ABC Distorts Science in Attack on Homeopathy

[Guest guest]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 18

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 19:55:25 -0500

From: " Betty K. Wood " <bkwood@...>

Subject: [Fwd: 20/20 (ABC News program in the US) to attack homeopathy!]

--- 20/20 (ABC News program in the US) to attack homeopathy!

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 21:43:32 +0000

From: Sheri Nakken <homeopathycures@...>

Sheri Nakken <homeopathycures@...>

Friends,

Anyone who has been in touch with me during the past 2 months

may

have heard me express concern that 20/20 and their reporter Stossel

might do a hit piece of homeopathy. It looks like they will air it on

Friday January 30th.

Please know that Stossel has had serious credibility issues in

the

past. He previously did a hit piece on the organics industry and was

forced

to do an on-air apology because he interviewed a " representative " of the

organics industry who was really a rep for the chemical industry

(whooops).

Later today I will be hiring a pr person to help us respond to

this

report. If you can help in any way financially, please send your

tax-deductible contributions to:

The Foundation for Homeopathic Education and Research (FHER)

2124 Kittredge St.

Berkeley, CA. 94704

And please give 20/20 and ABC News the feedback that they

deserve

(links to do this are below!).

For further information about homeopathy and this media drama,

see

my website (www.homeopathic.com).

And yes, you are encouraged to spread this email around.

--Dana Ullman

ABC News' 20/20, Junk Science, and Homeopathy

In these days of reality television, bringing science to TV

sounds

like a great idea. However, if TV lowers the standards that are

commonly

used in scientific inquiry, such reality television becomes junk science

and

junk television.

ABC News' 20/20 program with their reporter Stossel is presently

scheduled to air a segment on homeopathy on Friday January 30th. This

report will include a seemingly legitimate laboratory experiment that

seeks

to prove or disprove the effects of homeopathic medicines. However, it

was

recently discovered that the experiment that was conducted had no chance

of

being successful.

Dana Ullman, MPH, author of 8 books on homeopathy, was interviewed for

this

segment and asserts, " Stossel has previously popularized the term

'junk

science' in his reporting on 20/20. It is therefore more than a tad

ironic

that this journalist will now stand behind a study that ABC News has

sponsored that itself is a classic example of real junk science. "

The experiment that 20/20 produced was supposed to be a

replication

of an experiment that had been conducted numerous times in the past and

had

been published in scientific journals. This study used extremely small

doses of histamine to reduce the number of basophils, a type of white

blood

cell that increases in numbers during allergy symptoms. This study was

even

conducted successfully several times by Dr. Madeleine Ennis who is a

professor of biochemistry and a former skeptic of homeopathy. The last

time

this study was published was in 1999 when it was replicated in FOUR

laboratories, including the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at

Queen's

University in Belfast and the Department of Molecular Biology at the

University of Utrecht (The Netherlands).

Dana Ullman, MPH agreed to be interviewed by 20/20 as long as

they

agreed to use Professor Ennis as a consultant to make certain that the

study

was properly conducted. Wayne Turnbull, the experimenter at Guys

Hospital

in London who 20/20 hired, agreed to consult with Professor Ennis, but

when

she alerted him that his protocol was completely different than hers or

any

other study ever performed in homeopathy, he refused to change the

experiment. Shockingly, Turnbull used a chemical, Ammonium chloride, in

this experiment which is widely known to kill basophils, making the

study

impossible to any homeopathic medicine or any drug to have any effects.

Ironically, Wayne Turnbull has gone on record asserting that " consensus

between all parties is essential when performing this experiment, " and

yet,

when he sought to get Ennis' support for this protocol, he was flatly

turned

down. Turnbull has further asserted, the " protocol that we use was

never

portrayed as a replication of Dr Ennis's methodology. "

It should be noted that the 20/20 producer for this segment, Mark

Golden,

did not initially know that there was a difference in the TV experiment

and

the real one until the experiment had already begun. But before the

experiment was completed, he was informed that there were serious flaws

in

their experiment, that it should be stopped immediately, and the results

should be ignored.

This is a story of science friction, and it is a story of ABC News

using

" junk science " to discredit homeopathic medicine. Although ABC News is

trying to put homeopathy on trial, this segment may instead be an

opportunity to put ABC News on trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS 20/20 SEGMENT AND ON HOMEOPATHY, go to:

<http://www.homeopathic.com>

OTHER HOMEOPATHIC RESOURCES:

The National Center for Homeopathy:

<http://www.homeopathic.org>

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO 20/20!

This link below seemingly gives viewers an opportunity to express

themselves

to the staff at 20/20. Your comments are not aired online, as is true

with

the above link.

<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020_email_form.html>

To express your opinion about anything that is aired on 20/20, go to

this

link (it is, however, unclear if any producers read this; it seems to be

mostly an opportunity for people to talk with each other about 20/20

segments)

<http://boards.abcnews.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST & room=abcnews_2020

>

BELOW IS INFORMATION ABOUT THE BBC'S PREVIOUS BROADCAST ABOUT A SIMILAR

PROBLEMATIC EXPERIMENT ON HOMEOPATHY:

The BBC's Homeopathy Experiment:

New Information Verifies Significant Flaws in the Study

On November 26, 2002, the BBC aired a program on Horizon (a

TV

program on issues in science) that focused on homeopathic medicine. New

evidence has just been uncovered that has verified that the BBC

unwittingly

provided misinformation in the scientific study that prepared for the

program. (The producer from 20/20 got his idea for this experiment on

homeopathy from this TV program, though at the time, he had no idea that

there was any problem with the experiment or the experimenter.)

Horizon attempted to portray a scientific study of homeopathy to

satisfy

the proof required by a stage magician, Randi. The producer of the

BBC

program, , sought to repeat a previous study conducted by

Professor Madeleine Ennis (Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at Queens

University in Belfast) and several other scientists who had successfully

shown significant effects from attenuated doses of histamine.

From some investigative work conducted by Dana Ullman, MPH (author

of

numerous homeopathy books and owner of Homeopathic Educational Services

of

Berkeley CA), it has just been discovered that the experimenter who

conducted the research, Wayne Turnbull of Guys Hospital, London, made

several significant changes in the experiment without communicating this

information to anyone else, including Dr. Enderby, Vice President

of

the Royal Society, who supervised this study. The suspicions arose

during an

experiment carried out at Guys for an American TV program for the ABC

network.

Shockingly, Turnbull now asserts that his experiment was never

portrayed as a replication of Dr. Ennis methodology. And yet, the BBC

program made reference to this experiment as a repeat of Professor Ennis

work on two separate occasions.

Turnbull also asserted that a consensus between all parties is

essential when performing this experiment, and yet, he never received

consensus. In fact, when he sought it from Professor Ennis, she was

quite

adamant in stating that his experiment was significantly different than

hers.

In efforts to defend the BBC program, its producer,

,

asserted the experiments were perfectly in keeping with standard

scientific

practice. However, it was curious to note that is a journalist,

not

a scientist, and at the time of writing he has not quoted any scientists

to

stand behind this statement.

Dana Ullman asserts, " Bringing science to the public is a new

frontier

in this day and age of reality television. However, it is important that

television science not become junk science or cowboy research. And it is

important that television science be honest and upfront so that the

results

are authentic and not create science friction as what has occurred in

this

BBC so called 'study of homeopathic medicine. "

Dana Ullman, MPH

Homeopathic Educational Services

2124 Kittredge St.

Berkeley, CA. 94704

(510)649-0294

(800)359-9051 (orders in the US only)

(510)649-1955 (fax)

dullman@... OR mail@...

http://www.homeopathic.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath

Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)

Vaccination Information & Choice Network

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

homeopathycures@...

ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes

ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes

Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936

________________________________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 18

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 19:55:25 -0500

From: " Betty K. Wood " <bkwood@...>

Subject: [Fwd: 20/20 (ABC News program in the US) to attack homeopathy!]

--- 20/20 (ABC News program in the US) to attack homeopathy!

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 21:43:32 +0000

From: Sheri Nakken <homeopathycures@...>

Sheri Nakken <homeopathycures@...>

Friends,

Anyone who has been in touch with me during the past 2 months

may

have heard me express concern that 20/20 and their reporter Stossel

might do a hit piece of homeopathy. It looks like they will air it on

Friday January 30th.

Please know that Stossel has had serious credibility issues in

the

past. He previously did a hit piece on the organics industry and was

forced

to do an on-air apology because he interviewed a " representative " of the

organics industry who was really a rep for the chemical industry

(whooops).

Later today I will be hiring a pr person to help us respond to

this

report. If you can help in any way financially, please send your

tax-deductible contributions to:

The Foundation for Homeopathic Education and Research (FHER)

2124 Kittredge St.

Berkeley, CA. 94704

And please give 20/20 and ABC News the feedback that they

deserve

(links to do this are below!).

For further information about homeopathy and this media drama,

see

my website (www.homeopathic.com).

And yes, you are encouraged to spread this email around.

--Dana Ullman

ABC News' 20/20, Junk Science, and Homeopathy

In these days of reality television, bringing science to TV

sounds

like a great idea. However, if TV lowers the standards that are

commonly

used in scientific inquiry, such reality television becomes junk science

and

junk television.

ABC News' 20/20 program with their reporter Stossel is presently

scheduled to air a segment on homeopathy on Friday January 30th. This

report will include a seemingly legitimate laboratory experiment that

seeks

to prove or disprove the effects of homeopathic medicines. However, it

was

recently discovered that the experiment that was conducted had no chance

of

being successful.

Dana Ullman, MPH, author of 8 books on homeopathy, was interviewed for

this

segment and asserts, " Stossel has previously popularized the term

'junk

science' in his reporting on 20/20. It is therefore more than a tad

ironic

that this journalist will now stand behind a study that ABC News has

sponsored that itself is a classic example of real junk science. "

The experiment that 20/20 produced was supposed to be a

replication

of an experiment that had been conducted numerous times in the past and

had

been published in scientific journals. This study used extremely small

doses of histamine to reduce the number of basophils, a type of white

blood

cell that increases in numbers during allergy symptoms. This study was

even

conducted successfully several times by Dr. Madeleine Ennis who is a

professor of biochemistry and a former skeptic of homeopathy. The last

time

this study was published was in 1999 when it was replicated in FOUR

laboratories, including the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at

Queen's

University in Belfast and the Department of Molecular Biology at the

University of Utrecht (The Netherlands).

Dana Ullman, MPH agreed to be interviewed by 20/20 as long as

they

agreed to use Professor Ennis as a consultant to make certain that the

study

was properly conducted. Wayne Turnbull, the experimenter at Guys

Hospital

in London who 20/20 hired, agreed to consult with Professor Ennis, but

when

she alerted him that his protocol was completely different than hers or

any

other study ever performed in homeopathy, he refused to change the

experiment. Shockingly, Turnbull used a chemical, Ammonium chloride, in

this experiment which is widely known to kill basophils, making the

study

impossible to any homeopathic medicine or any drug to have any effects.

Ironically, Wayne Turnbull has gone on record asserting that " consensus

between all parties is essential when performing this experiment, " and

yet,

when he sought to get Ennis' support for this protocol, he was flatly

turned

down. Turnbull has further asserted, the " protocol that we use was

never

portrayed as a replication of Dr Ennis's methodology. "

It should be noted that the 20/20 producer for this segment, Mark

Golden,

did not initially know that there was a difference in the TV experiment

and

the real one until the experiment had already begun. But before the

experiment was completed, he was informed that there were serious flaws

in

their experiment, that it should be stopped immediately, and the results

should be ignored.

This is a story of science friction, and it is a story of ABC News

using

" junk science " to discredit homeopathic medicine. Although ABC News is

trying to put homeopathy on trial, this segment may instead be an

opportunity to put ABC News on trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS 20/20 SEGMENT AND ON HOMEOPATHY, go to:

<http://www.homeopathic.com>

OTHER HOMEOPATHIC RESOURCES:

The National Center for Homeopathy:

<http://www.homeopathic.org>

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO 20/20!

This link below seemingly gives viewers an opportunity to express

themselves

to the staff at 20/20. Your comments are not aired online, as is true

with

the above link.

<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020_email_form.html>

To express your opinion about anything that is aired on 20/20, go to

this

link (it is, however, unclear if any producers read this; it seems to be

mostly an opportunity for people to talk with each other about 20/20

segments)

<http://boards.abcnews.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST & room=abcnews_2020

>

BELOW IS INFORMATION ABOUT THE BBC'S PREVIOUS BROADCAST ABOUT A SIMILAR

PROBLEMATIC EXPERIMENT ON HOMEOPATHY:

The BBC's Homeopathy Experiment:

New Information Verifies Significant Flaws in the Study

On November 26, 2002, the BBC aired a program on Horizon (a

TV

program on issues in science) that focused on homeopathic medicine. New

evidence has just been uncovered that has verified that the BBC

unwittingly

provided misinformation in the scientific study that prepared for the

program. (The producer from 20/20 got his idea for this experiment on

homeopathy from this TV program, though at the time, he had no idea that

there was any problem with the experiment or the experimenter.)

Horizon attempted to portray a scientific study of homeopathy to

satisfy

the proof required by a stage magician, Randi. The producer of the

BBC

program, , sought to repeat a previous study conducted by

Professor Madeleine Ennis (Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at Queens

University in Belfast) and several other scientists who had successfully

shown significant effects from attenuated doses of histamine.

From some investigative work conducted by Dana Ullman, MPH (author

of

numerous homeopathy books and owner of Homeopathic Educational Services

of

Berkeley CA), it has just been discovered that the experimenter who

conducted the research, Wayne Turnbull of Guys Hospital, London, made

several significant changes in the experiment without communicating this

information to anyone else, including Dr. Enderby, Vice President

of

the Royal Society, who supervised this study. The suspicions arose

during an

experiment carried out at Guys for an American TV program for the ABC

network.

Shockingly, Turnbull now asserts that his experiment was never

portrayed as a replication of Dr. Ennis methodology. And yet, the BBC

program made reference to this experiment as a repeat of Professor Ennis

work on two separate occasions.

Turnbull also asserted that a consensus between all parties is

essential when performing this experiment, and yet, he never received

consensus. In fact, when he sought it from Professor Ennis, she was

quite

adamant in stating that his experiment was significantly different than

hers.

In efforts to defend the BBC program, its producer,

,

asserted the experiments were perfectly in keeping with standard

scientific

practice. However, it was curious to note that is a journalist,

not

a scientist, and at the time of writing he has not quoted any scientists

to

stand behind this statement.

Dana Ullman asserts, " Bringing science to the public is a new

frontier

in this day and age of reality television. However, it is important that

television science not become junk science or cowboy research. And it is

important that television science be honest and upfront so that the

results

are authentic and not create science friction as what has occurred in

this

BBC so called 'study of homeopathic medicine. "

Dana Ullman, MPH

Homeopathic Educational Services

2124 Kittredge St.

Berkeley, CA. 94704

(510)649-0294

(800)359-9051 (orders in the US only)

(510)649-1955 (fax)

dullman@... OR mail@...

http://www.homeopathic.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath

Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)

Vaccination Information & Choice Network

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

homeopathycures@...

ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes

ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes

Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936

________________________________________________________________________