to the Editor are not held to nearly the same standard as the journalists who fill all the other pages. It is not unfair to offer one side of an issue. Come on. That’s the whole point of an editorial page! What’s the alternative? Should individuals only submit their opinions if they are also submitting the opinions of others? Perhaps the Kennebec Journal would like readers to collaborate and only submit joint letters.

This woman is outright lying to me, though. She isn’t refusing to publish my letter because she couldn’t verify my ‘one-sided point of view’. She publishes thousands of unverified claims every year. The issue here is that I gave a specific name – John Gibson. He was a shitty manager. He’s probably a shitty assistant manager now. The fact that I’m willing to say this is what’s causing the ruckus. It’s a lie to tell me that she can’t verify claims.

Furthermore, it’s an act of cowardice for the KJ to not publish this letter. It is my thought that they believe they may be liable for my words. I doubt that’s true, but if it is, what could possibly happen? John Gibson is a complete corporate hack. He isn’t going to agree with me that low wages are deplorable. That’d jeopardize his career. His only route would be to admit that he believes low wages are fair at Hannaford. That’d ruin his whole libel case since it’s precisely what I’m saying. And even if all that falls through, it’s just a case of he-said, he-said. Libel is very hard to prove. It can’t be done in this situation.

The Kennebec Journal needs to be taken to task. This blog post will reach a few, but not enough. I am going to launch a monthly publication in my local area late summer/early fall. Costs will be relatively low and there are good businesses for liberal advertising around here. At the very least I expect to get my voice out there (along with some like-minded friends). The subject matter will be much like FTSOS, so this isn’t simply a response to this denial to publish my letter. However, the KJ may very well start making the news rather than just reporting it.

Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Writing to the editor

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Michael

Not long ago, I wrote about the ineffectiveness that is magic, i.e., Christian Science. In today’s Kennebec Journal I had a letter on the subject published.

I am writing in response to the Dec. 4 letter from Seth Johnson. He makes the odious claim that Christian Science is somehow a responsible alternative to actual medical practices. He is wrong.

Christian Science belongs alongside astrology, creationism, acupuncture and all the other pseudoscience practices, notions and ideologies that have pervaded the minds of the gullible.

Johnson may very well care dearly for his children; I believe his word.

But it is nevertheless frightening that he would place their well-being in superstition and mythology.

Until he realizes that actual medical practitioners are the ones qualified to care for his children — not prayer or really, really strong belief — the health of his children remains as at risk as the child who has no health insurance.

Christian Science does not work.

It is a belief that undermines legitimate medicine.

It’s unfortunate the editor chose to give this piece the title “‘Christian Science does not work’ in medicine”. It actually does not work in anything.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , | 7 Comments »

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