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Naturopathy’s fiercest and most-knowledgeable critic is being sued by a naturopath

Posted 15 January 2018

From Science-Based Pharmacy

 / Scott

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Britt Marie Hermes is an ex-naturopath who has come clean about her time as a naturopath. This video explains her transition from naturopathy to science and evidence, and is well worth watching:

Britt is being sued by a naturopath who believes you can treat cancer with vitamins and baking soda. From Britt’s post:

Colleen Huber is a naturopathic cancer crusader and owner of Nature Works Best (NWB) naturopathic cancer clinic in Tempe, Arizona. She is not a medical doctor and, to the best of my knowledge, has no formal training in cancer research. Yet, Huber promotes herself as a cancer expert (here, here, and here) and is an outspoken critic of standard-of-care treatments for cancer. She wrote that “conventional treatments (chemo, radiation, etc.) sicken and weaken you and ultimately strengthen the disease.”

Huber treats cancer

… Read the rest
January 15th, 2018 | Tags: , | Category: Naturopathy | Leave a comment

Australia ends insurance subsidies for naturopathy, homeopathy, and more

Posted 23 October 2017

The Australian government has eliminated the insurance subsidy for 17 alternative health practices due to a lack of evidence for efficacy.

An article by Scott Gavura, published in Science Based Medicine, makes the following points (extracts):

Public health care systems face criticism when they spend money on treatments that don’t work. With ageing populations and the rising cost of treatments, there’s more and more scrutiny of what these programs pay for. One of the most effective ways that insurance programs can reduce the use of a health service or treatment is to simply stop paying for it. But this is relatively uncommon, because once a benefit’s in place, there tends to be a lot of resistance to change – even if the move was wrongheaded to begin with. That’s one of the (many) reasons this blog has been critical of permitting the licensing of alternative-to-health … Read the rest

October 23rd, 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: | Leave a comment

The journey of a “doctor” who joined the cult of alternative medicine and then broke out of it

Posted 01 October 2017

One Friday afternoon in May 2014, Britt Hermes was scheduled to treat one of her cancer patients with an injection of Ukrain. This wasn’t especially unusual; people often came to Hermes, a naturopath in Arizona, for the treatment. That day, though, an expected shipment of the drug hadn’t arrived, and Hermes’s patients weren’t happy. They had been promised that Ukrain given on a strict schedule would help them when nothing else was working. So she asked her boss what was going on.

“In response, he made an off-hand remark: ‘Oh don’t worry. Most likely the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] confiscated it. It’ll just arrive late,’” Hermes recalls today. When she asked him what he meant, he fumbled. “He realized that he may have said something he shouldn’t have.”

This article, published in Quartz, is about a naturopath who discovered that there was little to … Read the rest

October 1st, 2017 | Tags: , | Category: Naturopathy | Leave a comment

“Natural therapies” panned in Australia

Posted 02 December 2015

An Australian Department of Health review of 17 “natural” modalities could result in their exclusion from the partial subsidy Australians receive through their government’s private health insurance rebate. The 188-page Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Natural Therapies for Private Health Insurance covers Alexander technique, aromatherapy, ayurveda, Bowen therapy, Buteyko, Feldenkrais, herbalism/Western herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, kinesiology, massage therapy (including deep tissue, lymphatic drainage, myofascial release, myotherapy, remedial, shiatsu, sports therapy, Swedish, Thai, and therapeutic), naturopathy, Pilates, reflexology, Rolfing, tai chi, and yoga. In 2012, the Health Minister announced that the Private Health Insurance Rebate will be paid for insurance products that cover natural therapy services “only where the Chief Medical Officer finds clear evidence they are clinically effective.” The review concluded that “Such clear evidence has not been found.” However, the current Health Minister has expressed doubts about dropping the rebate on these services. … Read the rest

December 2nd, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: General | Leave a comment