Skepticism, evidence, science, mythbusting, consumer protection
News headlines from Europe about skeptical activism, mythbusting, science related policy decisions, consumer protection, frauds, health scams, alternative medicine, bad scientific practices, pseudoscience etc.
A national patient survey conducted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) on the experiences of 1,500 fertility-treatment patients in the UK has found that three quarters of patients are being offered unnecessary add-on treatments that ‘are not proven to increase the change of having a baby’. In fact, this has been happening for several years now and in 2016 was the subject of both a Panorama undercover investigation on BBC 1 television and a paper published in the online journal BMJ Open.
A 2.5 day conference bringing together an international group of experts representing different constituencies to discuss what should be done about the growing problem of research fraud.
‘Fostering Accountability for the Integrity of Research Studies’ (FAIRS) Oxford, 7-9th April, 2025. For programme and other details see: https://www.sjcfairsmeeting.com/ (switch off VPN if it fails to load). The website has the programme and a link to the booking form; registration including meals is £180, or for online attendance, £20. There are some in-person places reserved for students etc at a cheaper rate.
From UK’s Sense About Science: ‘This year’s Evidence Week in Parliament brought together more MPs, Peers, researchers and voters than ever before to discuss how evidence is used and scrutinised at Westminster. Evidence Week empowers parliamentarians to ask the right questions of policy evidence – what works, what doesn’t and what vital information is missing. It is important that legislators recognise how much the public value evidence, and what better way to do this than to have members of the public open Evidence Week? …. Evidence Week welcomed more researchers than ever before into Parliament to deliver quick-fire policy briefings on a variety of topics including AI, health, climate change and pollution. Over two days, researchers from top UK institutions shared their latest findings with the offices of over 80 MPs and 14 Peers, creating over 300 new conversations and connections – engaging 45% more parliamentarians than the previous year! Hundreds of supporters submit questions for Committee Chairs, and hundreds more people watched our Reverse Committee hearing broadcast from Parliament, where committee chairs respond to members of the public on topics ranging from paternity leave and restorative justice to child poverty and transport spending. View the meeting.’
This year, the vibrant city of Lyon, France, will host the long-awaited 20th European Skeptics Congress, organised by the dedicated local committee of AFIS from 31 May to 2 June. We expect around 200 curious minds from across Europe to engage in stimulating round tables, insightful conferences, and thought-provoking debates.
For more information see the full press release here!
In 2020, a clinical trial of homeopathic adjunctive treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer was published in the prestigious medical journal The Oncologist. It seemed to reveal sensational results: Patients treated with homeopathy lived about 70% longer than placebo-treated patients, and also gained significantly in quality of life.
Now, an in-depth analysis by an independent German-Austrian working group has revealed numerous indications that the data could have been manipulated and falsified. Problems include:
The conclusion of the review of the study reads:
Several of the results can only be explained by data manipulation or falsification. The publication is not a fair representation of the study.
The full press release in English from Information Network Homeopathy can be downloaded here.
Dear skeptics in Europe and in the World,
it is with sorrow that we bring the news of the sudden death of Lisa-Maria Kellermayr.
Dr. Kellermayr, an Austrian medical doctor and science communicator, committed suicide after relentless bullying from anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists.
Her death has brought up a new wave of conspiracies, stating that her passing was linked to her discovering the “truth about vaccines.”
We are appalled and disgusted by the twisted way her death is being abused by those whose ilk drove her to it.
We know that many of you reading this have been the target of bullying, threats of bodily harm, sexual abuse, harm to your loved ones, and death threats. Please, we implore you to be vocal when this happens to you. Do not let this become your norm or your life – even if it often happens, repeat to yourself that this is not normal, this is not all right. Rely on your family, friends, and colleagues. Share this abuse online, so the abusers do not have the luxury of shadows. Report the abuse – to the social media provider, to the police, to whomever you can.
Please, if you feel overwhelmed, speak to those close to you. If that is not an option, here is a list of national crisis lines you can call.
Board of ECSO
If you want to remind yourself of all the thought-provoking talks and lectures delivered at the 18th ESC, or, if you weren’t there and want to know what was said, here’s your chance!
The talks are now on YouTube for your viewing enjoyment and education.
Over the weekend, a new board has been elected to lead the Hungarian Skeptic Society (HSS) in the next 5 years. Gábor Hraskó, who was also chair of ECSO between 2013 and 2017, has headed the organisation since 2009, but he decided not to run again this time. András Gábor Pintér has been elected as his successor as the chair of the association.
András has been very active in the international skeptic movement, both as the initiator, producer and co-host of the award-winning European Skeptics Podcast and a board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) since 2017.
Other newly elected board members of the HSS are police officer Laura Csécsi, IT-specialist Dániel Péterfi and plant biologist/biotechnology expert János Györgyey.
Via: The Skeptic
By: Dr. Alice Howarth
Recently, across Europe we have seen a rise in alternative health practitioners promoting thermographic imaging as an alternative to conventional cancer screening techniques such as X-rays and mammograms.
Dr Alice Howarth, a PhD cancer researcher from the University of Liverpool and the Vice President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society explains what thermography is, and whether the claims made for its effectiveness are backed up by evidence.
Thermographic imaging is the detection of “hot spots” using infrared thermographic technology. Infrared is emitted by all objects that are above absolute zero (-273°C) in temperature. Thermography cameras detect the intensity of that radiation in order to identify variations in heat. They are used to detect the bodies of humans and animals at night by the military and wildlife researchers.
Thermography has been applied in the detection of cancer since the late 1950s when it was first proposed to detect breast cancer.
When a tumour grows in the body, it requires a supply of nutrients in order for the tumour to survive and grow. In order to bring oxygen and nutrients inside the tumour, the tumour generates its own blood vessels. This process creates heat; therefore, it has been suggested that “active” (growing) tumours can be detected as “hot spots” in the body using thermal imaging.
Thermography can detect heat. Tumours are sometimes warmer than the surrounding tissue. Therefore, sometimes thermography can detect a tumour. However, thermography cannot say that a “hot spot” is hot because it is cancer. Nor can it detect a tumour that is not hot. So in many cases thermography will “diagnose” a cancer that isn’t really cancer – this is called a false positive. Thermography can also frequently miss the detection of a cancer – this is called a false negative. It is for this reason that thermography is not recommended as an adequate test for cancer.
False positives and false negatives are so common with thermography, that many medical experts and bodies do not recommend them for use in isolation when detecting cancer. The UK’s National Health Service do not provide thermography for the detection of cancer.
In 2017 the FDA published an update stating that thermography was not a substitute for mammography. They stated that “thermography has not been shown to be effective as a standalone test for either breast cancer screening or diagnosis in detecting early stage breast cancer”.
In 2019 the FDA warned that “Thermography Should Not Be Used in Place of Mammography to Detect, Diagnose, or Screen for Breast Cancer”. The CDC does not recommend thermography for breast cancer screening.
Thermal imaging might be valuable for the detection of other health concerns and is even being used to detect fevers in patients with symptoms of COVID-19. However no reliable medical body uses thermography for the detection of cancer. Proponents of thermal imaging for the detection and diagnosis of cancer is only recommended by alternative practitioners.
Alternative practitioners might recommend thermography because it is non-invasive and it does not use any sort of radiation, nor is it as uncomfortable as mammograms can be. However, thermography cannot accurately detect or diagnose cancer and should not be used in place of mammography.
Some proponents of thermography claim that it is safer than mammography. They claim that because the breast tissue is “squashed” in order to take a mammogram, a tumour might be damaged and therefore be more likely to spread around the body. There is no evidence that tumours can be damaged in this way, or that any damage can lead to spreading of the tumour.
Mammography has been used safely since the 1930s with the compression technique added in the 1950s. The method uses low levels of x-ray radiation to detect tumours in the breast tissue.
There is no evidence of harm in patients with breast tumours and no evidence to support the claim that mammograms increase the risk of the cancer spreading.
On October 20th, 2020, we all had to say a final Good-Bye to James Randi, one of the most influential personalities of our skeptical movement, the creator of the modern One Million Challenge, the communicator of the scientific method and the uncoverer of frauds.
The Amaz!ng Randi touched the lives of many skeptics, for some, he was the eye-opener, the one to put them on the skeptic track, for others, he was the powerhouse that kept them on their skeptic toes. For us all, he was a legend.
Here are the wonderful stories and memories we have of him:
Claire Klingenberg, ECSO, Czech Skeptics
The first time I met him was in 2016 in Las Vegas. He seemed larger than life! He was a hero I will never regret meeting. Randi truly was, and still is, with his questioning eyebrow, the spirit of skepticism.
Pontus Böckman, The European Skeptics Podcast, Swedish Skeptics
I had the great privilege and luck to meet up with Randi on his final trip to Europe. It was during the European Skeptics Congress in Poland 2017 and he couldn’t have been more generous with his time. He showed sincere interest in my opinions, freely shared his own, joked around and even performed some magic tricks just for me, personally. This selfie is with Jelena Levin and myself just after he made a napkin disappear right in front of my eyes. I consider myself so lucky for having met him. A true legend of our time.
Per Johan Råsmark, Mentalist, Swedish Skeptics
No, James Randi was not my hero, I simply do not have heros. But I do think he did some amazing things for the sceptical movement. (Of course “amazing”.) That said I realise that few people have had more of an impact on my life. When I began taking an interest in critical thinking Randi was one of the big stars and I enjoyed his debunking of paranormal claims. At a moment in my life when I had too much time on my hands (I was just doing a Ph.D.) and had a sufficient amount of money I went to The Amazing Meeting 2 in Las Vegas. A conference for sceptics and arranged by the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation). I just thought it might be fun. At that conference I met some of the most wonderful people that I am happy to be able to call my friends. I did get to speak to Randi himself since he was very accessible at the conference. There were only a small number of us, perhaps 200-250. Without Randi I would not have ventured to Vegas, and never met all those then new, and now old, friends. Without Randi I would not have met those other people as well, the liars and cheats that made me so frustrated. People who challenged my idea of how the world works. That was when I picked up some books from a Las Vegas magic store. The amount of books have grown and I am even known to perform things from them now and again. During my time as a post doc in Prague I had an opportunity to frequent some magic clubs because of my new interest, I got to know people in the magic community and I got even more friends, also thanks to Randi but in a round about way. I did also go to the meetings of the Czech sceptics and tried to understand as much as possible (Czech is a weird language), but I might have done that even without Randi’s influence on my life. So thanks to Randi I have sceptic friends all over the world, and magic friends all over the world and a very weird life involved in both these communities, instead of doing some well paid research somewhere. Among the many voices praising the man and his work today there will be some trying to tear him down. James Randi was human, he was not perfect and some people seem unable to understand that a person need not be perfect to deserve respect, fame, and even praise. There may also be some made up allegations from a certain litigious individual. Those few voices are drowned by those who were influenced by him, or the person they saw on stage, in a positive way. He was absolutely a showman and knew how to get publicity but his great-psychic-investigator-persona never felt out of tune, it was him, an exaggerated version of him, but still him. I think that his humanity is well represented in what I consider the most important advice I associate with him. I phrase it thus since I do not think he was the first to give it and I cannot say why I associate it with him I think it comes from an interview with Penn Jillette. It does not have anything to do with science or scepticism, nor with magical effects. It’s a piece of advice that anyone who stands on a stage should bear in mind, always stay after the show for the fans; it is because of them that you are on stage, they are the most important part of the show, not you.
Michael Heap, Psychologist, ASKE
This one was taken in London in 2002 when Randi came to record a BBC Horizon programme reporting a non-clinical test of homeopathy involving the combined efforts of five medical centres. Had the test been successful his organisation would have paid a million dollars to the researchers. They didn’t have to. On the night the photo was taken he was due to give a lecture either at Oxford or Cambridge Uni (can’t recall which) but they cancelled it at the last minute (they discovered he was not an academic). I was able to book a lecture room at UCL which, despite the short notice, was packed. A few of us went to a restaurant afterwards (see photo) and he entertained us with lots of magic tricks.
He was a real gentleman and had an extraordinary life.
Paola De Gobbi, CICAP – Italian Skeptics
“She’ll miss me!” We will all miss you… ♡
I have a photo of the first event in which I’ve known him better. It was taken at the World Skeptic Congress in Italy (a huge work to organize it, and the days I became one of the thirteen effective members of CICAP). We were in the end after people went away. I was really tired and happy, sitting on a table. He comes close to me and said to Massimo, “she will miss me!” and Alejandro Borgo took the shot, it is so tender his smile… 🙂
Kirill Alferov (Louigi Verona), founder of a Russian-speaking Skeptics Society
I first met Randi at TAM 2014. He immediately insisted that I speak at one of the workshops and tell people about the situation in Russia. So, imagine the honor of not only having visited TAM, but also having participated in one!
And later that day we were showing magic tricks to each other, and people gathered around… It was such a memorable day. When I was no longer involved in skeptical activism and living in Berlin, I heard that there is a 2017 European Skeptics’ Congress in Poland. I realized that this could be my last chance to see Randi and I went there. It was a wonderful time, more magic tricks, and I also connected with many European skeptics. Randi was an incredible magician and entertainer. But what he also added to the skeptical movement was his genuine concern for victims of pseudoscience. He wasn’t in it for laughs or arguments, he really cared. And it showed in everything he said and did. He was a huge influence on me and he will be greatly missed.
András Gábor Pintér,