Andrew Burd on Prince Charles and the Chinese water snake

I see that Edzard Ernst, the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the UK has branded Prince Charles as a “snake oil salesman.” Snake oil is an interesting term and the derivation illustrates a broad spectrum of human nature ranging from human ingenuity, observation, and tradition, to greed and entrepreneurship. How so? Snake oil is a traditional […]

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Stephen Ginn on complementary therapy and disenfranchisement

I went to a debate on complementary medicine recently, hosted by the KCL Social Medicine Society. Despite being held on Guy’s Hospital Campus, a supposed stronghold of conventional medicine, the lecture theatre was awash with complementary therapists and when the pre-debate votes were taken the numbers were two to one against critics -like me – […]

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