The Quackbuisters

I received an email from the Complemtary Medicine Association recently about the fact that the Controllers of the Health Section of the BBC's website have received so much pressure from David Colquhoun and his ilk that they have removed all reference to complementary therapies from their site. The Quackbusters, as they are known, have sent a deluge of letters and emails claiming that complementary therapies are unscientific. Homoeopathy seems to be particualrly hated for some reason and any claim that millions have been helped is dismissed as 'anecdotal'.

I would ask you to consider the humble bumble bee for a moment. Science cannot prove why bees can fly. Their weight is too great for their wing span and so they should not be able to fly. According to the logic of The Quackbusters, the evidence of our own eyes must be dismissed as anecdotal. Presumably, The Quackbusters believe that the bee is incapable of flight.

When something cannot be proved scientificaly, all it means is that science can't prove it, not that it is untrue.