alexist

Can the Guardian Weekend supplement PLEASE stop running Emma Mitchell's "natural health" column?

Let's look at a few of her blunders.

In http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1543551,00.html she advocates a natural remedy to cure OCD (which the person had been suffering for 45 years).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1551498,00.html - tells someone to take Vitamin C and echinacea to boost their immune system. Both disproven.

And this week, she attacks fluoridation of both water AND toothpaste with a scare story. Perhaps the letter-writer might wish to contact the ADA/BDA and the CDC for some real facts? Try http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/index.asp)

That's just in the past few weeks! I've seen her advocate things that are actually harmful to people.

Now, I'm not 100% anti-complementary medicine. If it can be proven to work, wonderful. But by publishing this kind of psuedoscientific bullshit, the Guardian isn't just giving a voice to the alternative, it may be promoting harm. If people see something in a respected national newspaper, they're more likely to give it creedence than if they saw it in some random publication. (No comments on whether the Guardian is/should be a respected newspaper.)

I would like to come out and say that I think intelligent design is a load of rubbish and if I ever catch any school my children attend teaching it (or omitting evolution from the curriculum, etc) I will have Words.

Yes, I'm (somewhat) religious. Yes, I believe in a Creator. But I don't believe that science and religion are at odds and I don't think we should use science to "prove" religion. As far as I'm concerned, science seeks to find out how the world developed. Perhaps it can prove the existence of a Creator, perhaps not, but I don't think we need to shoehorn one in and make up ridiculous theories that don't have any evidence. Not only do they make a mockery of science, they make a mockery of religion--because it implies that we don't really have faith, that it's all predicated on evidence. Faith is strong enough to co-exist with science and they both have their role to play.

(to clarify: I don't know if science will or won't prove the existence of a Creator. I'm not expecting it to. But I included it because I can't prove it can't be done.)