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.
Both the Norwegian and Danish national churches have lost a lot of members over the last couple of months. In Norway this started with a web service that facilitated for anyone to leave the church and in Denmark a secular campaign over the summer has driven many to cancel their membership.
Now the turn has apparently come to Sweden. In Sweden the national church has been separated from the state since 2000, but still has some special privileges. The most important one is that the membership fee, which used to be a tax, is still collected via the income tax return. The membership fee is based on your taxable income and averages at about 300 euros per year.
Just like in Norway, the Swedish church recently published a webpage where you can easily leave the church, the only thing required is the digital signature according to a system used by all Swedish banks . Earlier you would have to acquire a physical form to sign and send back to your local church administration centre. Apparently this new way of leaving is a service that people appreciate, because after less than two weeks about 10000 people have decided to opt out of the church.
With Norway and Denmark losing tens of thousands of members over the last couple of months, and now the same in Sweden, it seems we are witnessing a crisis for the old national churches in Scandinavia.
Earlier this year Liverpool CCG stopped funding homeopathy thanks in large part to Michael Marshall and the Good Thinking Society. (In England, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services for their local area. There are now 209 CCGs.) It has just been announced that Wirral CCG have confirmed their decision to end funding, following a public consultation which found a 95% majority in favour this action. The only remaining English CCGs that provide the treatment are North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, near Bristol – where, until recently, there was a homeopathic hospital – Bristol itself, and some London CCGs.
El Pais, on 3 October, published an editorial supporting Spanish pharmacists who want to get homeopathy kicked out of pharmacies.
The author clearly states the opinion (that skeptics share) that homeopathy has no place being sold in establishments that have the right to dispense medicines. Why not? Because homeopathy isn’t medicine.
FarmaCiencia’s campaign by ethical pharmacists to get homeopathy kicked out of pharmacies received a great tweet of support by none other than Edzard Ernst. Please retweet to your heart’s content.
Pharmacists revolt against homeopathy
SADLY ONLY IN SPAINhttps://t.co/BuV021S6Q2 via @el_pais— Edzard Ernst (@EdzardErnst) September 25, 2016
The 4th edition of this course was held this September and dealt with a wide range of topics of skeptical interest: what is and isn’t medicine, the psychology of irrational belief, the scientific method in everyday life and many others.
This is a great resource both for skeptics and students of Spanish.
The full course can be watched at:
https://youtu.be/m175nclWQ-Q?list=PL7njOoD8BmpyVOSWP6em1kwZZC0MxFRvJ
The Good Thinking Society has just reported that ‘Following a lengthy public consultation by NHS Wirral CCG on the funding of homeopathy and Iscador therapy (mistletoe extract), the CCG has published a full report highlighting “an overwhelming majority consensus from the consultation respondents to cease funding Homeopathy and Iscador treatments in Wirral, from NHS funds.” The report will be discussed at the CCG’s Governing Body meeting on Tuesday October 4th, where the CCG will decide whether to join NHS Liverpool CCG in ending funding for these ineffective therapies’.
This year’s nominees for the GWUP’s ironic award Goldenes Brett vorm
Kopf (‘Golden Board in Front of the Face’) are:
The website www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de receives the Golden Board Lifetime Achievement Award (Goldenes Brett fürs Lebenswerk).
The annually awarded Golden Board honours “the most bizarre, most outrageous, brashest pseudoscientific nonsense contribution of the year in German-speaking countries.” This year’s winner will be presented on 11 October in Vienna, Austria.
The Dutch Society against Quackery, Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VtdK), will hold its annual symposium on 1 October 2016 at De Nieuwe Liefde in Amsterdam. This year, the conference will focus on the tax-exempt status of many alternative therapists, which might lead to the promotion of quackery, and giving it undue legitimacy.
Speakers:
– Prof. dr. René van der Paardt, professor in excise taxes at Erasmus University Rotterdam
– Dr. Cees Renckens, honorary chair of the VtdK and emeritus gynaecologist
– Mr. Saskia Huizer, tax advisor, specialises in VAT, Rotterdam
The symposium will start with the presentation of the Master Quack Award to whoever promoted quackery the most this year in the Netherlands (read here who were nominated). Also, the Bruinsma Brothers Medal will be awarded to Henk van Gerven, MP for the Socialist Party, who has a long record of questioning and criticising dubious medical practices both within regular medicine as well as numerous alternative therapies.
Entrance fees are high for non-members; they are recommended to join the Society, or go along with a member as an introducee.
A group of Portuguese skeptics has established a new national association to coordinate their activism and build a community of critical thinkers across the country. COMCEPT, or the Comunidade Céptica Portuguesa (Portuguese Skeptical Community) has existed informally as a group of friends with a love for science education ever since 2012, but now the tedious process of registering legally has finally been completed.
Josep Pàmies, a notorious proponent of MMS (a product more commonly known as industrial disinfectant) for therapeutic purposes was due to give a talk extolling the benefits of this dangerous practice at Science Week (Madrid).
Happily his participation will no longer be required. More information about this unscrupulous individual:
http://www.escepticos.es/node/4293