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How to Cook That, with Ann Reardon: cooking tutorials with baked-in skepticism

Mark Horne
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How to Cook That, with Ann Reardon: cooking tutorials with baked-in skepticism

Qualified food scientist and dietician Ann Reardon started How to Cook That in 2011 while nursing her third son, and 700 million views later she’s still going strong. Her videos typically show you how to create fairly elaborate, beautiful cakes and other indulgent desserts.

So why does this uber-successful cookery YouTuber merit your skeptical eyeball-time? 

Nestled between the clips explaining how to build a Minecraft cake village and how to create your own 3D Spongebob Squarepants cake are a series of videos debunking other popular YouTube and Facebook viral cooking channels.  

You’ll probably have seen one of these viral cooking shows shared on Facebook, even if you hadn’t realised it; they feature frankly ludicrous recipes created in an artful fashion, then sped up to create viral content. Think cake frosting made from ice-cream, burger buns made from sweet potatoes (but no baking powder), cakes made from Oreos (but neither eggs nor baking powder) and ridiculously constructed savoury meals that somehow cook evenly and always emerge unscathed, despite bizarre one-tin cooking methods. 

A slice of strawberry topped cheesecake

While it is no great surprise that you can’t actually cook a perfect cheesecake in a slow-cooker using two strips of baking paper but no base-board, or make tasty meringues in a microwave, it is certainly misleading and likely to lead to a lot of frustrated wannabe chefs, who will blame themselves when they can’t create the impossible. 

More alarming, given the very young audience for these sort of viral channels, they also include clips showing you how to remove colour from strawberries – using bleach! – and how to create a cake-topper using a whisk and melted Werther’s Originals, which it turns out you probably shouldn’t attempt unless you want severe burns. 

Ann Reardon’s husband, Dave, assists her in testing out the creations made using these dodgy recipes, and his expressions tell you everything you need to know about their success. She has also looked more closely into the creators of these viral videos, and of course the inadequate response of hosts such as YouTube.

Reardon adamantly encourages her viewers to think critically before trying to emulate a recipe they found online – I would think she’s flying the flag for critical thinking (albeit on food-related matters) to more non-skeptics than almost any skepticism-focused YouTube channel. 

She also seems to be an enthusiastic Christian – a reminder that we should welcome critical thinking wherever we can find it.

The witch’s itch: possible explanations for the symptoms of the Salem ‘victims’

Ara Eagan
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The witch’s itch: possible explanations for the symptoms of the Salem ‘victims’

“In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits – your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea…”

― Arthur Miller, The Crucible

Perhaps one of the most well-known cases of mass hysteria and paranormal happening in recorded history are the Salem Witch Trials. Spanning over a year, from 1692-1693, over two-hundred men, women, and children were accused of witchcraft (defined here as using the powers of the Devil) in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. At the end of the events, forty-four people confessed to being witches, nineteen were hanged, five died during their imprisonment, one individual was pressed to death, and two dogs were shot.

The sheer amount of terror the town and close surrounding villages faced concerning witches and witchcraft compelled them to kill well over twenty people. But often-overlooked in the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials was the suffering experienced by those who claimed to be ‘afflicted’ by the witches. Accounts from the alleged victims included violent convulsions, muscle spasms, and the vomiting of blood, bundles of hair, sewing pins, needles, glass, faeces, cat fur, random bones, bird feathers, and metal scraps.

Further, fits of delusions and hallucinations plagued them, as well as night terrors. The afflicted would wake up during the night, usually screaming, to scratches, bites, and other unidentified marks supposedly made by the witches during the victims’ vulnerable slumber.

This evidence, if we discount complete fabrication, is intriguing and, even now people question how some of these findings may be physically and scientifically possible. Was Salem truly terrorised by people who had pledged themselves to the Devil? Was demonic possession or God’s wrath to blame for these events? Or is there a psychological explanation for seemingly paranormal attacks and symptoms?

Salem society

a woodcut illustrating an execution by burning at the stake from a mid 19th Century book

The Puritanical society of 17th century Salem was, quite simply, a difficult society to live in. It was extremely restrictive; singing, dancing, playing games, exploring, or going into the woods were not permitted. Attending church every Sunday – and whenever else other services were offered – was expected. If you missed church, it would inevitably come back to bite you, as seen explicitly in the witch accusations. Many held the viewpoint that the Devil was constantly attempting to corrupt individuals, and that everyday life was a battle between good and evil.

Beyond this, society was very patriarchal; women held little to no independence. Arguably, children had it worst: taught to be seen and not heard, they were expected to do their chores and work without complaint. Their chores were far more than simply making the bed or washing the dishes; children in Salem assisted in most areas of work – including chopping firewood, mending and sewing clothes, cooking, cleaning, and other hard labours. Children began to help their families around the age of four or five, and the toll of their work only increased as they grew.

There was very much a culture of suppression and stress placed on children in this way of life. Children were not allowed to partake in the things that made them children, and could not develop a sense of imagination or have a release from the pressures of society, as children were taught to not express emotion nor think independently.

It is therefore quite easy to understand why young girls were the demographic which were first affected by these mysterious symptoms in Salem. Doubly-oppressed as both children and women, these individuals truly faced the brunt of societal pressure. It is then quite possible that the Salem Witch Trials were a case of Mass Conversion Disorder due to a high stress and demanding social sphere, alongside the disorder Pica, and that these ultimately led to the famously historical witch hunt craze.

Mass Conversion Disorder explained

Mass Conversion Disorder (MCD), also known as Mass Psychogenic Illness or Mass Hysteria, is labeled as both a dissociative disorder and a somatoform disorder by two separate diagnostic scales, the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV. A dissociative disorder is defined as a “disorder that involves disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity, or perception” while a somatoform disorder is a mental disorder that results in largely inexplicable physical manifestations (symptoms).

Specifically, MCD is a disorder that affects a cohesive group of persons, likely within the same social sphere and quite common in tightly-knit communities. There is perhaps no greater an example of a tight-knit community than the Puritans: almost cult-like in their religious devotion and quickness to band together to condemn sin and profess someone as doing the Devil’s work.

MCD is also commonly attributed to female communities with vast social pressure and constriction. For example, in 2012 a group of cheerleaders from Le Roy, New York, were diagnosed with MCD, and their symptoms may sound eerily familiar: muscle spasms leading to uncontrollable twitching and jerking, extreme vomiting, intense delusions and hallucinations. Also common were bouts of the sensation of being pricked by pins, as well as loss of sensation altogether.

Many explanations were given for their condition, from the HPV vaccine, to a chemical spill on the grounds of the school, to, even, demonic interference. Three hundred and nineteen years after the end of the Salem Witch Trials, the same physical symptoms manifested in a group of young girls under extreme social stress, and people still suggested the paranormal explanation of demonic possession. It is of little surprise, then, that the 1692 Puritans would believe it to be witchcraft and the Devil’s work.

The 1992 case is not the only recent case of MCD to be reported – a similar case occurred in 2002 in a North Carolina high school, once again among cheerleaders. It happened again in 2007 at an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Mexico City. Three well-known, well-documented cases in the present of circumstances eerily similar to those presented in Salem in 1692. The scientific precedent of MCD affecting young females under extreme social pressure and in close-knit social spheres could clearly be a plausible explanation for the horrific symptoms of those afflicted persons in old Salem.

Those who question MCD as an explanation for the Salem experiences often point to what seems to be a flaw with the theory: the more intense symptoms. Throwing up needles, pins, and all sorts of other horrifying objects isn’t normal – at least not for most people. However, those affected by Pica would find the experiences much more familiar.

Examination of a Witch by T. H. Matteson. A painting depicting a trial in which many are pointing and shouting while a woman is collapsed into the arms of a man, another man passed out at her feet.

Classified as a compulsive eating disorder, Pica is characterised by eating substances with no nutritional value. Manifesting mostly in children and youth, The Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology currently estimates the prevalence of Pica to be between 4% to 26% of the world population. Most interestingly, Pica is found to accompany mental disorders such as schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorders, depression, and intense anxiety disorders.

MCD, while not being specifically labeled nor categorised as one of these disorders, does, however, have the dissociative aspect of schizophrenia through delusions and hallucinations, and the obsessive compulsive aspect of scratching, hair pulling, and biting due to psychosomatic itching, loss of sensation, and nerve spasms. Therefore, it is not improbable to assume that Pica could arise in these girls due to their mental states and somatic reactions.

It is especially not improbable because, among the girls of Le Roy, half were found to have swallowed “strange objects”, and many others to have furiously scratched and bitten the skin on their back, thighs, and arms until they bled, often during fitful sleep or fugue-like states. What is most frightening about these events is that, more often than not, the girls did not remember eating the unusual objects, and only learned of it having received ultrasound, x-ray or CT scans. Neither did they notice scratching or biting themselves regularly, due to their bouts of pain desensitization and/or fugues. Given that we did not understand dissociative fugues or psychosis until well into the 1900s (and even now, not everything is known about these kinds of states), it is easy to understand how the people of Salem could assume a paranormal cause for girls vomiting unusual objects and finding unexplained scratches and bite marks.

Ultimately, there is no way to know for sure if any of the theories posited concerning the Salem Witch Trials are true. Whether it was paranormal, psychological, fabrication or something else, the Salem victims are perhaps the most discussed and researched set of individuals to have claimed relation to witchcraft. And despite modern advances in medicine, science, and technology, when situations like the three current-day incidents of 2002, 2007, and 2012 occurred, there were still some people who offered demonic interference and witchcraft as viable explanations.

Ascribing paranormal origins to events that humans cannot immediately comprehend is such a strong and persistent instinct in society that even the most intense and bloody witch hunt could not eradicate it. From 1692 to 2012, these phenomenons showcase the persisting strength of humankind in their beliefs of the paranormal, and the paranormal’s everlasting ability to enchant and terrify the masses. Perhaps that is true witchcraft.

References

A new study suggests coronavirus antibodies fade over time – but how concerned should we be?

Sheena Cruickshank
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A new study suggests coronavirus antibodies fade over time – but how concerned should we be?

Newly released research suggests that levels of antibodies against the coronavirus have declined across the UK population since testing began. Having randomly sampled 365,000 people across the country, the React2 study – which is yet to be peer reviewed – estimates that 6% of the UK population had antibodies against the virus in late June, but that this had fallen to 4.4% by September.

If antibodies fade over time, how worried should we be? Does this mean we cannot be immune to COVID-19? To answer this question, we need first to consider what antibodies are and what they can tell us about immunity.

When we are infected, our immune system quickly responds to try and contain the threat and minimise the damage infection causes. This initial stage of immune reactivity is covered by immune cells known as innate cells that are resident in our tissues, which use a range of fairly generic strategies to both recognise and kill off the infection. But to truly deal with an infectious challenge, we need another part of our immune system – our lymphocytes.

Lymphocytes are more flexible cells that are “educated” to recognise and target a specific infectious agent. They come in two main varieties â€“ B lymphocytes, which make antibodies, and T lymphocytes, which can help the B cell response or directly kill the germs. Crucially, T and B lymphocytes work together to eradicate an infection.

Virus particles on a dark background

Once a threat has been managed, a pool of these educated lymphocytes that know how to deal with that specific germ survive. These are known as memory cells. Memory cells are remarkably long-lived, patrolling our body ready for when they might again be needed. This whole system of lymphocyte responses is known as our adaptive immune response, and antibodies are only a portion of it.

So to properly understand and measure immunity after an infection, you would ideally assess both T and B lymphocytes and then see what happens when people face the same infection. But while testing for these cells is possible, it is expensive and impractical in large numbers of people, requiring costly reagents and detailed testing protocols.

As antibodies can be readily measured in blood samples, they are often used instead as an indication of whether there has been a good adaptive immune response. Over time, though, the levels of antibodies in our blood naturally fall – but this doesn’t necessarily mean protection is lost. Some of those educated memory cells should remain, including memory B cells that can quickly make more antibodies if needed. So the findings from React2 don’t necessarily mean that people are losing immunity to COVID-19.

For instance, some studies have also looked at T cells and found evidence of T cell memory responses in patients who have recovered from mild and severe COVID-19. We can therefore be somewhat optimistic that we could have some lasting protection against this disease.

We can also look at other viruses for clues. COVID-19 is caused by a beta coronavirus. There are several beta coronaviruses common in the human population – those that are most familiar cause the common cold. Long-lasting immunity to these cold-causing viruses does not seem to be that robust, but immunity to more serious conditions caused by other beta coronaviruses – Mers and Sars – is more durable. We do not yet know if immunity to the virus causing COVID-19 will be more akin to Sars or the cold-causing viruses, but the potential for longer lasting immunity to Sars and Mers offers some hope.

Finally, the React2 study looks at what happens after natural infections, but we should keep in mind that immunity generated by a vaccine might not be the same. Lymphocytes recognise germs by selecting some of their unique features to remember and react to and this matching process can be influenced by many factors, such as how the features are presented to lymphocytes or the available lymphocytes that recognise that feature. Although this allows for massive flexibility in the germs that can be recognised, it might not always result in the best viral killing in the future.

A vaccine administered to an adult

But with a vaccine, you can instead select the best bits of the pathogen to target in order to provoke the most effective T and B lymphocyte responses, which could in turn provoke bigger and better memory responses. This is being factored into the design of some vaccines, with several vaccine candidates already being shown to promote good and effective T and B lymphocyte responses.

However, if there is longer lasting immunity, it may not be present across all groups of people. Some, such as the elderly, are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and the React2 study showed that older people had a larger decrease in antibodies over time. These results may be explained by the fact that many older people have fewer lymphocytes â€“ including the B lymphocytes needed for antibody protection.

Such findings emphasise the need to look at diverse groups of people to fully understand if immunity to COVID-19 is possible, particularly when developing vaccines. This is exactly what is being assessed in the phase 3 vaccine trials happening now. Right now, we shouldn’t be overly worried. COVID-19 is a giant puzzle we are gradually unlocking. Every piece of the puzzle we master contributes to our growing knowledge and ability to beat this infection.

This article was originally published by The Conversation, and is reproduced here with permission from Prof. Cruickshank.

Failure to listen to patients is causing unacceptable delays in endometriosis diagnosis

Alice Howarth
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Failure to listen to patients is causing unacceptable delays in endometriosis diagnosis

In the Hippocratic chapter: Diseases of Young Girls written throughout the 4th and 5th centuries BC, it is written that “the menses sometimes suddenly appear abundantly at the end of three months, in clots of black blood, resembling flesh; sometimes ulcers of the uterus ensue, requiring much attention”. In fact, the condition was so well recognised back then that the Hippocratic authors recommended women with dysmenorrhoea (a condition which describes particularly painful cramps associated with menstruation) should aim to have children as early as possible due to the association between delayed motherhood and problems with menstruation.

In fact the condition that was recognised then, although not named, is believed to have been endometriosis. Reports of the condition have been found throughout history with descriptions from Plato in Ancient Greece and Pliny the Elder and Galen in Roman times. In the Middle Ages it was recorded that women would pass out from the pain – an observation also made by those Hippocractic authors several hundred years earlier – and in the 12th Century a treatment of ‘‘a powder be made of the testicles of a fox or a kid and that this be injected (into the vagina) by means of a tampon’’ was suggested for “suffocation of the womb” – a condition we now believe to be endometriosis. By the 16th Century, the condition was referred to as hysterical fits and the pain was described as so bad that women believed themselves “near death”.

A line engraving of Galen of Pergamon who described endometriosis in Roman times. Image from Wellcome Images (CC by 4.0)
Galen of Pergamon described endometriosis in Roman times

Endometriosis continued to be described in the next few hundred years but it wasn’t named until after 1860 when Karl von Rokitansky identified endometrium-like tissue growing outside of the womb and microscopically forming characteristic chocolate cysts. This endometrium-like tissue growing in the wrong place in the body causes symptoms including pain in the lower abdomen and back, pain during or after sex, pain when using the bathroom during menstruation, feeling sick or suffering with constipation or diarrhoea during menstruation, severe period pains and difficulty conceiving. Some people with endometriosis have relatively mild symptoms, but for many people the pain can be completely debilitating.

Almost 2,500 years since the passage in the Hippocratic Corpus, a report published in October 2020 by an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Endometriosis described the landscape of endometriosis diagnosis and treatment in the UK. They found that although 10% of women of reproductive age have endometriosis – including 1.5 million people in the UK and 176 million globally –the average waiting time from symptom onset to diagnosis in the UK is 8 years. Prior to diagnosis 58% of patients visited their doctor about their symptoms more than 10 times and 41% make over 15 visits. The APPG considered responses from a self-selecting group of people and garnered nearly 11,000 eligible responses. This isn’t the first study to find such long delays between symptom onset and diagnosis of endometriosis and in fact the longer the delay to diagnosis, the greater chance of the need for emergency hospital visits relating to the condition. 

The report made it clear that raising awareness, and a need for all medical professionals to have the ability to recognise the symptoms of endometriosis were important factors in addressing the delays in diagnosis. Still, in the launch event for the report, Minister for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Patient Safety, Nadine Dorries, who is responsible for Women’s Health Strategy, said:

“that is partly our problem as women – we don’t talk enough… I think women actually have a responsibility when they go to the GP’s practice not to take no for an answer, not to be fobbed off by a doctor. They do not push back, they don’t challenge, they’re not confident enough to raise an issue, and so they’re very easily dismissed.”

It might well be true that a lack of frank discussion is contributing to diagnostic delays, but this over simplification, yet again, puts responsibility for issues with women’s health care back on to the very women who are most harmed by these issues. Time and time again, studies have shown that the medical and research professions fail women, and other marginalised groups, particularly when it comes to identification of conditions causing pain. We know that women are more likely to be given sedatives than pain relief for pain, they’re 13-25% less likely to be given opioid pain relief for pain than men and they’re more likely to be misdiagnosed when having a heart attack. Women talk about how their doctors disbelieve them when they present with severe pain symptoms either in GP clinics or in A&E.

Here we have another report that confirms the long diagnostic delays for people with endometriosis. Many studies have reported a lack of research into the condition, and diagnosis still frequently relies on invasive laparoscopy (key hole surgery) to find endometrium-like tissue growing outside the womb. The treatment for endometriosis, too, is simply not good enough, with treatments largely targeted at either stalling the growth of endometrium-like tissue using hormonal treatments that have a limited impact on pain and stop working as soon as the treatment is stopped, or at cutting away lesions in the pelvis using surgery. Patients who undergo surgery to remove these lesions are likely to recur at a rate of 40-50% within 5 years. Even hysterectomy only helps with endometriosis that affects specifically the organs which are removed with this surgery, but endometriosis commonly causes lesions to grow closer to the bladder and bowel, and even other parts of the body entirely.

It makes sense, then, that the report by the APPG recommends not only to reduce the diagnostic delay and to increase awareness for endometriosis, but also to increase research into the condition in order to improve both the diagnostic tests available and reduce the need for invasive surgery, and to improve treatment options for the 10% of women of reproductive age who suffer with the condition.

But in September, just one month before the report was published, Nadine Dorries said in Parliament that there were “no [current] plans to reduce the diagnosis time for endometriosis”, and “there has been no assessment of improvement to the diagnosis and management of endometriosis since the publication of the 2018 [NICE] quality standards.” She has yet to say whether this report changes anything.

To understand exactly why diagnostic delays are so prevalent and treatment options so variable, it’s important to consider some of the myths relating to endometriosis – many of which are perpetuated by the medical profession. For example, while many believe that severely painful period pains are normal, it is long been part of medical history that women are considered to have lower pain thresholds and a greater propensity to medical neurosis. But even if those things are true (an idea which is lacking robust evidential support), the pain women feel with conditions like endometriosis is very real, and can be very debilitating. The result of the prevalence of these ideas are that even if women feel able to approach severely painful periods with their doctor, they run the risk of dismissal from doctors.

Some of the locations where endometriosis can be found in the pelvis (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Each red spot in this diagram is a location where endometriosis has been found

Another misconception is the idea that endometriosis only causes painful periods – research from the World Endometriosis Research Foundation found that 50% of people referred for bowel issues to gastroenterology actually had endometriosis. It is therefore not only important that medical experts in fields other than endometriosis are aware and able to recognise the possibility that symptoms might indicate endometriosis, but also that endometriosis-specialist gynaecologists are available to support patients with symptoms that span more widely than dysmenorrhoea.

Many misconceptions relating to endometriosis include myths relating to fertility – both that endometriosis always causes infertility (in fact 20-30% of endometriosis sufferers are affected this way) and that endometriosis is only worth considering in patients who wish to conceive in their future. This latter belief was underscored in the APPG report in testimony from patients like ‘Lucy’, who said:

“It felt like my fertility was taking priority over my own health and pain. Often the woman or the person gets lost, because the condition is so focused on menstruation and fertility, and actually it’s about your ability to function and manage your pain and your life.”

However the APPG report also indicated that fewer than half of people with endometriosis were asked by their doctor if their fertility was a priority for them.

Another myth relating to endometriosis is that pregnancy will cure the condition – an idea that the report identified as having been repeated to people with endometriosis by medical professionals. It should go without saying that pregnancy should not by recommended as a treatment for any condition.

Relatedly, misconceptions that either pregnancy or hormonal treatments will cure endometriosis are so pervasive that patients miss out on treatments that might actually help – while hormonal treatments can suppress the symptoms of endometriosis, they do not cure the condition and cessation often means symptoms will return. For people who are considering the chance to have children in their future, surgery should be considered as an early option to prevent the damage that might cause infertility (although the mechanisms by which endometriosis causes infertility in the cases that it does remain unknown).

Ultimately, endometriosis is a condition that affects an awful lot of people, in significant ways that can severely reduce quality of life, increase risk of hospitalisation and reduce fertility in some cases. We need further research into how to easily diagnose the condition, support medical professionals in a range of specialties to recognising the symptoms, increase awareness of both the condition and the myths around it, and we desperately need to bring the diagnostic delay down.

By invoking ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ nostalgia, we do a disservice to what was achieved on the home front

Victoria Stiles
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By invoking ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ nostalgia, we do a disservice to what was achieved on the home front

It seems inevitable that any kind of looming crisis in Britain will bring with it mentions of the Second World War, the home front and that “Blitz spirit” which allowed people to “keep calm and carry on.” These nostalgia-tinged references evoke images of resilient and cheerful resourcefulness in the face of severe danger and deprivation. They encourage us to try to match the spirit displayed by past generations, to come together as a community and “do our bit” to overcome all obstacles without complaint or protest.

It’s no wonder that the idea of the Blitz spirit works in this way because this is what it was designed to achieve. In an effort to keep morale from crumbling due to the devastating effects of German bombing campaigns, the Ministry of Information worked with the media to create a particular kind of picture of how ordinary people were dusting themselves off and continuing their unified efforts, undaunted and defiant.

After the war ended, politicians of various stripes found it useful to build upon this collective pride in what was achieved, either as an admirable aspect of what it meant to be British or as a vision of class-levelling solidarity. Over the decades, even as popular material relating to the war has reached saturation point, certain aspects of the home front experience have received far more attention, while others have been downplayed or largely dropped from the public imagination.

A red poster with white writing that reads "Keep Calm and Carry On"
The Keep Calm and Carry On poster, despite finding fame
in recent years, was never actually used during the war

Some things have even been resurrected that were never a feature to begin with; those Keep Calm and Carry On posters were not actually used during the war on the grounds that the message was uninspiring and could cause annoyance. Something which we could define as Blitz spirit certainly existed, in that there was a collection of feelings, impulses and incidents of kindness or selflessness which could collectively be given that label. But if we want to use the Blitz as an example of how to get through a crisis, we need to look behind the popular imagery to see the many complications and contradictions, and assess the limitations of that spirit.

War had been prepared for with increasing urgency from 1935, with teams of experts in a wide variety of subjects working on solutions to mitigate various anticipated crises in areas such as civil defence and food supply. The First World War had shown that patriotism, common sense and community spirit were not in themselves sufficient to overcome the effects of ingrained inequalities and self-interest on the home front and that far-reaching government intervention would be essential to surviving another global conflict. The Spanish Civil War also showed there would be an increased threat to civilians from aerial bombardment.

A drawing of a man carrying various vegetables and a garden fork walks in front of a blue sky with the words "Dig on for Victory" written in large red writing above.

Re-organising and mobilising the full industrial and volunteer capacity of the UK towards the single purpose of winning the war was a huge, resource-heavy undertaking. Behind well-known slogans and initiatives such as “Dig for Victory” and the Women’s Land Army lay many thousands of hours of time given by public servants and volunteers, spent in unglamorous detail-oriented meetings of committees and sub-committees, without which nothing of use could have been achieved. An immense number of restrictions and regulations were imposed, reaching into every aspect of people’s lives, with harsh penalties for contravention. Nor was it taken for granted that people’s common sense alone would lead them to take the most useful or even the least damaging action; instead it was recognised that people needed not only ration books and rules to follow, but also practical assistance and advice. The tasks performed by (mostly) women to keep households going, including keeping people adequately fed, were recognised as essential war work and various national and local initiatives were devised to attempt to lessen this burden where possible.

Effective measures were at times hampered by a lack of understanding of what problems were faced by certain regions, professions, and in particular by the working class. Even though this was a war against fascist states, there were fears from some sections of government that the wrong kind of collective action and intervention could lead to a rise in radicalism and socialism. Plans for large underground shelters which could accommodate thousands of people were turned down partly on reasonable safety grounds but also due to fears that people might develop a “shelter mentality” and refuse to go about their normal lives. There were also concerns about disruption to the family unit and to the role of women in family life. When “British Restaurants” – self-service canteens providing basic meals on a non-profit basis – were established from autumn 1940, it was assumed that these should not be open on Sundays to preserve the tradition of families sitting down to a Sunday roast, even though this was something that many working-class families could not afford to make a tradition.

Entrenched class divisions had already become a problem during earlier evacuation schemes as wealthier families could move to the country, build garden shelters or even send their children abroad, while poorer families had to take their chances in unsanitary and poorly-built public shelters or hope that their children would find kind, supportive hosts elsewhere.

The Blitz itself began September 1940 and over 1,000 civilians were dead by the end of the third night of bombing. While people were literally brought closer together in whatever official and unofficial shelters were available, and newspaper and radio reports emphasised Londoners’ resilience and generosity, there was nevertheless widespread dissatisfaction with the obvious disparities between wealthier and poorer areas. Entrenched class divisions had already become a problem during earlier evacuation schemes as it was seen that wealthier families could move to the country, build garden shelters or even send their children abroad while poorer families, who were more likely to live in the worst-hit areas, had to take their chances in unsanitary and poorly-built public shelters or hope that their children would find kind, supportive hosts elsewhere. There were campaigns and sit-in protests regarding access to private basements and underground stations. Push-back against misguided or inadequate planning, and organisation at a community level to plug gaps in support, were essential to London’s ability to function.

There are many things to be wary of when invoking the home front and the Blitz as an example applicable to current events. Crisis planning requires careful thought and consultation and part of this means listening to opposition and complaint and understanding the real problems which hinder compliance. It’s important to understand that the impressions we have are not simply remembered or recorded slivers of reality but were created and shaped with a particular purpose – the media at the time were not free to report in ways which might undermine morale or the war effort.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that war has the ability to channel people’s anger and resentment against a defined enemy, as well as mobilising more positive drives. The Blitz spirit, to the extent that it existed at all, did not arise spontaneously and fully-formed in response to adversity, nor was it sustained over many months without cultivation.

If we ignore the enormous effort of planning and preparation, the hardships people suffered, the freedoms and comforts they sacrificed, or the huge number of people who did not live to see the end of the war, we do a great disservice to what was achieved on Britain’s home front, and miss anything truly useful we can learn from it.

Anti-fluoride activists may disagree, but fluoridation is social justice in dental care

Shaun Sellars
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Anti-fluoride activists may disagree, but fluoridation is social justice in dental care

Fluoridation of the water supply is an outdated, unnecessary, ineffective and unsafe form of the mass medication of the population. Or so says the Fluoride Action Network, a US-based pressure group acting to highlight the perceived risks of fluoride to the public.

The alleged dangers of fluoridated water is an ever-persistent thorn in the side of dentists. But what is water fluoridation exactly, what are the benefits and are the risks real?

Community water fluoridation entails controlling the amount of fluoride in the public water supply to around 1 part per million. At this level, the fluoride helps protect teeth against decay, while providing few side effects.

On the face of it, the case for fluoridation appears straightforward. A little bit of fluoride means a lot less decay. Look a little deeper, and things become much more complicated.

A kitchen tap running water

The evidence of benefit is clear. The most recent Cochrane review found that water fluoridation is effective at significantly reducing levels of tooth decay among children. Critics will complain that much of the evidence is old, flawed and potentially out of date. One should note that the evidence of a similar benefit of fluoridation for adults is limited and less conclusive. But a 35% reduction in decayed, missing and filled baby teeth, and a 26% reduction in the same measurement in the adult teeth of children means an enormous decrease in the potential pain and anxiety suffered by children and their families and huge cost saving to healthcare providers.

There are side effects of fluoridation. The most notable one is the risk of brown-white mottling that comes with fluorosis; an overexposure to fluoride. This unappealing cosmetic downside varies in severity, but limiting the level of fluoride in water to 0.7ppm reduces this risk without any significant effect on the decay prevention effect.

The ethical arguments for and against water fluoridation are more complex. Often, when thinking about the ethics of healthcare, it’s useful to use the four principles of bioethics:

  • Autonomy – the patients’ right to choose what happens to them and their body.
  • Beneficence – the treatment provided must be for the good of the patient
  • Non-maleficence – the treatment must not harm the patient
  • Justice – concerning equality in treatment distribution and outcomes

Rising in popularity in the 1970s, these four principles were initially supposed to be given equal weight when making ethical decisions, but it’s never really been that way.

Until recently, the prime driving force for healthcare was to provide a benefit to the patient. The healthcare professional would decide on a course of action, and the patient would play a minimal role in this decision or the subsequent treatment. In some instances, a cancer diagnosis, for example, the patient may even not have been informed of their diagnosis or likely outcome.

More recently, patient autonomy has risen in importance, and we now correctly recognise that patients have much more right to be involved in their healthcare decisions. We have moved on from the ‘doctor knows best’ situation of the 20th Century into a ‘co-diagnosis’ era.

One of the main ethical issues with water fluoridation is that it harks back to a time where this more paternalistic approach to healthcare was the norm.

With mass water fluoridation that right to choose is lost. Although the benefits for a section of the population are clear, people have a right to choose what interventions themselves and their children receive. And people are well within their rights to make what healthcare practitioners may consider to be a wrong decision.

A toothbrush, toothpaste and glass of water

It’s because of this ethical ambiguity that until recently I wasn’t a big fan of water fluoridation. A couple of things have changed my mind. Firstly, I moved from fluoridated Lincoln to non-fluoridated Suffolk. In Lincoln, even though I was working in a relatively socially deprived area of the country, it was rare for me to see children with decay. The move to Suffolk has changed this. The rate of decay in children, particularly those from a similar social background to those I would have seen in Lincoln, is much higher. The people aren’t different. The social circumstances are pretty much the same. The only thing that’s really changed is the water.

The second reason for my change of heart comes from a conversation I had with the head of a local social enterprise who provide community dental services, that is dentistry to those who usually have difficulty accessing services. Their patients include patients with special needs, prisoners, and victims of domestic abuse, for example.

Sometimes the only dental care homeless people will have access to is from fluoridated water

One comment was particularly telling: “Sometimes the only dental care homeless people will have access to is from fluoridated water.” This one comment brought the social justice element of fluoridation to the forefront of my mind. Those who have the least access to dental care are more likely to benefit, and this isn’t just the homeless.

Fluoridation is most likely to benefit those young people who are most likely to develop decay. These are likely to be from a more socially deprived background, who are less likely to be able to afford toothbrushes and toothpaste. For me, the reduction in personal autonomy is a worthwhile trade-off to advantage those who are in most need of assistance. The act of social justice is acceptable at the loss of a little liberty. It’s probably no coincidence that, although run by a British ex-pat, the Fluoride Action Network is an American group, where attitudes to liberty often go hand in hand with an individualistic philosophy. The community effect of fluoridation is unlikely to sit well with many of this mindset.

Water fluoridation isn’t a magic bullet to end dental decay in children. Ideally, a multitude of interventions should be provided, such as giving lessons on effective oral hygiene for young people in schools or providing families with young children free toothbrushes and toothpaste, along with dietary advice. Fluoridation does, however, offer a cost-effective, simple intervention with minimal drawbacks to the rest of the community.

Farewell, James Randi: The Skeptic remembers an icon of critical thinking

Michael Marshall
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Farewell, James Randi: The Skeptic remembers an icon of critical thinking

James Randi, the grandfather of the modern skeptical movement, passed away on Wednesday, after over 70 years in the public eye as a hugely influential magician and internationally-renowned investigator of pseudoscientific claims.

In celebration of his phenomenal career and legacy, we asked our editorial team, along with some of the UK skeptics who knew Randi and were strongly influenced by him, to share their memories of the quintessential skeptical icon.

Editor-in-Chief, Michael Marshall: “I had the pleasure of meeting Randi in person just once, in 2010 when I was still a new to the world of skepticism; I sincerely wish our paths had crossed more often. On behalf of The Skeptic, I’d like to say farewell to a titan in our field; an entertainer, a teacher and a legend. Few people leave so indelible a mark on the world for so many people.”

James Randi in his amazing library, March 2016
James Randi in his amazing library, March 2016 (Credit: Wendy Grossman)

Founding Editor and former Editor-in-Chief Wendy Grossman: “Randi inspired me, like so many others, to join the skeptical movement. I had run across so many claims I was doubtful about, but Randi was the one who showed me how they could be challenged and examined. He was relentlessly curious and full of energy, even late in his long life. We will miss him.”

Advisor and former Editor-in-Chief Professor Chris French: “If sceptics were allowed to have patron saints – which of course we’re not – there is little doubt in my mind that the person to occupy that role would be James Randi.”

Advisor and former Editor-in-Chief Deborah Hyde: “The ’70s was a weird time – ESP, poltergeists, spoon-bending. Plenty of people were being credulous but not many were being critical, so we were fortunate to have James Randi. He taught us how to protect ourselves from charlatans and quacks. The modern skeptic movement would not be what it is today without him.”

Professor Richard Wiseman: “Randi was the reason I got into skepticism. As a teenager I read Flim Flam, and was inspired by its beguiling mix of science and showmanship. Later on, I had the privilege of working with him on many occasions. Once, we attended the premier of An Honest Liar in NYC. Early on in the evening I saw Randi secretly prepare for a trick, and was looking forward to the performance. Two hours later, he still hadn’t performed any magic. Then someone asked him to do a trick and he acted surprised, and then performed the trick that he had secretly prepared right at the start of the evening. It blew everyone away because there was no explanation for his seemingly impromptu miracle. That was Randi. He understood magic. He understood scepticism. Most important of all, he understood people. He was fearless in his pursuit of pseudoscience and quackery, and inspired many to follow in his footsteps. Randi helped to lay the foundations for modern-day scepticism, has left a tremendous body of impactful work and made the world a better place. Amazing.”

Derren Brown: “I had grown up adoring James’s work, which made it exciting to speak with him about faith healing several years ago, when I was researching for a project of my own. Although we never met, we then became friendly via email. What a truly amazing man, and an extraordinary career: he has approached something close to immortality. Long, long live Randi.”

Professor Mike Heap: “I think the first time I saw Randi was at a CSICOP conference at UCL in 1983. It was at this meeting that I knew skepticism was for me and I started subscribing to the Skeptical Inquirer. Later I attended European and World Congresses and must have been introduced to Randi at one of these. Thereafter I would bump into him at these conferences and to my surprise he always remembered me and we would have a good chat. Occasionally we would exchange emails and once he asked for a Skype session. I wondered what it was all about and it transpired that he wanted to advise me to use tiny URLs for the Skeptical Intelligencer!

“I think that aside from his amazing achievements, the thing that makes Randi memorable for me is his personality, his appreciation of absurdity, and his being a real gentleman who always had time to talk to you, whoever you were.”

James Randi with Mike Heap, during Randi’s visit to the UK to film hisHorizon special

Simon Singh: “Watching Randi on TV as a kid got me into skepticism, so it was an honour to meet him and share a platform with him. In my eyes, he was a hero, a legend and an inspiration. (My son said I should not call Randi a god, but I think he is wrong.) And, in my darkest hour, when I was sued for libel and facing defeat, Randi and Phil Plait wrote to me explaining that they (and JREF) had my back. Skeptics around the world had blogged and tweeted their support for me, and that made a huge difference, but the email from JREF gave me the confidence to continue the fight. After all, Randi had been sued for libel on more than one occasion and always stood strong. I am very happy that my older son got to meet Randi, and of course he was blessed with a magic trick and some wise patter. My younger son missed out, having not yet been born, but I will make sure he grows up to know all about the adventures of the Amazing Randi.”

Mike Hutchinson: “I was fortunate to call Randi “Friend”. I first wrote to him in 1976 having seen his address in The Magic of Uri Geller (later republished as The Truth About Uri Geller) and met him a year later when he visited London. I had arranged for him to do three radio interviews, and it was enlightening to see in person how he fooled presenters by bending their spoons. Over the subsequent decades I’d guess that I spent a total of many weeks in his company both in the USA and the UK. We spent the best part of two weeks together when he was doing the UK filming of the documentary Magic or Miracle in 1983. In addition to being his driver I had also arranged for filming to take place at a Stonehenge sunrise.

“Randi was possibly more unique than many people realise. In spite of skeptical thought to the contrary, few magicians are as qualified to test psychics as Randi was. As an escapologist who had escaped from 28 jails he was an opportunist, just like psychics are. He was also very clever, the cleverest person I have met. His knowledge was all-encompassing. I was present on a number of occasions when Randi spoke to scientists and demonstrated his knowledge of their subjects. Former editor of Nature, Sir John Maddox agreed, and told me that he too considered Randi to be one of the cleverest people he’d met.

“Randi wouldn’t have been the Randi we know if he hadn’t also had a big heart, which was what was behind his fight for the truth. I’m sure that he put his magic career second in order to combat pseudoscience. Not that he wasn’t famous as a magician and escapologist. In 1978 the BBC produced The Amazing Randi Show, a one hour show in which he performed Houdini’s milk can escape. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be on YouTube.

“Thank you Randi, for allowing me into your unique world, and for having such a big influence on my life. I learned a lot from you, and like many thousands, will miss you, especially our long, highly entertaining Skype calls.”

James Randi and Mike Hutchinson at the Houdini Museum in Niagara Falls, taken in 1983 by Australian skeptic Dick Smith.
James Randi and Mike Hutchinson at the Houdini Museum in Niagara Falls, taken in 1983 by Australian skeptic Dick Smith.

Sid Rodrigues: “I knew of Randi from being a young magician and first saw him on TV on Channel 4’s The Secret Caberet – with Simon Drake. He used to tell stories of his psychic investigations and reveal the methods they would use. In 1991 he had a show of his own on ITV, called James Randi: Psychic Investigator. The show came with a book of the series which I bought from a local shop and read. In the back it had – the then – Randi’s $10,000 challenge to psychics with an address to send their details to agree to the challenge. I took the opportunity to write to that address in the US, thanking him on a great show and showing how to properly test psychics using scientific methods. I was only 13 at the time and didn’t think I’d receive a reply, but a month later I did receive a handwritten letter from Randi and continued regular correspondence with him by post for many years from his travels all over the world. He was very good at making time for people, even ones he didn’t know. From that exchange I entered the world of Skepticism and attended Skeptics in the Pub in 1999 when it was first run by Scott Campbell at Waterloo and the rest, they say, is history. 

“Randi was more of a family member to me than just a friend. He was the big brother that gave me advice when I needed it and made sure I was doing okay. He will be missed dearly.”

Robin Ince: “James Randi is the reason I got back into science. I bought his book Psychic Investigator in a small town famed for witch trials, the right place to be lured to scepticism. From that point, I became fascinated in why we believe what we believe and how easily we can be duped however clever we believe we might be. 

“Sometimes people might accuse Randi of being a smart aleck but that smart aleckry was connected to compassion and genuine concern for humanity. I saw this when I interviewed him for London’s 2010 Amazing Meeting. 

“One of his most famous cases was Peter Popoff, a minister who was stunningly accurate. God would tell him the full names and addresses of the sickly people in his audience and exactly what was wrong with them. He would then heal them with his touch and watch the donations flood in. It tuns out his god was an earpiece that broadcast his wife’s specific instructions based on information the audience had volunteered on entry. His gift from God was actually a purchase from a high end electrical store.

“Forty years on, it was clear that he was still disgusted and disturbed that Popoff could abuse and manipulate people. His voice cracked when he recalled some of the abusive, dismissive and derogatory language that was used to describe the people Popoff’s wife was leading him too. Not only were they fleecing these people, they were laughing at them as they did so. Randi’s disgust was still palpable. 

“Despite his duplicity being broadcast to a nation, Popoff’s ministry survived and still sells miracle water that you are warned not drink. Randi never gave up. The grifters and hucksters still found their markets, but he never tired of standing up and calling them out and arming many of us with the critical thinking tools to arm ourselves and other people. 

“He has left the world with more sceptics in it and we need them now more than ever.”

From the outset, chiropractors have held anti-vax views – sadly, not much has changed

Edzard Ernst
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From the outset, chiropractors have held anti-vax views – sadly, not much has changed

Chiropractors often advise against effective conventional treatments. This can be traced back to DD Palmer, the founding father of chiropractic, who had a strong aversion against pharmacological treatments. Today’s chiropractors are by no means free from this attitude. It is best-researched in relation to chiropractors’ stance towards immunisation; overt anti-vaccination sentiments abound within the chiropractic profession. Despite the irrefutable evidence that vaccinations generate hugely more good than harm, many chiropractors do simply not believe in vaccination, will not recommend it to their patients, place emphasis on vaccination risks rather than benefits, and recommend spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) instead which, they falsely claim, strengthens the immune system and thus renders vaccinations superfluous.

Our survey of 2003 investigated the nature of the advice UK chiropractors (and other healthcare professionals) give on measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination. Online referral directories listing e-mail addresses of UK chiropractors and private websites were visited. All chiropractors thus located received a letter from a (fictitious) patient asking for advice about the MMR vaccination. After a follow-up letter explaining the investigative nature of this project and offering the option of withdrawal, 26% of all respondents withdrew their answers. The results of this survey showed that only three chiropractors advised in favour of MMR vaccination.

For locating the origins of the anti-vaccination attitude within chiropractic, we need to look into the history of chiropractic. DD Palmer left no doubt about his profound disgust for immunisation:

It is the very height of absurdity to strive to ‘protect’ any person from smallpox and other malady by inoculating them with a filthy animal poison… No one will ever pollute the blood of any member of my family unless he cares to walk over my dead body… ”.

A patient has their spine adjusted. Visible is the patient's upper back and the therapist's hands. Photo by Aleksander Chaibi (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Palmer’s son, BJ Palmer, offered a more detailed explanation for chiropractors’ rejection of immunisation:

Chiropractors have found in every disease that is supposed to be contagious, a cause in the spine. In the spinal column we will find a subluxation that corresponds to every type of disease… If we had one hundred cases of small-pox, I can prove to you, in one, you will find a subluxation and you will find the same condition in the other ninety-nine. I adjust one and return his function to normal… There is no contagious disease… There is no infection…The idea of poisoning healthy people with vaccine virus… is irrational. People make a great ado if exposed to a contagious disease, but they submit to being inoculated with rotten pus, which if it takes, is warranted to give them a disease.

Today, anti-vaccination sentiments do undoubtedly persist within the chiropractic profession but tend to be expressed in a less abrupt, more politically correct language. Two examples might illustrate this point:

“The International Chiropractors Association recognizes that the use of vaccines is not without risk. The ICA supports each individual’s right to select his or her own health care and to be made aware of the possible adverse effects of vaccines upon a human body. In accordance with such principles and based upon the individual’s right to freedom of choice, the ICA is opposed to compulsory programs which infringe upon such rights. The International Chiropractors Association is supportive of a conscience clause or waiver in compulsory vaccination laws, providing an elective course of action for all regarding immunization, thereby allowing patients freedom of choice in matters affecting their bodies and health”.

(From chiropractic.org)

“Vaccines. What are we taught? That vaccines came on the scene just in time to save civilization from the ravages of infectious diseases. That vaccines are scientifically formulated to confer immunity to certain diseases; that they are safe and effective. That if we stop vaccinating, epidemics will return…And then one day you’ll be shocked to discover that â€Ś your “medical” point of view is unscientific, according to many of the world’s top researchers and scientists. That many state and national legislatures all over the world are now passing laws to exclude compulsory vaccines…. Our original blood was good enough. What a thing to say about one of the most sublime substances in the universe. Our original professional philosophy was also good enough. What a thing to say about the most evolved healing concept since we crawled out of the ocean. Perhaps we can arrive at a position of profound gratitude if we could finally appreciate the identity, the oneness, the nobility of an uncontaminated unrestricted nervous system and an inviolate bloodstream. In such a place, is not the chiropractic position on vaccines self-evident, crystal clear, and as plain as the sun in the sky?”

(From Planet Chiropractic)

Influenza kills thousands of people every year, and immunisation could prevent many of these deaths. Those at particularly high risk, e.g. young children, individuals aged 65 and older and people with severe diseases in their medical history, are therefore encouraged to get immunised. Nova Scotia health officials had to issue warnings about some anti-flu vaccine literature being distributed by a chiropractor. The leaflets suggested that flu shots increase the risk of a child ending up in hospital and falling ill with Alzheimer’s disease. The chair of the Nova Scotia College of Chiropractors even defended this misinformation and claimed the author of the pamphlet had done his homework:

Chiropractic is really pro information. Look at the positive, look at the negative, look at both sides, get your information and make the appropriate decision that’s right for you. However, Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer, insisted that the message was wrong and added that the pamphlet was confusing to the public: It’s discouraging, but unfortunately there are a range of what I call alternative-medicine practitioners who espouse a whole bunch of views which aren’t evidence based.

Sadly, the problem is not confined to North America. A 2017 survey amongst European chiropractors showed its extent. A total of 1322 responses from chiropractors across Europe were categorised as:

  • orthodox, i.e. chiropractors who fully adhere to Palmer’s gospel (79.9%)
  • or unorthodox, i.e. chiropractors who see themselves mostly as back pain specialists (20.1%).

The proportion of those respondents disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement “In general, vaccinations have had a positive effect on global public health” was 57% and 4% in unorthodox and orthodox categories respectively.

A person has a vaccination administered into their upper arm

Sadly, the claim that chiropractic SMT will increase immunity thus rendering vaccinations unnecessary is not confined to influenza but was also a prominent feature of chiropractic advertising during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.

Andrew Wakefield is the UK gastroenterologist who, in 1998, published evidence suggesting that the MMR vaccination was a cause of autism. His research was later discovered to be fraudulent. In 2010, a statutory tribunal of the UK General Medical Council found three dozen charges proved against Wakefield, including 4 counts of dishonesty and 12 counts involving the abuse of developmentally delayed children. Consequently, he was struck off the UK medical register and now lives in the US where he, amongst other things, enjoys lecturing to chiropractors on the dangers of vaccination.

When Donald Trump, who seems to share Wakefield’s anti-vaccination stance, became president of the US, Wakefield managed to creep back into the limelight. At one of President Trump’s inaugural balls, he was quoted contemplating the overthrow of the (pro-vaccine) US medical establishment:

What we need now is a huge shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – a huge shakeup. We need that to change dramatically.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is an organisation which seems to support anti-vaxers of various kinds. Officially they try to give the image of being neutral about vaccinations and state that they are “dedicated to the prevention of vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and to defending the informed consent ethic in medicine. As an independent clearinghouse for information on diseases and vaccines, NVIC does not advocate for or against the use of vaccines. We support the availability of all preventive health care options, including vaccines, and the right of consumers to make educated, voluntary health care choices”. The NVIC recently made the following announcement:

The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA), which was founded by Dr. Larry Webster and represents doctors of chiropractic caring for children, has supported NVIC’s mission to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and to protect informed consent rights for more than two decades. ICPA’s 2013 issue of Pathways to Family Wellness magazine features an article written by Barbara Loe Fisher on “The Moral Right to Religious and Conscientious Belief Exemptions to Vaccination.”

Pathways to Family Wellness is a full-color, quarterly publication that offers parents timely, relevant information about health and wellness options that will help them make conscious health choices for their families. ICPA offers NVIC donor supporters and NVIC Newsletter subscribers a complimentary digital version or print version of Pathways to Family Wellness magazine at a significant discount. Visit the Pathways subscription page and, when checking out in the shopping cart, add the exclusive code: NVIC. 

ICPA also has initiated parenting support groups that meet monthly to discuss health and parenting topics. Meetings are hosted by local doctors of chiropractic and the Pathways website features a directory of local groups. ICPA Executive Director Dr. Jeanne Ohm said “We look forward to many more years of collaborating with NVIC to forward our shared goal of enhancing and protecting the ability of parents to make fully informed health and wellness choices for their children.”

In conclusion, the advice many chiropractors issue on vaccinations has the potential to do untold harm. This, it seems, proves a point that I have been making repeatedly: if a chiropractor’s SMT were risk-free (which it definitely is not), his advice certainly isn’t.

This article is a slightly modified excerpt from Professor Edzard Ernst’s recently published book, Chiropractic, Not All That It’s Cracked Up To Be .

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