Homeopathy critic and alternative medicine critic Simon Singh wins the libel law suit against him in English courts.  The British Chiropractic Association(BCA) was suing him for an article that he wrote.  The article was not particularly complimentary of Chiropractic care.

The BCA won an initial court trial.  The judge ruled the Simon Singh said the chiropractors knowingly were treating children with bogus techniques.  However, this case went to the appeal court.  This court ruled that Mr. Singh was just stating his opinions on chiropractic care.  The BCA discontinued this libel lawsuit once they had lost in a court appeal.  

Here in the US, this type of libel law is new to us.  In the USA, the plaintiff has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the statement is false before he is award any compensation.  In the UK, it is the opposite.  The defendant has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his statements are true.  Most libel cases in the UK get settled out of court.  It is just cheaper to admit guilt.  Fighting these cases to the end cost both parties more money than just making a settlement.    

Does this libel law exist because of the bad behaviors of the tabloids, magazines, newspapers and others.  The UK media is known to be very vicious.  Is this to make the tabloids think twice before running a piece that may be false?    

In my opinion, you should be able to state your opinion without getting sued.  There are just way too many bogus lawsuits for people just living their lives.        

  Last week was environmental week.  Earth day was April 22, 2010.  We sell many homeopathy, natural and organic products so keeping the earth in good shape is important to us.  I am going to list 10 simple things that our eccomerce company does to keep us green.  I believe other eccomerce companies and people could also use these tips because it save us money and preserves the planet.

1)   Using shredded paper for packing materials. 

   This method has been very environmentally friendly as well as wallet friendly.  We still use some packing peanuts but many orders use shredded scrap paper as packing material.  This paper was getting thrown away before being used as packing material.  We can even shred small scraps of paper that are cut from our labels.  When the shredder was originally purchased, the idea that it would pay for itself was never thought of.

2)  Use Water Filters Instead Of Buying Bottled Water

  Buying bottled water is expensive and not environmentally friendly.  In fact, bottled water is not held to as a high standard as regular drinking water.  The bottled water did taste better than tap water so our company purchased the bottled water.  However, recently a water filter was purchased for our company.  Taking plain tap water through the filter, made for great tasting water.  There was no need to spend all the money of the bottled water when the water filter makes the tap water into great tasting water.

3)  Reuse Packing Boxes That Are In Good Condition

  Our company was accumulating boxes like crazy since we order so many products.  It was getting to the point where we had no where to keep the boxes.  We were planning to trash them.   However, most of these boxes were in great conditions.  We have used these boxes to pack our packages.  If the box is in very poor condition, we have to throw away.  However, the majority of boxes are in good enough condition to use.

4)  Receive electronic statements for bills instead of regular mail.

  This has been environmentally friendly.  It also helps use keep track of important documents.  Many documents would get lost in the regular mail or somewhere in our office.  The electronic statements are easy to keep track of.  It also makes for easier bill payment as well.

5)  Print postage online instead of buying stamps or labels.

  We print all of our postage online including usps mail, ups and fedex.  This not only saves time but money as well.  USPS gives us a discount on electronic postage.  UPS and Fedex also give similar discounts as well.  You also do not need to stay in line to drop off your packages.  This is also environmentally friendly as well.  In the past, we would print our packing slips.  We would afterwords go add postage to our packages.  We no longer purchase a large amount of stamps which in turn saves the environment.

6)  Buying remanufacturer laser cartridges

   We have been purchasing remanufactured laser cartridges.  This saves us money and saves a cartridge from a land fill.  The cost is significantly less than a regular cartridge.  We have not seen any drop off in print quality with the cartridges.  We recycle our old cartridges so they can be remanfactured to someone else. 

7)   Buying recycled content paper for printing.

  We have been using high recycled content paper for our printing.  There have been no quality drop with this type of paper.  These papers are readily available.  Many consumers are moving to this type of paper because it costs less and no print quality difference.

8)  Storing important documents in digital storage

  We had a large file cabinet full of important documents.  Documents  would turn up missing.  The main reason is someone was using the document and did not put it back after they were done.  We moved many of our documents to electronic storage.  The best part is that multiple people can access the documents.  We scan documents that we can not get electronically.  People can go to electronic storage to access what ever they need.  We have a file cabinet now that does not hold any relevant information.  We can reuse this space in the office.  

9)  Use a fan to stay cool this summer. 

This can be done in the house or in the office.  You can change the temperature to 80F or 27C.  Small fans can be purchased if do not have the space to put a big fan.  Changing the AC from 75 to 80 saves significant amount of money and electricity.  The less we consume, the better it is for the environment. 

10)  Pay bills online. 

Most bank accounts include free online bill pay.  This also saves stamps and can help you accurately keep track of your expenses.  You can chart your expenses which will make paying taxes a very easy task. 

  I am seeing quite a bit of posts by skeptics attacking homeopaths in Haiti.  A group of homeopaths belonging to the group called Homeopaths without borders went to Haiti in February to help the Haitian population.  One scientist called this group Quackery Without Scruples.  Another scientist called Homeopathy will hurt people in Haiti.  They say homeopaths giving medical advise instead of doctors will hurt the Haitian people.  Another skeptic was criticizing the group because they had to travel to the Dominican Republic before reaching Haiti.  He said this group was so mismanaged that they could not even travel to the Haiti airport.  

  Being critical of homeopathy is a person's right to do.  This practice is not proved or disproved in large medical trials.  However, I think it is just despicable to say homeopaths are going to Haiti with the purpose to harm people with their quackery or they are mismanaging resources that people have given them to help the people of Haiti.  

  The lead homeopath for homeopaths without borders is a medical emergency room doctor.  Dr. Nancy Eos has 30 years of plus experience with emergency room care.  Her group never dealt with serious injuries or amputees.  The group set up two tents beside the clinic.  They had treated 2000 patients in 3 days.  The homeopaths were treating the walking and wounded.  The homeopaths were well received. No one has complained about their homeopathic treatment to date.  The hospital staff and the people of Haiti were very receptive to the team of homeopaths.  They treated things ranging from burns, physical trauma and injuries, fear, dizziness, headaches, urinary tract infections, eye problems and dehydration. 

Below is the picture of Haiti outside the medical clinic.

  Other trips are planned to Haiti.  A free homeopathy clinic is in the process of being setup to help the people of Haiti.  An update on the March mission will be put up shortly.

  Quackwatch is a popular skeptic website on alternative type medicines.  They have been critical of many type of complimentary therapies including homeopathy.  They have their own website dedicated to criticisms of homeopathy called www.homeowatch.org.  There are 25 websites run by the quackwatch organization.

Dr. Stephen Barrett owns these websites and masquerades as a consumer advocate and as a doctor.  Barrett has sued 41 people and/or companies in many different alternative medicine type of professions such as chiropractic and homeopathy.  He has not won a single case to date but he continues to file lawsuit after lawsuit.  In court, it was revealed that Dr. Stephen Barrett is not even a licensed medical doctor.  He had failed the psychiatric exam for certification.    

Many people believe quackwatch is run by a certified doctor and that information posted on these sites are factual.  Dr,  Barrett has spoke on cnn and the today show about quackery.  Stephen Barrett  has no formal legal training but claims to be competent in medical law.  Courts found quackwatch websites to be biased and unworthy of any credibility.

Stephen Barrett latest trial loss happened in his own hometown in Pennsylvania.  He was suing a chiropractor for defamation.  The judge threw the case out entirely after hearing that he had already sued 40 other people and organizations.  Quackwatch is having a great deal of financial issues.  Certainly suing so many people could not be cheap.  In 2008, his corporation in Pennsylvania was dissolved.  He has moved to North Carolina.  The quackwatch websites take donations.  Since they have no corporation, no one is sure where this money is going.  The website says these donations are going to website operations and research activities.  What type of research is this dissolved organization doing?  Does research activities mean frivolous lawsuits?  

Sources

http://www.canlyme.com/quackwatch.html 

  There has been much controversy about the placebo effect and homeopathy.  Most skeptics believe that the placebo effect is really what is making the person feel better.  They believe that  homeopathy did nothing at all.

  Some recent trials were done with placebos.  The results were interesting and quite contrary to popular belief about placebos.  Out of 464  studies, 26 meet the researchers criteria about placebo trials.  The researchers wanted to see how much improvements patients made with their placebos.  Patients actually showed no improvements when taking the placebo for their conditions or diseases.  The type of condition or disease did not show any relevancy.  However, patients did show a strong relationship between treatment effect and placebo effect.  An example of this would pain relief.  Placebos seemed to be effective in this type of study since it is subjective.

   Further studies need to be done to confirm that the placebo effect is not as strong as once previously thought.  Larger studies will be done to get a conclusion on the placebo effect.

References

  Homeopathy is the second most popular form of medicine today.  Homeopathy founder was Samuel Hannehman.  He was of German descent.  This practice was founded in 1796.  This article is going to list some little know facts about homeopathy.

1) Homeopathy has been used by the British Royal Family over several generations.  The royal family still uses homeopathy today.

2)  Homeopathy is part of National Health Service in Britain.  Homeopathy services are covered by this government service.  Homepathy has a high satisfaction rate among patients in the United Kingdom.

3)   The largest trial in homeopathy ever done was with Oscillococcinum.  The trial was done in two parts.  The first part was a prevention trial with 1100 people. It showed oscillococcinum does not prevent the flu. The second trial was with 700 plus participants to see if oscillococcinum would shorten the duration of the flu.  This trial showed oscillococcinum did shorten the duration of the flu by about 6 to 8 hours.

4)  75% of homeopathic sales are in combination remedies in the US.  The other 25% are with single remedies.  Combination remedies combine many homeopathic remedies to treat one condition.  Single remedies are used to treat specific conditions according to the person's needs.

5)  EU countries spend close to 1 billion dollars on homeopathic medicine.  Homeopathy is very popular in Europe.  France is especially popular for homeopathy.  Most pharmacies in France carry homeopathic medicines.

6)  India is the largest consumer of homeopathic medicines.  Close to 100 million people use homeopathy in India.

7) Many celebrities are homeopathy supporters.  These celebrities include Cindy Crawford, Cher, Tina Turner, Catherine Zeta Jones and Paul McCartney.  

8)  The market for homeopathic medicine continues to grow all around the world.  Skeptics have made many attacks to stop the growth.  However, growth still continues.  In the US, 230 million dollars worth of homeopathic medicines were sold in 1996.  Each year that number has grow by approximately 15% in the US.  

9)  Homeopathy medicines cost less than over the counter drugs.  They are also much less expensive than pharmacetical drugs.  The typically homeopathic medicine can be purchased at around $10.

10) Homeopathy uses several different types of substances to produce remedies.  Some substances are herbal such as Arnica. Other substances are poisonous such as Arsenic or Mercury.  However, all substances are diluted to the point that they will not harm the consumer.

  If you know some other facts about homeopathy, list them in the comments section.

No matter how safe you know a procedure is, no matter how proven and how routine it’s become, there’s always an innate fear when you’re scheduled to go under the surgeon’s knife. You don’t know what to expect after the effects of the anesthesia have worn off, and you’re not really mentally prepared before they wheel you into surgery. I’ve been through three surgeries in as many years; none of them were for life-threatening reasons, but I still felt my heart pounding heavily all the same before I went under. But after the first one, I realized that you’re able to cope better mentally and recover faster physically if you know what to expect, how to take the necessary precautions, and think positively. So if you’re scheduled to go into surgery anytime soon, here are a few things to bear in mind:

Follow your doctor’s orders:

No matter what other people tell you to do, it’s best to stick to your doctor’s orders. Don’t do anything that they’ve advised you against and always talk to them before you include all kinds of vitamin supplements and health enhancements in your diet. If they’ve asked you to stop certain drugs, do so immediately. Following your doctor’s orders could be the difference between an easy and painful recovery, or even life and death, post surgery.

Make sure you’ve told your doctor all that they need to know:

You must be completely honest with your doctor so that there are no surprises during the surgery and during your recovery period. If you smoke, drink regularly or do drugs, now is the time to come clean. Show them your prescription if you are on any kind of medication, and also ensure that they know if you’re allergic to any drug or chemical substance.

Talk to your doctor about post-surgical care and recovery:

Some surgeries are easy to recover from; you’re usually home in a few hours or in a day and can resume normal activity immediately. Others are more complicated and you may have to stay in the hospital for a few days before you go home. You may also need someone to help you around for sometime before you regain total independence. So talk to your doctor about your options and arrange for a loved one to assist and support you through the process.

Follow your post-surgical instructions carefully:

Once the surgery is over, you may be in a certain amount of pain. While this will subside over the next few days, ask your doctor what you must do in case the pain becomes unmanageable and under what circumstances you need to call for emergency help. Follow instructions so that there are no untoward incidents hampering your recovery process. Don’t jump the gun in resuming normal activities or going to work. Allow your body and mind time to heal and relax before you resume your regular life.

A surgery need not be a frightening process if you’re well prepared mentally and physically, and if you have loved ones to support you throughout the procedure.

This article is contributed by Shannon Wills, who regularly writes on the subject of surgical technologist schools. She can be reached at email address: shannonwills23@gmail.com.  She invites your comments and questions.

Here are a list of interesting alternative type websites.

These 3 are place where you can get information on trials.

National Center of Complientary Medicines

 Show research and trials on alternative medicines.

US Government Clinical Trials

  Shows Up Type Of Trials are going on in the US.

Cochrane Collaborative

  Shows many well designed trials in homeopathy and other alternative medicines.

Homeopathy Specific Websites

National Center Of Homeopathy

  Helps people find resources of homeopathy in the US.  Has a doctors directory as well to help people find homeopathy in the US.

Homeopathy Home

  A great resource on homeopathy.  Has information about doctors, providers, resources and other pieces of information.

Homeopathy Remedy Finder

  Helps find the correct homeopathy remedy for usage.

Homeopathic Education Services

  Helps explain homeopathy to people.  Contains information for homeopathic practioners.

Other Alternative Medicine Websites

Holistic Healing

  Offers on many subject of alternative medicines such as yoga, herbal medicine and chinese medicine.

American Holistic Medical Association

  Integrating traditional health care with alternative type medicines.

Dr. Weil

  Dr. Weil website helps people with nutrition and alternative type medicines.

  If you know of any other good alternative medicine websites,  please list them in the comments below.

  There have been many skeptics and doubters of homeopathy.  One of the more famous skeptics in homeopathy is Simon Singh. He was on BBC television citing numerous trials on homeopathy.  He stated all trials in homeopathy that he ever studied were failures when compared to a placebo

  He and follow skeptic Edward Ernst published a book called Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial.  The book was very critical of homeopathy.  Ernst and Singh also were offering a $10000 reward to anyone showing that homeopathy actually does work.  No one took them up on this challenge.  Homeopaths said this was a publicity stunt for their book.

  Singh did not get into legal trouble for his criticism of homeopathy.  He was actually bashing chiropractic care.  He wrote in one his articles that chiropractic happily uses bogus treatments to help children with ailments.  The British Chiropractic Association sued him for libel.  In the first trial, the judge ruled that in this article that Singh's intention was to show the chiropractors knowingly were dishonest in treating childrens' illnesses.  Singh appealed this decision.  Now an appeal court will hear Singh side of the story and what he was trying to convey in his article.  

  A charity Sense About Science has said English law of libel has no place in scientific disputes.  This group has launched a campaign to draw attention to Simon Singh's case.  Many people are afraid that criticisms of alternative medicine will not be possible if scientists are sued. The English libel law needs to be reformed according to this charity.  They also states that this is a free speech violation in England.  This organization is primarily funded by pharmacetical companies.

  The appeals have a long way to go.  This will be a land mark case in Great Britain.  I am sure everyone looks forward to the verdict.            

  Insomnia is a condition where some one is trying to get sleep.  However, they can not fall asleep for various reasons.  Either they are not having the oppurtunity to fall asleep or staying awake despite the oppurtunity to sleep.  There are various homeopathic remedies to help with these type of sleep issues.

  Coffea Crudea is used for sleepless and wide awake conditions.  Can not keep the eyes closed.  Too many thoughts in your head can cause sleeplessness.  The thoughts can be happy thoughts, worrying thoughts and problems you are trying to figure out.  Sleep is very light and can be awakened very easily.  This is the most common type of insomnia.  This is why coffea crudea is the most common homeopathic remedy for insomnia.

   Passiflora Incarnata is a homeopathic medicine for sleep if you are experiencing constant worries. Exhaustion causing sleeplessness.  Remedy is commonly used for insomnia in infants and the elderly.  

 Calcarea Phosphorica is used for sleeplessness for people with aching pains in their bones and joints.  These pains are causing sleeplessness.  The person may not be able to get up in the morning due to feeling really tired.  

  Lachesis Mutus is used to help with sleep during menopause. The person wakes up unrefreshed after sleeping and does not feel good after getting some sleep.

  Chamomilla is used to help infants and babies go to sleep.  Some babies or infants sometimes refuse to sleep.  Infants sometimes become restless and irritable caused by condition of tooth ache or colic. 

   Start these remedies in a 6X or 6X potency. Taking 3 to 5 pills approximately 3 times a day.  If you are on a prescription sleep medicine, please consult your doctor to make sure if you can stop taking that medication.