Things that are natural must be safe—this fallacy is deeply ingrained in our minds; it almost seems that, as human beings, we are hard-wired to believe this myth. An entire industry has developed around this claim: from toothpaste to wine, from dog-food to hand-cream, products are deemed to be better if they carry the label […]
Category: Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst: Research into implausible assumptions is likely to result in implausible conclusions
Evidence-based medicine is rarely concerned with the biological plausibility of medical interventions. This, I argue, may be a weakness, particularly when assessing the value of alternative medicine (AM). Many basic assumptions of AM fly in the face of our knowledge about nature, physics, physiology, pathophysiology or even common sense. A few examples to back up […]
Edzard Ernst: The “middle ground” fallacy
When we are confronted with two opposing views, we tend to look for the comfort of the middle ground hoping the truth might lie somewhere between the two extremes. For instance, if someone describes a play, a book, or a restaurant as brilliant and another person thinks it is awful, we might feel that, in […]
Edzard Ernst: The “integrated medicine” straw-man
Proponents of integrated medicine want us to believe that they are offering “the best of both worlds” to their patients and claim that using a combination of alternative plus conventional medicine is preferable to conventional medicine alone. This approach allegedly extends our therapeutic options, respects patient choice, and provides compassion in healthcare. Alternative practitioners, they […]
Edzard Ernst: My evidence is better than yours
Humans tend to remember their pleasant and positive experiences and forget those events which were disagreeable or negative. We are not natural talents at coping with cognitive dissonance, and therefore our minds select the memories and evidence that we are most comfortable with. This trait can seriously impede our objectivity. In extreme cases, it can […]
Edzard Ernst: Thousands of patients cannot be wrong or can they?
The subject of alternative medicine (AM) is littered with surveys, and it almost seems as though a new one crops up every other day. Typically these surveys assess how many patients use AM. The resulting prevalence figures show an extremely wide range. One reason for this huge variability is that most of these surveys are […]
Edzard Ernst: Pascal’s Wager and alternative medicine
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) argued that, because it is impossible to either prove or disprove the existence of God, it would be best to wager in favour of his existence. In case one got it wrong, little would be lost; in case one was correct, everything was gained. The same logic seems to be employed by […]
Edzard Ernst: I don’t care how treatment works, as long as it helps my patients.
During the last two decades, many doctor’s attitudes towards alternative medicine have become more liberal. The general attitude seems to be: “I don’t care how it works, as long as it helps my patients.” At first glance, this argument seems correct—after all, clinicians have a duty to do all they can to alleviate the suffering […]
Edzard Ernst: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Amongst the many misleading arguments, which are frequently used to promote useless treatments, this one occupies a prominent place. When I first heard it, I was impressed: it is succinct and elegant. In fact, it is also entirely logical: the absence of evidence for extra-terrestrial life represents […]