Reviews in the scientific literature on colloidal silver products have concluded that:

• Silver has no known function in the body.
• Silver is not an essential mineral supplement or a cure-all and should not be promoted as such.
• Claims that there can be a "deficiency" of silver in the body and that such a deficiency can lead to disease are unfounded.
• Claims made about the effectiveness of colloidal silver products for numerous diseases are unsupported scientifically.
• Colloidal silver products can have serious side effects (discussed further below).
• Laboratory analysis has shown that the amounts of silver in supplements vary greatly, which can pose risks to the consumer.

• Pointless Research and Dangerous Promotions
• Implausible Claims and Unacknowledged Scientific Fraud
• Research Centers, More Implausible Claims, and "Integrative Medicine" Centers
• Cynicism and Fear
• Human Studies Ethics and CAM
• Advisory Councils
• Conflicts of Interest
• Conclusion - After more than ten years and $200 million, OAM/NCCAM-sponsored research has not demonstrated efficacy for any CAM method, nor has the Center informed the public that any method is useless. It continues to fund and promote pseudoscience. It continues to be influenced by powerful ideologues. The problem with so-called Complementary and Alternative Medicine, in a nutshell, is that it is an assortment of implausible, dishonest, expensive, and sometimes dangerous claims that are exuberantly promoted to a scientifically naïve public. The NCCAM, so far, has not been part of the solution.

Acupuncture visit becomes woman's ongoing ordeal
Health officials seek more than 100 ex-patients who may have been seen and treated by her. She works in clinic affiliated with a licensed Toronto OB/GYN who believes that "traditional acupuncture is often successfully used as an alternative to medications or even surgery." Oh, did I fail to mention their qualifications such as "Both Doctors Pettle and Testaguzza have been featured on the Erin Davis Television Show on several occasions." Plus, for those of you who know how fond we are of York University, she is the Women's Health Consultant at York University Wellness Center. Wow, am I bloody impressed. Don't they teach sterile technique there. I assume that it must be one of their most favourite topics in the philosophy department. And who can forget the little letter we sent to Chatelaine Magazine about their piece on alternative medicine in 1999.

E-mail Dr. Barbara Yaffe an ask her why she is keeping a secret from the public. We deserve to know where these idiots practice. If this was a restaurant that failed to keep their hot tables at the right temperature, it would be public knowledge. Are these people Canadians, are they foreign MDs from China, are they licensed massage therapists, chiropractors, naturopaths, or did they learn their trade over a few weekends with Dr. Ho at the Toronto Convention Centre.

Links to Mycobacterium abscessus

• Injection of Unapproved Alternative Medication - Widespread outbreak investigated by the CDC.

• Following injections for cosmetic purposes

AM NewsWatch - Alternative Medicine News

The goverment of Canada moves into the realm of woo woo medicine as it funds the Office of Natural Health Products. It's about to fund $100 million research institute to study alternative medicine in Hamilton, Ontario. Without the support of organized medicine, and the government, much of alternative medicine would be considered quackery and fraud. The derogation of the responsibility of science based medicine and their cooperation with pseudo-science based health gurus is a big mistake. Canadian medicine is hurting, our hospitals are starving for support and our patients are dying in ambulances in our major cities because our government funds alternative medicine.

We strongly feel that the government and insurance companies should not bend to the whims and wishes of a few lobby groups who feel that they should have funding. If you feel the same way, you will enjoy this site.

Do you keep your eye on regulators, or those who criticize them?

• Reform MP Grant Hill, M.D. is suspicious - why is a medical doctor and member of Parliament now a poster boy for natural health products lobby?

• The Regulation of Dietary Supplements in Canada - Eileen McMahon, LLB Canada's Food and Drugs Act and Regulations currently classify any product that makes a therapeutic claim as a "drug". Drugs cannot be marketed in Canada unless they have been pre-approved by the Health Protection Branch and issued a drug identification number or DIN. This article explores the current law regulating dietary supplements in Canada and the changing face of that regulation.

• Herbal Products: Determining Quality - by Jane Gillis, B.Sc.(Pharm), Pharm.D This continuing education course lays out criticism of current situation, and makes suggestions. It's too bad that pharmacists have become part of the problem.

• Coroners to track alternative medicine cases - by Leslie Papp - Toronto Star Ontario has begun tracking deaths involving alternative medicine in a move putting unorthodox therapies under fresh scrutiny. A computer code has been created enabling the Ontario coroner's office to catalogue deaths in which excess devotion to alternative medicine may have been a factor. And notice of the new classification is being sent to all 320 coroners in Ontario, with instructions to use it when documenting any death which might be linked to unorthodox treatment.

• Blind trust: Herbal `cures' - by Leslie Papp - Toronto Star It's a free-for-all of weak standards, few rules and unknown side effects. Canada's herbal medicine industry bottles millions of ``natural'' pills and capsules each week but ultimately sells a single product - blind trust. For that, there's an open market as Canadians become increasingly herb-obsessed.

• FDA warns firms on herbal additives Products never approved for consumption in food - MSNBC The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned companies that put herbal additives in food and drinks that their products could be illegal because the ingredients might not be generally recognized as safe, the New York Times reported in its online edition on Thursday

• FDA warns on herbs CNNfn Agency tells food companies herbal additives could be illegal and unsafe

• It's "Buyer Beware" with Alternative Botanical Treatments for Menopausal Symptoms - ACOG Consumers cannot be assured of any particular product's actual content and efficacy. More importantly, this lack of quality control may result in contamination, adulteration, or misidentification of plant products that may ultimately harm the consumer. Many alternative therapies that are promoted and touted as substitutes for HRT, in fact, do not offer any substantiated health benefits.

Quack Organizations and links

• Consumer Health Organization of Canada
  2002 Meeting
  2001 Meeting
  2000 Meeting
  1999 Meeting in Toronto
  If you want to see the most absurd collection of alternative practices ever assembled in one place, just click on one of the meetings above. The total Health Expos usually last 2-3 days. They are filled with all sorts of quack exhibits, and politically charged presentations.

  Then you might enjoy the discussions on vaccine safety, quacks from Mexico will bring their absurd ideas across two international borders, and more.

  The infamous American Biologics clinic, the former sponsor of the event in 1999, was featured in a series of articles in the Kansas City Star. Here is a short exerpt:
  American Biologics Mexico runs a daily shuttle from motels on the American side of the border to its clinic a half a block off a busy Tijuana thoroughfare. Riding in the clinic's van one day in May was the family of Randy Boone, members of a sect of plain people known as Old German Baptist.

  Boone brought his clan to Tijuana first in January after his 19-year-old son, Daniel, was diagnosed with a kidney disease American doctors have described as incurable and eventually fatal.

  "How did we get here? Providential guidance," explains Boone. That and promises about the healing powers of cow embryos.

  "We couldn't get the answers we were seeking at home from our medical doctors. They weren't offering any hope. Down here, we got some hope."

  Boone said he didn't fully understand the treatment his son received at American Biologics, but that Roberto Tapia believed that part of the answer rested in injecting Daniel with embryonic tissue taken from cattle.

  "In Europe," Tapia says, "they use sheep."

  In theory, the therapy regenerates and stimulates damaged tissue and corrects hormone imbalances.

  Tapia said the clinic draws plain people "because they cannot receive this treatment in the states."

  He's right about that. Neither the National Kidney Foundation nor the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has any evidence that the embryo therapy can successfully treat kidney problems.

  Tapia complements the embryo remedy with vitamin supplements and the removal of heavy metals using a treatment known as chelation. Again, the two kidney groups say no studies support the idea that chelation can treat kidney problems. Rather, they specifically warn against it as a therapy.

• Healthy You - a Chatham-Kent Ontario web page - not one warning or disclaimer on this page that links to dozens of unregulated alt. med. sites.
  Greg Prytula, BASc., N.D. - a licensed naturopath practices iridology, an utterly useless quack procedure
  Pam Robinson - says she has a B.A., but not anything else to justify her treatment of arthritis, asthma, hyperactivity, colitis, etc. But she does do regression therapy and parasite and heavy metal detox programs. Thank God, we have consumer protection laws, eh?
  Sally Joyce - Spread Your Wings & Soar, Discover Transformational Healing Arts
  She says she has a B.E.S. degree, which she from the University of Waterloo in 1983. The B.E.S. according to her is a Bachelor in Environmental Studies. She practices:

  • Orthobionomy
  • Feng - Shui
  • Jin Shin Jyutsu
  • Reiki
  • Spiritual Thought
  • Meditation
  • Creative Visualization
  • Natural Food & Wellness Wisdom
  • Trauma Release

  Ruth Aerssen, R.N. -- She says she is a Holistic Health Practitioner, which of course is not regulated in Ontario. She is a registered nurse and is subject to the regulations of that College. She practices at her home, which in many cities in Ontario is not allowed. Among her techniques are Muscle Testing (dispersement of negative energy, emotional releasing), Reiki and Core Shamanism.
  Magnetic Healers of Petrolia -- Cathy Richard and Hilda Van Wyka belong to the long list of magnetic healers. These have been debunked by many reputable scientists. They also do ear candling, a dangerous and fraudulent alt. med. technique. One of the most dangerous things that they recommend is colloidal silver treatments. If you want to spend big bucks for total quackery, then "caveat emptor". These people are not regulated by anyone in Ontario, or in Canada. They can make any claims they want.
  Mercedes Mancari, B.A., Shaman -- London, Ontario -- Mercedes says she is a "Creative Healing Consultant", "Reiki Master Teacher", and "Energy Master". She runs the Prism Healing Centre. If you want your "Auric Field" cleared, or your "Chakra" balanced, it's the place to go. She says she is working on a Masters in Education at the University of Toronto. She is not regulated by either Middlesex County, the City of London, or the Province of Ontario. That means she is not required to have malpractice insurance if her treatments lead to "psychic" scarring. But then again, that would be in the "eye" of the beholder if you look at her practice with a prismatic view.
• College of Veterinarians of Ontario - Why did this regulated health profession suck up to chiropractors who manipulate and advertise that they are certified in veterinary chiropractic. According to the proposed regulations of the CVO, those chiropractors who are taking the certificationn course in veterinary chiropractic in the U.S. may apparently ask for an exemption so that they can treat animals in their offices, before they are certified. No mention was ever made in the proposed legislation that is was actually part of the Veterinarians Act in Ontario. Therefore, are those chiropractors who claim to be manipulating your dog, cat, gerbil, or emu really doing anything except ripping off your precious resources. It is truely unforgiveable for the CVO to have proposed this. It is unscientific hogwash, not just for animals, but for most human ailments as well.

  No wonder the heart of Ontario Veterinary training is being ripped apart, and being replaced by pseudoscientific trickery and fraud by the chiropratic profession. It's bad enough that they have done that with the Regulated Health Professions in Ontario.

  For a look at a lead article in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, just click on Jennifer Heick, D.C., Animal Chiropractor.

• Ontario Homeopathic Association - Homeopathy is the worst example of alternative medicine because there are actually some medical doctors who believe that it works. These purveyors of "nothing" want regulation so that they can build their credibility. They compare themselves to other branches of medicine as if they actually are able to prove that their methods of treatment work. Well, they can't do that.

Canadian alternative medicine physicians

Zoltan Rona

• FDA and supplement warnings misleading, exaggerated or unproven -- Article by Dr. Zoltan P. Rona MD MSc This well-read author of alternative medical books for the public takes on the whole world of regulation of snake-oil salesmen and other quacks. He is a licensed medical doctor who regularly appears at public forums such as the Total Health Expo in Toronto. Readers of the Toronto Star will recognize him and his great support for quack medicine.

Alternative Medicine in Canadian Medical Journals

Canadian Family Physician

• May 1998
  Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture

CMAJ

• Ignore growing patient interest in alternative medicine at your peril, MDs warned - Heather Kent - 1997
  Canada now has an institute to study alternative medicine and seek evidence concerning it. The founder, endocrinologist Wah Jun Tze, says most physicians appreciate that the institute will seek to find evidence for unproven therapies. It recently named a research director, and expects to have protocols for randomized, controlled studies in place by the new year. Herbal remedies are one likely candidate for study.

  Dr. Allan Best, a psychologist, was recently named research director and chief executive officer at the institute, and prospective patients are being identified. (Allan recently told me that they were involved along with a top oncologist in Vancouver were involved in the study of whether or not two well-known Canadian quack products, ESSIAC, and 714-X might be useful in Breast Cancer patients. I can tell that if the quality of that research equals the quality of the research done at St. Paul's Hospital on tobacco that is funded by RJR tobacco conglomerate, it will be worth it. What is going on out there in B.C.? Is the air full of something funny?)

• MDs remain sceptical as chelation therapy goes mainstream in Saskatchewan -- Murray Oliver -- CMAJ 1997;157:750-3 The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan recently agreed to allow physicians to administer chelation therapy. Supporters, relying on anecdotal evidence, say it works wonders in overcoming heart disease, but many physicians remain profoundly sceptical. In Saskatchewan, the college decision has proved popular with patients but has drawn an angry reaction from doctors.
• Search "alternative medicine" in the CMAJ
• A witch hunt against alternative practitioners? -- CMAJ 1999;160:1130
• Treatment limitations drive search for alternatives -- CMA News 1998;8(3):5
• The Internet and chiropractic -- CMAJ 1999;160:1288 The Internet is a powerful weapon in the battle against quackery. We should use it, especially when our government watchdogs allow it to thrive in our own communities. The CMA must take a stand to protect our children from harm. To do less would be wrong.

Health Regulators

• British Columbia Health Professions Council recommends that TCM be regulated
• Alternative Therapies and Allied Health Committee - British Columbia Medical Association 1997

Links to Canadian Alternative Medicine Research Sites

• Tzu-Chi Institute - Vancouver, British Columbia

Alternative Medicine - Comments and Major Reviews

• Consumer watchdog CSPI doesn't like Canada's Office of Natural Health Products. A consumer-advocacy organization today criticized Health Canada for appointing a dozen industry representatives to Health Canada’s 17-seat Office of Natural Health Products transition team. In a letter to Health Minister Allan Rock, the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) charged that Health Canada is allowing industry to dominate the team in charge of setting up the assessment, licensing, and regulation process for natural health products and establishments. Natural health products include vitamin, herbal, and other dietary supplements.
• Alternative Medicine Report - AMA Council for Scientific Affairs - 1997 This report will help to clarify and categorize the alternative medical systems most often used, create a context to assess their utility (or lack thereof), and discuss how physicians and the medical profession might deal with the issues surrounding these unconventional measures in health and healing.

  Many alternative practitioners are unlicensed (except for chiropractic, and in some states, acupuncturists, naturopaths, and homeopathic therapists) and unregulated, particularly those dealing in alternative nutritional therapy. The adherents of these fields, however, state that "most alternative systems of medicine hold some common beliefs."2 Many theories of alternative medicine attempt to pose a single explanation for most human illness; the therapy is thought to correct the source of the problem, not merely treat its symptoms.

• Complete Complementary Collection - BMJ This is the main British Medical Journal web page dedicated to complementary and alternative medicine

• What is Complementary medicine - BMJ Complementary medicine refers to a group of therapeutic and diagnostic disciplines that exist largely outside the institutions where conventional health care is taught and provided. Complementary medicine is an increasing feature of healthcare practice, but considerable confusion remains about what exactly it is and what position the disciplines included under this term should hold in relation to conventional medicine

• British Medical Association calls for alternative medicine regulation The association said that while it recognizes the growing interest in complementary and alternative therapies, it is important to protect patients from "...unskilled or unscrupulous practitioners of healthcare." The BMA suggested that a regulating body be established for each therapy with the responsibility of keeping a register of practitioners and operating an enforceable ethical code linked to effective disciplinary measures.

• The Entirely Online Alt. Med Primer - For those interested in an objective, scientific, "non-advocate" perspective. It takes a while to load, but this is one of the best sources of alt. med. stuff I have seen in one place. There is no search engine, but it's divided into categories, chiropractic, homeopathy, veterinary, etc. Some of the best papers from recent publications are linked here. If you like healthwatcher.net, and NCAHF and the healthfraud list, you'll love this site. David Ramey's stuff is highlighted in yellow.

• Enhancing the Accountability of Alternative Medicine - Millbank Fund -- January 1998 This report is about the accountability of practitioners of alternative medical therapies to the public. It describes work on behalf of greater accountability by legislators, regulators, professionals in both conventional and alternative medicine, health care purchasers, researchers, and consumer advocates. Members of each of these groups participated in preparing this report by attending meetings, offering information, and reviewing successive drafts.

• David Edelberg, M.D. attacks CSICOP, James Randi, and Paul Kurz So why is so much of this organization's energy directed toward alternative medicine? They really can't complain about lack of scientific proof. Dozens of good studies attest to the effectiveness of chiropractic, acupuncture and herbs. No, the issue is alternative medicine's almost uniform reliance on "subtle energies," which are accepted on faith, and "faith" is an anathema to CSICOP. Whether it's an acupuncturist's manipulation of qi, the homeopath's pill re-directing his patient's vital force, the Ayurvedic physician's pranic energies, the naturopath's vis medicatrix naturae, or any of twenty other names, it's all the same.

  Healing, to the alternative practitioner, necessitates a manipulation of invisible energies whose existence requires faith in the invisible. Hence, the intolerance of an organization whose roots are firmly entrenched in mechanistic thinking. I really doubt if the physician members of American Medical Association (likely as religious as the rest of America) are aware that half the authors of its publication "Reader's Guide to Alternative Medicine" are CSICOP board members, much less know anything about the anti-religious bias of the parent organization.

  Actual science to an organization like CSICOP is irrelevant. In fact, their advisory board has several who, like magician Randi, could hardly qualify as having good scientific credentials. An interesting converse is true as well: science has little need for thought police like CSICOP warning them to stay away from the unscientific. Medical researchers are, by and large, cautious and meticulous. The gold standard of research - the double blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial - was created to avoid observer bias. Scientists don't need CSICOP to keep them on the alert - they can take care of themselves quite well, thank you.

• Alternative Medicine: Probing Its Core -- BY CHRISTINE KILGORE It’s hugely popular, but can it stand up to outcomes analysis? Why did the Oxford Health Plan decide to cover some alternative medical treatments? They did this to basically compete with other HMOs, and without one shred of evidence that any of the AM services were scientifically based.
• Alternative Medicine: Bridging Mind, Body, and Wallet -- BY EMILY HAYES -- Consumer demand has created a rich market ripe for the picking A glimpse of the blossoming market for alternative medicine is enough to convert a skeptical healthcare executive into a true believer, or at least an open-minded observer of the "natural healing" movement.

  One need look no further than the local supermarket checkout stand to know that unconventional self-healthcare is on many patients' minds. Every women's magazine from Glamour to Good Housekeeping has run major pieces with impressive photo spreads and resource checklists that help readers distinguish the good from the bad in alternative medicine.

  With or without conclusive evidence, consumers-and their employers-are pushing the market forward with an all-American willingness to experiment and spend.

• A Fixed Star in Health Care Reform: The Emerging Paradigm of Holistic Healing - Michael H Cohen - Arizona State Law Journal This article examines the extent to which the legal system accommodates, or even tolerates, a broader spectrum of healing than "medicine." Section I of this article explores the regulatory problems posed by a paradigm shift from strictly medical to more holistic forms of healing. Section II analyzes state licensing schemes regulating the "practice of medicine" and the way courts have interpreted these statutes when confronted with alternative practitioners. Section III places the legislative and judicial response to alternative healers in historical context and evaluates whether existing statutes and judicial attitudes toward healers actually serve the values they espouse, namely, preventing fraud and protecting health care consumers. Section IV suggests avenues for regulatory reform that disentangle the prevention of fraud from the protection of medical orthodoxy, and that more fully serve consumer choice and patient autonomy.