Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing Wanting To Handcuff Progress To Alternatives…

To my contacts at LinkedIn and followers at Twitter you have already seen some of these postings.  However, for my blog article readers, this is for your information as you would have missed out on those other posts.

Research validates that 70 percent of Australians use Complimentary Alternative Medications (CAM).    For this reason, some doctors are keen to see research into CAM because of the consumer push to medicate themselves with products that are more natural.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) in Australia recently posted an article where a lobby group  (MORE than 400 doctors, medical researchers and scientists) who call themselves Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM) have formed a powerful lobby group to pressure universities to close down alternative medicine degrees.

The Alliance for Health Freedom Australia (AHFA) say; Quote” With 54 Cochrane reviews the evidence supporting acupuncture is clearly much stronger than that which supports surgery or psychiatry, again not because these orthodox medical therapies are ineffective but because they also have problems with double-blinded placebo-controlled trials as a research methodology. But never the less there are more studies confirming acupunctures efficacy – but Prof Dwyer won’t admit to this as it doesn’t suit his argument. He has a different agenda and it’s not about evidence, it’s about monopoly.”

“Prof Dwyer’s comments are misleading and misinforming the public. At worst they are deliberate outright lies. “The groundswell of protest from medical professionals comes after a decision in Britain that means from this year it will no longer be possible to receive a degree from a publicly-funded university in areas of alternative medicine, including homeopathy and naturopathy.” “The UK has passed no such law. There was a motion put to Parliament but it failed. This is such obvious pseudo-researched bias and unfair reporting from the SMH and Prof Dwyer. “ Unquote

Two articles that I have read advised The Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Steve Hambleton, has withdrawn his signature and it is expected that more academics and professionals will follow as soon as they realise they are being used for other political and propaganda purposes.

Whilst hypnotherapy is not mentioned, it is an indication of the thinking of this newly formed FSM lobby group.  You can see the SMH article at this link: http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/scientists-urge-unis-to-axe-alternative-medicine-courses-20120125-1qhtm.html

The Universities are hitting back as well as many other complementary health practitioners.   It is said that the number of votes in this poll (the Sydney Morning Herald poll) are much higher than normal, suggesting they may have been a pre-planned, co-ordinated attempt to skew the results in their favour.

Other groups are mounting a defence in favour of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) – like these here:

http://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/

http://www.change.org/petitions/protect-university-education-in-natural-medicine

Some of the Universities are unimpressed as to this assault on their curriculum’s and have also faced up to this group.

http://www.scu.edu.au/news/media.php?item_id=3661&action=show_item&type=M

http://theconversation.edu.au/why-universities-should-teach-alternative-medicine-5159

Vast volumes of research conducted in universities in Australia and abroad over the past thirty years has overwhelming proved the efficacy of natural therapies, which FSM do not acknowledge or prefer to keep out of the equation, to support their own propaganda and real reasons, which certainly aren’t for the benefit of the consumer.

A good point put forward is that should natural therapies courses be banned in universities, this will prevent further research on natural therapies to be undertaken (and that of course that would meet the FSM criteria of what this lobby group wants to happen).  It is important that we strongly oppose this move for the benefit of our own future health options.

FSM do not acknowledge that over 5000 years of continual use of natural therapies in every culture across the globe, was already working.  In China today because of the acknowledgement that these methods work, Traditional and CAM methods are being used alongside Allopathic medicine.  That is what we should all be doing – looking for the best options from both sides of the fence, not trying to protect our own.

It is interesting to note that from further afield – Andrew Hardwick, a colleague on LinkedIn posted a comment worth sharing here –

Quote” I agree that some medical doctors and researchers have gone too far when trying to take on Chinese Medicine. Here in Wellington we have the New Zealand School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it is going from strength to strength. Here is the link http:www.acupuncture.ac.nz/

There is something that even the financial might of western medicine may not be prepared for though, and that’s the current trend of world politics. The People’s Republic of China are the world’s fastest growing economy, and if you can’t do business with them sooner or later, you’re probably finished on the world stage. They are proud of their traditional medicines. What if they refused to do business with any country who stamp out Chinese Medicine? Such a move by any Western medical practitioner or research group could be political and/or career suicide! Chinese medicine was here long before Western medicine, and I suspect it will be here long after it has gone too.  “Unquote.  http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-hardwick/21/25a/870

Be careful of wolves in sheep’s clothing…

Some quotes to consider –

“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.” — Mark Twain

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”~Albert Einstein