Many claims made by UK fertility clinics about the benefits of treatments that are offered in addition to standard IVF procedures are not backed up by evidence according to a study published in the online journal BMJ Open. The findings were featured in a Panorama undercover investigation broadcast on 28.11.16 on BBC One television.
Country: United Kingdom
Society of Homeopaths and advertising
In the UK, advertisements thought to be misleading may be reported to the Advertising Standards Agency. The ASA will investigate them and may instruct that the advert must be amended or withdrawn. ‘The Society of Homeopaths seemed to be taking responsible action to curb the claims of their members. But what’s been going on behind the scenes?’ The Nightingale Collaboration investigates.
Review of regulations on cryonics
Earlier this year a judge granted a 14-year-old girl’s wish to have her body cryonically preserved and transported to the USA. Her estranged father was opposed to her undergoing this procedure. The girl had terminal cancer and has now died. Her hope was that in the future, when a cure has been found for her cancer, she can be revived and treated. The procedures used by the cryonics team who attended the hospital at which she died have caused concern. The Department of Health is reviewing regulations on cryonics after it was revealed that children as young as 7 have been signed up for the procedure.
Reviewing alternative cancer clinics in Germany
After a recent series of controversies surrouding German cancer clinics, in which so-called Heilpraktiker (alternative therapists such as Klaus Ross who require fewer qualifications than regular physicians) are allowed to perform invasive treatments, American oncologist David Gorski (Orac) of Science-Based Medicine has extensively studied this phenomenon and published his results.
The conclusions are damning: although some ‘legitimate’ experimental drugs (like 3-BP or DCA) that might have promising future applications are being tested in these clinics, ‘German clinics often charge enormous sums of money for treatments that range from the unproven to the dubious to pure quackery’, whilst offering false hope to desperate patients around Europe. He recounts the story of British stomach cancer patient Pauline Gahan, who has put her faith and fortunes (£300,000; some of it raised publicly) in the Hallwang Clinic in Dornstetten.
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Diabetic woman dies after ‘slapping therapy’
Three people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a 71-year-old diabetic woman died following a workshop in Seend, Wiltshire based around slapping as a form of ‘self-healing’. It is understood that one of those arrested was Hongchi Xiao, a Chinese therapist running the paida lajin retreat. He promotes the controversial therapy as ‘a way of purging toxins from patients’ by slapping them or getting them to slap themselves. Last year, Hongchi was questioned by police in Australia after the death of a seven-year-old boy from Sydney who had attended one of his workshops.