Benedetti, P., MacPhail, W., Spin Doctors: The Chiropractic Industry Under Examination, Dundern, 2002.
Schmidt, K., Ernst, E., ‘MMR vaccination advice over the Internet’, Vaccine 2003; 21:1044–7.
Jonas, W. B., Ernst, E., ‘Evaluating the safety of complementary and alternative products and practices’, published in Jonas, W., Levin, J. (eds), Essentials of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 1999.
Chapter 5: The Truth About Herbal Medicine
Hurley, Dan, Natural Causes: Lies and Politics in America’s Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry, Broadway, 2006.
Fugh‑Berman, A., The 5‑minute herbal and dietary supplement consult, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2003.
Herr, S. M., Ernst, E., Young, V. S. L., Herb‑drug interaction handbook, Church Street Books, 2002.
Ulbricht, C. E., Basch, E. M. (eds), Natural Standard Herb & Supplement Reference: Evidence‑Based Clinical Reviews, Elsevier Mosby, 2005.
Whyte, J., Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking, Corvo, 2003.
Chapter 6: Does the Truth Matter?
Goldacre, B., Bad Science, Fourth Estate, 2008.
Ernst, E., Pittler, M. H., ‘Celebrity‑based medicine’, MJA 2006; 185:680–81.
Colquhoun, D., ‘Science degrees without the science’, Nature 2007; 446:373–4.
Weeks, L., Verhoef, M., Scott, C., ‘Presenting the alternative: cancer and complementary and alternative medicine in the Canadian print media’, Support Care Cancer 2007; 15:931–8.
Appendix
Ernst, E., Pittler, M. H., Wider, B., Boddy, K., The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence‑Based Approach (2nd edition), Mosby, 2006.
Ernst, E., Pittler, M. H., Wider, B., Boddy, K., Complementary Therapies for Pain Management: An Evidence‑Based Approach, Mosby, 2007.
Jonas, W. (ed.), Mosby’s Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Mosby, 2005.
Hendler, S. S., Rorvik, D. (eds), PDR for Nutritional Supplements, Blackwell, 2001.
Useful Websites
The James Lind Library: www.jameslindlibrary, org
The Cochrane Collaboration: www.cochrane.org
Bandolier (evidence‑based healthcare website): www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/Bandolier
Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies (FACT) website: www.medicinescomplete.com/journals/fact/current/
NIH, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): www.nccam.nih.gov
Healthwatch: www.healthwatch‑uk.org
Exeter University, Complementary Medicine Department: www.pms.ac.uk/compmed/
Simon Singh’s homepage: www.simonsingh.net
Trick or Treatment? homepage: www.trickortreatment.com
Acknowledgements
The conclusions presented in this book are based on decades of research conducted by thousands of medical researchers around the world. Without their efforts, it would be impossible to separate the effective from the bogus, and the safe from the hazardous.
We would like to offer particular thanks to the entire staff of the Department of Complementary Medicine, part of the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Exeter. They have supported this project from the outset and have always been generous with their advice and encouragement.
Despite the importance of the subject, there were times when it was unclear that this book would ever be published. We are indebted to our editors at Transworld and Norton, who had faith in our ambitions when others thought that alternative medicine was not a subject worthy of investigation. Sally Gaminara and Angela von der Lippe have been helpful and kind during a very intense eighteen months. Of course, we are also grateful to our literary agent Patrick Walsh, who is both a brilliant colleague and an excellent friend.
Last, and probably not least, our wives have both been remarkably wonderful, patient and lovely during the birth of this book. Anita and Danielle have shared our joys and our anxieties, our hopes and our fears. Thank you.
Picture Credits
James Lind © Wellcome Library, London
Florence Nightingale’s polar chart © Wellcome Library, London
Model showing acupuncture needle entry points © Wellcome Library, London
Patient receiving acupuncture © Tek Image/Science Photo Library
Archie Cochrane © Cardiff University Library, Cochrane Archive, Llandough Hospital
Samuel Hahnemann © Science Photo Library
Oliver Wendell Holmes © Wellcome Library, London
John Snow’s map of cholera deaths in Soho, 1854 © Royal Society of Medicine
Cervical spine © Sheila Terry/Science Photo Library
Daniel David Palmer © Science Photo Library
Field thistle © Wellcome Library, London
St John’s wort © June Hill Redigo/Custom medical stock photo/ Science Photo Library
Subject Index
acupressure, 83, 316
acupuncture
authors' concluresions about, 83-8
Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews, 77-9, 81
conditions claimed effectively treated, 44, 49-50, 51, 70-1, 78-9, 272
dangers of, 50, 183-4, 186
efficacy tested, 51, 67-9, 71-2, 78, 80-2, 280; German mega-trials, 82
in China, 46-50, 71-3
in Europe and America, 45-6, 48-52, 78-9
origins and history of, 41-6;
twentieth-century revival, 46-52
placebo effect of, 55, 67-9, 85, 87-8
practitioners' criticism of clinical trials, 84-6
procedure described, 43—4
sham acupuncture, in placebo-controlled trials, 68-9, 79-82, 85, 86, 280
underlying principles, 43-4
lack of anatomical evidence for, 52-3, 83
other theories, 54-5
use as surgical anaesthetic, 48-9, 262
WHO reports on: (1979), 51, 70; (2003), 70-3, 278
acute phase response, 61-2
and placebo effect, 61-2
Alexander Technique, 293
alternative medicine
defined, 1-2, 287
discouraging patients from conventional treatments, 186-9, 213, 216-18, 239-40
expenditure on, 2, 93, 147, 222, 240-1; by UK National Health Service, 240-1, 253
importance of therapeutic relationship, 270
lack of regulation, 271-7, 281-2
lucrative nature of, 55-6, 142-3, 162, 170, 173, 220, 221, 222, 258, 297
people presently promoting interest in, 250-79
reasons behind appeal for users, 219-31; effect of personal experience, 231-5
referrals by GPs, 268-71
risks associated with, 182-9, 205-219, 239-40
suggested procedure for testing and labelling treatments, 283-6
university degrees in, 254-6
American Medical Association (AMA)
campaign against chiropractic, 163-5
American Society of Anesthiologists: on acupuncture, 50-1
anthroposophy, 298
aromatherapy, 299
autogenic training, 313
Ayurvedic medicine, 117, 209, 256, 300