Dr. Anke Zimmermann, ND, FCAH, Naturopathic Pediatrics. Naturopathic and Homeopathic Care for Children in Victoria, BC. Practice Focus on Developmental Disorders, Child and Youth Mental Health, Auto-Immune Disorders and Vaccine and Medication Injuries.
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 Vaccines, Homeopathy, Autism, Nutrition and more 

Georgian College Cancels Diploma in Homeopathy - and CBC News Violates all Journalistic Standards

2/11/2018

42 Comments

 
Georgian College cancels diploma in homeopathy, CBC violates all journalistic standards

IN BRIEF

Georgian College cancels diploma in homeopathy after aggressive attacks from a handful of medical doctors and anti-scientists. CBC writes an embarrassing article full of bias and factual mistakes about homeopathy in response, which violates their own journalistic standards and practices. Here is my rebuttal, fasten your seat belt. 
By Dr. Anke Zimmermann, ND, FCAH

Georgian College Cancels Diploma in Homeopathy

Georgian College cancelled their new three-year diploma program for homeopathy after intense and aggressive attacks from a handful of medical doctors and 'scientists' representing special interest groups. The fact that a college can be bullied into cancelling an educational program by a handful of individuals is already very sad but it is even sadder that the CBC, our national news agency, engaged in such misinformed, biased and manipulative reporting, creating a propaganda piece instead of objective information. You can read the article here. 

​
I therefore decided to file a complaint with the Ombudsman of the CBC as the article violates every single one of the Journalistic Standards and Practices the CBC espouses. I strongly encourage anyone who uses homeopathy, who wants choice in health care, or who simply wants better journalism, especially from our National Broadcaster and news agency,  to also file a complaint.
Here is what I wrote, you can use this for inspiration but please write in your own words or they will not accept it as a separate complaint.

Dear Ms. Enkin,

I am writing to file a complaint in regards to the article “Georgian College cancels diploma in homeopathy”, written by Kelly Crowe and published on February 9 by CBC News online.

The content of the article stands in direct conflict with every single one of the journalistic standards and practices that are part of the CBC's mandate. 

CBC proclaims to be Canada’s national news and information service and espouses the following values: To serve the public interest, to reflect diversity, to protect our independence, to act responsibly and to be accountable, to strive for accuracy, fairness and balance, impartiality and integrity. This article violates every single one of those values. It is highly inaccurate, misleading, biased and definitely not impartial, does not reflect diversity, but rather the opinions of a special interest group, which does not bode well for impartiality or integrity. 

Here are my concerns:

Ms. Crowe writes: “The provincially funded community college had planned to start courses in September to train students to use sugar pills to treat "acute and chronic health conditions." 

The college did not plan to train students to use ‘sugar pills’, a derogatory and inaccurate statement, but to train professional homeopaths how to administer homeopathic remedies.

The program was approved by the Geogian College Board of Governers and the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development as Ms. Crowe states herself, quite possibly the only shred of truth in the entire article. 

For your information, homeopathic remedies are prepared by a lengthy process of potentization, which includes repeated serial dilution and agitation. The solution is then used to medicate lactose or sucrose pellets which are medically active and far from sugar pills or placebos.

Some facts about homeopathy:

Picture
Homeopathy has a 200-year history of use around the world and hundreds of studies meeting modern validity criteria have been published showing effectiveness of homeopathic remedies for many conditions.

Please take a look at this partial list of published homeopathic research compiled by my Australian colleague Dr. Robert Medhurt, posted on this website http://www.homeopathy-healing.com/research-homeopathy-robert-medhurst/.

Several years ago the Swiss government commissioned the most extensive research review by a government to date regarding the effectiveness of homeopathy. The report was published in 2011, entitled “Homeopathy in Healthcare - Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs, by Bornhoft and Matthiessen and published by Springer Verlag. http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783642206375/.

This breakthrough report affirmed that homeopathic treatment is both effective and cost-effective and that homeopathic treatment should be reimbursed by Switzerland’s national health insurance program. As a result homeopathy is now covered by the Swiss medical services as long as a medical doctor prescribes the remedies.

India has widely embraced homeopathy on a state and national level. In 1973, the Government of India recognized homeopathy as one of the national systems of medicine and set up the Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) to regulate its education and practice.
Picture
One of many homeopathic medical colleges in India - photo credit Mike Andrews
Only qualified registered homeopaths can practice homeopathy in India. At present, in India, homeopathy is the third most popular method of medical treatment after allopathy and Ayurveda. Currently there are over 200,000 registered homeopathic doctors, with approximately 12,000 more being added every year.

India is also using homeoprophylaxis, the use of homeopathy for the prevention of infectious diseases. In one study alone 20 million children were immunized against Japanese Encephalitis, demonstrating an excellent success rate whereby death from JE dropped from 1500+ cases per year to 0 in a matter of 5 years.
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Other countries around the world are also supporting homeopathy. In Germany, for instance, all medical students are required to take courses in homeopathy and homeopathy is widely integrated into general medical practice. The use of homeopathy by general medical practitioners is similar in France and Belgium.

The Cuban government has also long supported homeopathy and has also conducted large-scale trials of homeoprophylaxis on millions of people with excellent results. You can read about one of these trials here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=cuba+leptospirois%2C+homeoprophylaxis

The Royal Family Supports Homeopathy

England's Royal family is a strong supporter of homepoathy. The Queen's personal physician is a homeopathic MD, Dr. Peter Fisher. Ever wonder why she is still able to be an active monarch at age 91? Homeopathy! If anyone can have the best of the best it would be the Queen, no? Listen to this debate between the Queens personal physician and a skeptic about homeopathy. 
All these are some simple facts and statistics that can’t be denied and anyone with a grade 12 education or less and access to a computer can learn the truth for themselves.

Yet, Ms. Crowe chose to completely ignore any scientific evidence or government use of homeopathy in favour of allowing a couple of Canadian medical doctors with no background in homeopathy whatsoever to malign this system of medicine.

This is not unbiased reporting and does not live up to any journalistic standards.

In addition, she only quote two medical doctors who have no background in homeopathy as her experts, including Dr. Giroshev, a pain specialist and part-time emergency room physician. 


She writes:“Giorshev is already seeing evidence of homeopathy's impact in his hospital's emergency room.
"We see people, they have the flu and they're sick and I ask, 'Did you get a flu shot?' and they say, 'My homeopath gave me a flu shot,' and I think, 'Well, you actually didn't get anything.'"

Now, I have no problem with an article presenting both sides of a story; that is what journalism is supposed to do. So by all means, she can quote Dr. Giorshev, although I doubt that his patients told him they received a homeopathic flu shot or that even any of his patients said so. Is it in the charts, can we interview those patients or did Dr. Giorshev just make it up to prove an opinion?

Bias galore

Doing a little research on him I see that he is on the Board of the Ontario Medical Association which is heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. I’m sure Ms. Crowe didn’t bother to check that either.

He may be on the industry’s payroll, which again, would be fine, had Ms. Crowe brought other opinions to the table.

Now, some homeopaths may offer homeoprophylaxis for the flu and other conditions, but a properly trained homeopath does not call it a homeopathic flu shot, that is a misstatement.

The use of homeopathic remedies to prevent infectious disease is called homeoprophyalxis, as mentioned, and is not related to vaccination although the end effect of preventing infectious disease can be similar.

Also it’s not as if the conventional flu shot works so well, Canada’s top public health official recently commented publicly that this year’s flu shot is only 10% effective. But Canadians pay $1.5-2 billion per year for advertising and administration of the flu shot – call me crazy but is this not a more important story than to spread misinformation about homeopathy and enjoy the demise of a promising educational program which would have enabled more Canadians to access choices in health care?

Choices that they could very easily make if they lived in Switzerland, England or even India where the government covers the cost. If anything, we should be learning from them. It would save health care dollars, tax dollars.

This is in the interest of the public and the CBCs should be reporting on this if it was truly independent and not influenced by politics or economic factors.

Years of Nonsense

 The article continues with the subheading 'Years of nonsense'. Is this is a fact or an opinion? Is it unbiased? Is such as sub-heading responsible or accountable as the CBC's journalistic standards and practice guideline espouse? Fair? Does it show integrity? Or is it slander?

To further quote from her article: "To put students through three years of nonsense so that they can go out and practice placebo treatments is totally unfair to those students and it's unfair to the public," said Schwarcz. 

Years of nonsense? Let's take a look at the course outline for the college, you can read the whole outline here. Does that look like nonsense to you?


Mandatory Courses
  • BIOL1036 Human Health Systems and Biochemistry
  • BIOL2008 Human Pathophysiology
  • BUSI3007 Business Principles for the Regulated Professional
  • HLTH1005 Holistic Nutrition
  • HLTH1006 Holistic Nutrition and Lifestyle Management
  • HOMP1000 Foundations of Homeopathy
  • HOMP1001 Professional Practice and Jurisprudence
  • HOMP1002 Introduction to Materia Medica
  • HOMP1003 Introduction to Case Taking
  • HOMP1004 Homeopathic Repertory
  • HOMP2000 Materia Medica 2
  • HOMP2001 Physical Examination and Emergency Medicine
  • HOMP2002 Repertorization and Case Analysis
  • HOMP2003 Homeopathy Therapeutics 1
  • HOMP2005 Conventional and Herbal Medicines
  • HOMP2006 Materia Medica 3
  • HOMP2007 Homeopathic Dispensary
  • HOMP2008 Homeopathy Therapeutics 2
  • HOMP3000 Homeopathy Therapeutics 3
  • HOMP3001 Homeopathy Therapeutics 4
  • HOMP3002 Homeopathy Practice Management
  • HOMP3003 Environmental Medicine
  • HOMP3005 Contemporary Integrative Medicine
  • HOMP3006 Research Methodologies
  • HOMP3007 Preparation for Provincial Regulation P
  • SYL1001 Introduction To Psychology

For the record, an education in homeopathy is far from being years of nonsense.
Homeopathy is hands-down the most rigorous and difficult medical science to study and apply. A three-year education may not sound like a lot and honestly, it is just a beginning when it comes to homeopathy. I have been practicing as an ND homeopath for 26 years and I spend hours every day studying homeopathy and analyzing my patient’s cases. Ever professional homeopath does the same. We all groan about it and love it at the same time because our work is not only highly rewarding but also very interesting. A wonderful career for very intelligent, inquisitive people who love to help others. 

We have thousands of remedies to choose from and finding the correct remedy, which is selected based on all aspects of the person's condition as well as their life history, emotional state, family history and much more can take hours of research for each case. 


It requires extreme attention in diligence to consistently deliver good results in homeopathy, not to mention we usually see cases where conventional medicine has given up on the patient. This just adds to the pressure. Would be stay in practice if it didn’t work? Not likely.

So to ask medical doctors with no training or experience in homeopathy to comment on the system is akin to asking a mechanic to comment on the intricacies of brain surgery. 

Misquoting and misleading

Georgian college cancels homeopathy diploma, CBC violates all journalistic standards
 Furthermore:

“The program documents say homeopathic vaccines, called "nosodes," were part of the program. One course —  HOMP1002— would have taught "concepts related to remedy selection, aggravations, antidotes, polycrests and nosodes." ("Polycrest" is another term for homeopathic treatments.)”

Now, as you can plainly see yourself, here is the actual section of the program document in question:

“HOMP1002 Introduction to Materia Medica 42.0 Hours:
Students are introduced to the materia medica of homeopathy and develop a basic understanding of the classifications and relationships of homeopathic medicines. Using established homeopathic principles and practices, students begin an analysis of the materia medica. Concepts related to remedy selection, aggravations, antidotes, polycrests and nosodes as well as inimical and complementary relationships are discussed. Students begin their investigation of individual medicines through the study of first aid remedies. P- HOMP1000 Foundations of Homeopathy”


First of all, the program outline, as you can see, does not mention ‘homeopathic vaccines’ at all. So where exactly did Ms Crowe read that? 

Secondly, nosodes are not homeopathic vaccines but remedies made from any number of disease organisms or products, many of which are frequently used in homeopathy to treat various chronic conditions. Some nosodes, a handful out of hundreds of such remedies, also have applications for the prevention of infectious diseases. Non-nosodes can also be used to prevent infectious diseases, for example the remedy Lathyrus sativus, a plant in the pea family, has been successfully used to prevent polio and homeopathic Belladonna, Deadly Nightshade has a long history of use in the prevention of scarlet fever.

As mentioned previously, this is called ‘homoeprophylaxis’, not homeopathic vaccines. A method entirely different from vaccines. Ms. Crowe is intentionally misleading and confusing the reader here. Her statements are neither accurate, nor unbiased or fair, or shows integrity.

More sloppyness

Ms. Crowe also failed to do her homework on ‘polycrests’, which are not ‘another term for homeopathic treatment’ as she states, but refers to the use of certain remedies which have a multiple indications for use, therefor the name ‘poly’, as in many. Embarrassing isn’t it, to have such a sloppy journalist on your team, no? I would give her an F for accuracy and another F for ‘fired’.

poly-

1.
a combining form with the meanings “much, many” and, in chemistry,“polymeric,” used in the formation of compound words:
polyandrous; polyculture; polyethylene.
OriginExpand
< Greek, combining form representing polýs; akin to Old English felamany. See plus


Her next 'expert witness', Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office of Science and Society, is also welcome to share his uneducated opinion but again, it would have been only appropriate if in addition to these two obvious haters of homeopathy an actual expert on homeopathy had been interviewed to provide balance for the article.

Novel idea, I know, but I believe a common strategy in professional journalism.


I could mention a few candidates, including representatives of the other homeopathic colleges in Toronto or the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, also  in Toronto. They are not hard to find.  

And why is Ms. Crowe stating another opinion as fact without clarifying that is is just an opinion? “Homeopathy is based on a scientifically implausible belief in an unproven theory — that water can be exposed to plants or minerals and retain a memory of those molecules, even after all traces of the compound have been eliminated through dilution. Added to that is the unproven conviction that the water, sprayed onto sugar pellets, has curative powers for a wide range of human disease.” Not written as quote or as an opinion, but as a fact and also incorrect.

Not only plants and minerals are used in homeopathy but also many other substances, including animal substances, different types of radiation, medications, vaccines and numerous chemical compounds. 
The remedies are not made by a process of dilution but by potentization, which included vigorous agitation of the solution between steps. Without this addition of energy the system does not work. So Ms. Crowe really does not understand the process at all. 


She could have written that some people think the above statement which she wrote is true, but that the actual scientific evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathy contradicts this opinions and at the very least should warrant further scientific inquiry. Much closer to the truth.

Science is about Finding the Truth, not denying it

Science is about finding the truth, not denying it. So what if we don’t always understand how something works, does that mean it doesn’t work or that we just haven’t figured it out yet? Should we stop looking?

We don’t know how gravity works and we’re not falling off the planet, nor do we stop investigating this phenomenon.

Why would so-called scientists protest research being done with homeopathy? Is this not a much more interesting story? If homeopathy is a placebo, as these experts claim, then no harm is done and if it works maybe we can learn something, help people, reduce human suffering, save costs. Investigate that! I find it most interesting that anyone would try and prevent certain research from being done. But the same critics complain that there is not enough research.

Are the Swiss, a country held in high regards around the world, complete idiots? Do they only know how to make chocolate and clocks? Why would their government embrace homeopathy when they found it both effective and cost-effective?
Right, the Swiss know nothing about money, that’s why the whole world brings them theirs!

And research on homeopathy for children with ADHD? Why on Earth not? If it works, and it does as I frequently treat children with ADHD, would it not be better than to medicate young children with drugs that have many side effects and that have never been studied for long-term use? We are now seeing young men with heart attacks from years of use of stimulant medications for ADHD. Is that okay?

But to protest against even looking, that is not science, that is oppression.

Homeopathy is and always has been the biggest threat to the pharmaceutical industry in the world. Homeopathy is extremely inexpensive, very effective and has the potential to heal people at a deep level, thereby creating better health and less need for drugs, not something the pharmaceutical industry wants.

7000 totally ineffective homeopathic remedies

To continue:

“At McMaster University, researchers are studying the homeopathic nosodes in human volunteers, but the purpose of that study is to prove they don't work, according to lead research Mark Loeb.
"Our hypothesis is that these homeopathic vaccines will not show any impact on the immune system," Loeb told CBC News.”

Running a study with the expectation of a certain outcome is also not exactly science, something Ms. Crowe failed to notice.

And why does Ms. Crowe continue to refer to nosodes and ‘homeopathic vaccines’  as if that is all homeopathy has to offer? Does she have any idea that there are over 7300 different remedies available in homeopathy? And that maybe only 20 or 30 are commonly used for homeoprophylaxis? Perhaps this would be worth mentioning.
Joe Schwarcz, McMaster, homeopathy
Prof Joe Schwarcz, photo credit Cliff Spicer, Canadian Press. Question: What is he doing? Selling Listerine? This is a professor? And a science skeptic? And we're supposed to trust his opinion on homeopathy?
“But Schwarcz said there's already been plenty of evidence that homeopathy is ineffective.
"Non-existent molecules do not cure existing diseases. It's as simple as that." “

Well, Dr. Schwarcz, have you ever heard about radiation therapy? Used for cancer all the time, in spite of there being nonexistent molecules. Or X-rays? Perhaps UV therapy for infant jaundice or psoriasis? Sunlight anyone? No molecules there but life would not exist on the planet without it.

Just because there are no molecules in something does not mean it can’t have an effect, sorry, Dr. Schwarcz and Kelly Crowe. In addition, Dr. Schwarcz has probably never heard of nano-medicine or quantum physics. After all, he is a professional skeptic, basically an opinion on legs, a big yap, who has not bothered to actually look for himself, because that would be tragic for a scientist. Let’s not do the research, for heaven’s sake.

A Sad Day for Canada and for Canadian Journalism

Georgian College cancels homeopathy diploma and CBC violates journalistic standards, a sad day for CanadaPicture
To sum up, this is a terrible piece of writing, poorly researched, inaccurate, biased, unbalanced, partial to one opinion, hostile to an entire system of medicine and its users and therefor non-inclusive, even though that is another value espoused in CBC’s journalistic standards. No trace of integrity in this writing.

In addition, it is a sad day in Canada when a few rogue medical doctors, most likely funded by Big Pharma are able to intimidate a college into dropping an educational course. Now this is a story that would have been worthy of an investigative piece of journalism.

Canada is a pluralistic society and we all deserve the chance to learn what we want, to see for ourselves, to think for ourselves, to have choices. That is freedom, that is democracy.

It is also safety. People interested in homeopathy will simply revert to obtaining their training elsewhere, online if necessary. It would be much safer for the public to see a professionally trained homeopath who was mentored by experienced clinicians in a classroom setting with peers, than someone whose training was purely or mostly done online.

I would very much appreciate a thoughtful response to my complaint as well as another article by the CBC correcting the mistakes and providing a more balanced report about homeopathy. The CBC is not doing Canadians any service with such poor and biased reporting.

The CBC can do far  better, both for itself and for Canada.

Kind regards,
​
Dr. Anke Zimmermann, ND, FCAH, Naturopathic Physician and Classical Homeopath

 Please write to the CBC and cc to all the other players as well, contact info again here:

Ombudsman of the CBC to submit through their website or ombudsman@cbc.ca if you want to email directly, makes it easier to cc

Ms. Kelly Crowe
kelly.crowe@cbc.ca
 
Professor Joe Schwarcz
Joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca
 
Dr. Christopher Giorshev
#2-279 Yonge St.
Barrie, Ontario L4N 7T9
 
Board of Governors – Georgian College
Boardofgovernors@georgiancollege.ca

Office of the President of Georgian College
Patty.bradley@georgiancollege.ca
 
Suzanne Fortier, Principal of McGill University in case you'd like to complain about Joe Schwarcz, I don't think the tax-payers should pay his salary either

suzanne.fortier@mcgill.ca
42 Comments
Linda Morken link
2/12/2018 07:29:40 am

Excellent article, Anke! I've shared it everywhere!

Reply
Anke
2/12/2018 12:20:45 pm

Thank you Linda!

Reply
Ted Kuntz
2/12/2018 09:17:39 am

Thank you Dr. Zimmermann for your thoughtful and well researched reply. The CBC seems to have sold its soul to the pharmaceutical industry and has lost all sense of moral and journalistic integrity.

Reply
Anke
2/12/2018 12:15:51 pm

Ted, yes, sadly. I used to enjoy their news and other programs, but that is long gone.

Reply
David
2/12/2018 10:35:42 am

Thanks for this Anke - I agree with pretty much everything you've written. To add, the article refers to a research study that apparently "fizzled". The primary objective of the study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26574487) was to see if conducting a study was feasible in that setting and the conclusion was that it wasn't feasible. That doesn't mean that the study fizzled - the study actually answered the research question. The reporter seems to have blatantly editorialized the research to defend their biased position.

Reply
Anke Zimmermann
2/12/2018 12:00:00 pm

Thank you, David, blatantly editorialized is the word.

Reply
Sandra link
2/12/2018 02:59:45 pm

Well done. Deserving of Kudos in the highest potency!

Reply
Christine Soloaky
2/13/2018 03:54:15 pm

I was livid when I heard of the latest demonisation of homeopathy. Thank-you for your fantastic rebuttal Anke!

Reply
David Hallam link
2/15/2018 08:00:20 pm

The manifest and extremely ugly bias exhibited in Crowe's 'reporting' is of a piece with the grotesque side-taking of the CBC in its coverage of cannabis, for which medicine it still uses the racist term 'marihuana'. And as with the kow-towing to big pharma in the case of cannabis, this cancellation of a much-needed course of study in homeopathy is entirely due to vile political turf protection. The cancellation also has absolutely nothing to do with medical science which, as you have shown, supports the efficacy of homeopathy for a wide range of illnesses and pathological conditions.

Reply
Anke Zimmermann
2/15/2018 08:51:31 pm

David, well put and good points about the cannabis coverage too.

Reply
El Mat
2/16/2018 12:43:27 pm

The National Post violated all journalistic standards too, with their article on the same topic, The two articles actually read as if they had been written by the same person. Do journalists take dictation?

Reply
Anke Zimmermann
2/16/2018 12:59:43 pm

El, I do wonder about that, dictation from special interest groups and corporations. The days of real journalism, at least in the mass media, seem to be long gone. And thanks for the heads up, I'll check to see what the NP wrote.

Reply
Raman Dhaliwal
2/16/2018 04:06:02 pm

Thanks a lot Dr. Zimmermann, feeling so relieved after reading your post! Was really wondering why CBC couldn't get a homeopath to speak about homeopathy? Kudos for presenting facts in such a beautiful way! Hahnemann's blessings with you!!!!

Reply
Anke Zimmermann
2/16/2018 06:19:52 pm

Raman,
Exactly, you'd think that speaking to a homeopath would be the least they could do.
Thank you and please write to them as well. Dr. Z

Reply
Claude Lainesse
2/17/2018 02:36:29 pm

Raman, CBC might have tried to find a homeopath to speak but in Ontario, where I practice, homeopaths refuse to speak to journalists because their words are taken out of context, twisted and they are made to look like fools. It has happened too many times in the past. The only journalist who actually seems to have ethics is Anna-Maria Tremante who had a radio broadcast a few months ago where she gave both sides of the issue equal representation. The rest of them don't want to hear what we have to say. Sad!

Reply
Mojtaba Razavi
2/17/2018 05:17:53 am

Dr. Anke Zimmermann,

Thank you for writing such a detailed and neutral complaint. Complementary to what you've explained in your article, I would encourage everyone who has a sense of searching for reality to review the ethics guidelines, published by the CAJ (Canadian Association of Journalists), which can be accessed in here:

http://caj.ca/content.php?page=ethics-guidelines

Specifically, I would refer everyone to the "INDEPENDENCE" section of the guidelines, quote

"We do not give favoured treatment to advertisers and special interests. We resist their efforts to influence the news."

Unquote

Clearly, CBC is jeopardizing the above ethics guidelines.
I'm not a Homeopath specialist, but I am a homeopathic patient who follows the related news. Appreciate those experts who can support such a complaint in any way they can.
All the best,
Mojtaba

Reply
Ashfaq ahmad
2/17/2018 07:37:00 am

Thanks for defending homeopathy Anke. I'm a homeopath. After my master in applied science I did diploma in homeopathy, being witnessing success in numerous unresolved or destroyed cases(by allopathic system) in my family.

Reply
Kathryn Lloyd
2/17/2018 01:07:22 pm

Thank you so much for writing your amazing complaint, and for including the link so others can easily file a complaint (I'm going to, and I hope everyone else who commented, or who reads what you wrote will do so also). I find it shocking and appalling that the CBC would write such an inaccurate and obviously biased article!

Reply
Claude Lainesse
2/17/2018 02:49:12 pm

Dear Anka. Thank you so much for taking which I'm sure was a very long time to write this excellent complaint to the ombudsman. I hope that its conclusion will be a journalistic correction and perhaps a shake up at the CBC but I'm not holding my breath. They, and the rest of the media, are in the corporation's pocket (mainly pharmaceutical) and act as their mouth piece. The bigger issue is how 'science' has become 'scientism' and no one is allowed to have their own opinion or present a different view, even when supported by research, without being called Anti-science and relegated to the ranks of criminals. So much for freedom of choice, freedom of expression. We can't let this happen anymore!

Reply
Anke Zimmermann
2/17/2018 03:30:59 pm

Claude, thank you and yes, that is the main problem, the mainstream media has lost its freedom to critically examine important issues, creating manufactured consent via propaganda instead of stimulating real discussion. A slippery slope reminiscent of authoritarianism.

Reply
Shelley ONeill
2/17/2018 10:47:43 pm

Boom!!! Just such a wonderful rebuttal. I was distressed at hearing the program had been bullied enough by a handful of arrogant doctors that they closed. And was horrified to see this hatchet job of a reporter gleefully celebrating those events and trying to pass off lies and misinformation as fact. I'm a physician and first year homeopathy student and agree that homeopathy is the most difficult and magnificent system of medicine in existence. I nominate you for homeopathic warrior of the year and my personal hero. Thank you!

Reply
Ank
2/18/2018 10:48:48 am

Shelly, very well put. Now write to them and tell them what you think about that hatchet job. And if you ever want to preceptor with me or have any questions about homeopathy feel free to reach out.

Reply
Beth LH
2/18/2018 06:17:08 am

Thank you so much for this comprehensive and intelligent response to both the horrendous quality of the CBC reporting, as well as the cowardice of the administration at Georgian. Homeopathy won't go away because it works! It offers relief to patients who have had both bad results or no results from mainstream conventional medicine. I am disgusted and dismayed by the assault on homeopathy by those who have sworn to "Do No Harm", but are unwilling to open their eyes to other ways of offering relief to those who are suffering. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Reply
Anke
2/18/2018 10:47:10 am

Beth, you're welcome and do write as well. The more letters the better!

Reply
Jennifer Bodenham
2/18/2018 09:51:49 am

Thank you for this article. It has me so upset I will be writing a letter to CBC today.

Reply
Altaf Minhas
2/18/2018 10:25:38 am

Thank you sir for defending Homeopathy, I my self a homeopath and talked to our college registrar and L9T of other colleagues personally after this incidence for this kind of action but you wrote everything what should be written, thanks again.
Altaf Minhas
Homeopath

Reply
Anke
2/18/2018 10:45:21 am

Altaf,
Thank you and please do write as well. The more voices the better. I'm a woman btw but sir is just fine! Best, Dr. Anke

Reply
Altaf
2/18/2018 10:52:41 am

Sorry .Dr Anke, sure i will write, thanks.
Altaf

Kathryn Lloyd
2/18/2018 11:43:13 am

Glad to see all the supportive comments. If every single one of us files a complaint to the CBC Ombudsman - the ombudsman will have to read each of our complaints. No matter how "good" any of the complaints is, it will be numbers that will count, so please, everyone, do file a complaint. It's very easy and Anke has included the link for us!

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Sandra link
2/18/2018 05:32:36 pm

In the United States, the mainstream press is well funded by the large drug companies. The advertising on shows verifies it.

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Anke Zimmermann
2/18/2018 07:46:05 pm

Here is a complaint letter another person wrote to the ombudsman. She asked me to post it here on her behalf, it may give you more ideas on what to include if you wish to write. Please do.

Dear Ms. Enkin,

I am writing to file a complaint about the article “Georgian College cancels diploma in homeopathy”. It was written by Kelly Crowe and published on February 9 by CBC News online.

I find the content of this article shocking, appalling and inflammatory. It is one-sided; it is patently biased, and on many points, it is inaccurate! It quotes only those who are against homeopathy! There are no quotes from experts involved in the field of homeopathy! This is not reporting - it feels more like ranting. It seems that Ms. Crowe has a very strong negative opinion about homeopathy and has written her article to support that opinion. Unless I'm very much mistaken, that is not the idea behind CBC reporting!

Georgian College was not introducing a field of study that is new to Ontario! Homeopathic colleges have long existed in Toronto, and homeopathy is also taught at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. The Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA), came into force on December 31, 1993, and was amended in June 2007. It provides a common legislative framework under which all regulated health professions in Ontario must function. Homeopathy is one of the 28 health professions that are regulated under the RHPA. Every regulated health profession in Ontario has, in addition to the RHPA, a profession-specific Act which establishes a regulatory college responsible for governing the profession to ensure the public is protected. The Homeopathy Act, 2007, establishes the College of Homeopathy of Ontario to govern homeopathy in Ontario. So for Ms. Crowe to "badmouth" homeopathy itself, instead of merely giving the facts about Georgian College deciding to cancel their three-year diploma course, is absurd. To refer to homeopathy as "pseudoscience" is absurd!

The CBC is Canada’s national news and information service, and according to the "Journalistic Standards and Practices - Our Mission and Values" (from the CBC Radio-Canada website), the CBC espouses the following values: To serve the public interest, to reflect diversity, to protect our independence, to act responsibly and to be accountable, to strive for accuracy, fairness and balance, impartiality and integrity. This article violates every single one of those values! It is highly inaccurate, misleading, biased and definitely not impartial. It does not reflect diversity, but rather the opinions of a special interest group. It refects neither impartiality nor integrity.
Further, included in the description of "Our Mission" are the following words: "We provide Canadians with information when and how they want it, through an evolving range of media". Reading the words "how they want it" stopped me in my tracks! The manner in which Georgian College cancelling the homeopathy diploma is provided is not how I want the CBC to provide me with information! In fact, it's the exact opposite.

The Canadian public deserves better than what should be an informative CBC article turning into a rant from a reporter who obviously has her own strong opinions and is mis-using her position in order to spout such ludicrous comments as " The provincially funded community college had planned to start courses in September to train students to use sugar pills to treat "acute and chronic health conditions." To purposefully attempt to give the impression that homeopaths merely hand out little pills made solely from sugar is irresponsible, and just one of the inaccuracies in Ms. Crowe's article. It's also, in my opinion, highly manipulative.

I would certainly not like to think that one single dollar of my taxes would go to pay a reporter such as this! Canadians deserve better - especially in this case, when many people might know very little, or nothing, about homeopathy, and they're being done a disservice when they are being given such an inaccurate portrayal of it. Also, the CBC deserves to be represented by non-biased reporters, who are skilled and ethical in doing their research and who can write a truly informative article that gives the whole picture.

In my opinion, at least two things need to happen.

1. Ms. Crowe needs to be firmly reminded of the standards that she must adhere to when writing for the CBC - the standards set out by the CBC itself.

2. The CBC needs to publish an article about homeopathic medicine that has been written by a reporter who is skilled at setting aside any preconceived notions, a reporter who is committed to searching for the truth, and who presents just that!

I suppose there is a third thing that I think would be appropriate, but perhaps Ms. Crowe deserves to first be given a chance to show that she will refrain from repeating such tactics in the future (before being told that she may no longer write fo

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Anke
2/18/2018 08:13:05 pm

Continuation of complaint letter above, (max word count reached)

I suppose there is a third thing that I think would be appropriate, but perhaps Ms. Crowe deserves to first be given a chance to show that she will refrain from repeating such tactics in the future (before being told that she may no longer write for the CBC - obviously someone who does not stick to the CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices is highly inappropriate to be submitting articles to the CBC). Which brings me to possibly an even more disturbing fact. And here it is:
Somehow, an article that adheres to none of the points included in the CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices has been put forward to the public! How could this even happen!? Is there no Editor who reads article? If so, is the Editor unaware of the CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices? Serious questions, to which I would like to think, the CBC will be interested in finding the answers!

I apologize for making this letter even longer than it already is, but since you'll be reading Ms. Crowe's article, I'd like to include something for you to read so that you will be able to understand some of my judgements regarding the biased nature of her article. I'll put it below my signature, and will also include the link from which I copied the information, in case you wish to read more on the topic.

Thank you so much for reading my complaint. I would appreciate a response from you, and am truly hoping that you view this issue as seriously as I do, and will address my specific concerns.

Respectfully,

Kathryn Lloyd
.........................
Clinical Research
People are often confused by research, not only because it can be overly technical but because some studies show that a therapy works and other studies shows that it doesn't. To solve this problem, a recent development in research is used, called a "meta-analysis," which is a systematic review of a body of research that evaluates the overall results of experiments.

In 1991, three professors of medicine from the Netherlands, none of them homeopaths, performed a meta-analysis of 25 years of clinical studies using homeopathic medicines and published their results in the British Medical Journal.4 This meta-analysis covered 107 controlled trials, of which 81 showed that homeopathic medicines were effective, 24 showed they were ineffective, and 2 were inconclusive.

The professors concluded, "The amount of positive results came as a surprise to us." Specifically, they found that:

13 of 19 trials showed successful treatment of respiratory infections
6 of 7 trials showed positive results in treating other infections
5 of 7 trials showed improvement in diseases of the digestive system
5 of 5 showed successful treatment of hay fever
5 of 7 showed faster recovery after abdominal surgery
4 of 6 promoted healing in treating rheumatological disease
18 of 20 showed benefit in addressing pain or trauma
8 of 10 showed positive results in relieving mental or psychological problems
13 of 15 showed benefit from miscellaneous diagnoses
Despite the high percentage of studies that provided evidence of success with homeopathic medicine, most of these studies were flawed in some way or another. Still, the researchers found 22 high-caliber studies, 15 of which showed that homeopathic medicines were effective. Of further interest, they found that 11 of the best 15 studies showed efficacy of these natural medicines, suggesting that the better designed and performed the studies were, the higher the likelihood that the medicines were found to be effective. Although people unfamiliar with research may be surprised to learn that most of the studies on homeopathy were flawed in one significant way or another,5 research in conventional medicine during the past 25 years has had a similar percentage of flawed studies.

With this knowledge, the researchers of the meta-analysis on homeopathy concluded, "The evidence presented in this review would probably be sufficient for establishing homeopathy as a regular treatment for certain indications."

http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/research_1.html

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Alicia
2/19/2018 06:30:12 am

So what can we start doing about this so we can actually save health care !! I am so sick of all these attacks on alternative medicine

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mountain
2/19/2018 06:58:24 am

you are absolutely right .every thing is proved in homeopathy but no one chek this .

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Nadia Bakir link
2/19/2018 09:24:51 am

NICE!! Very well written, informative and comprehensive letter Anke! Can't wait to hear their response.

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Brigitte Davis
2/19/2018 09:42:01 am

Eloquently done.
I hope that this reminds the CBC to better apply their journalistic code and that they have the courtesy to respond to your powerful letter.

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Nadia Bakir
2/19/2018 06:30:55 pm

Accidentally unsubscribed. Please resubcribe me to this post. Thx!

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Kathryn Lloyd
2/19/2018 07:43:13 pm

Alica, What can we do? I think the first thing we can do is to file a complaint with the CBC Ombudsman. If they hear from three or four people it could seem like "Oh well, not that many people were upset." If they hear from lots of people, it might end up with the best-case scenario ... that of the CBC providing accurate and balanced info, and writing another properly-researched article for the public! In my opinion, that'd be a good first step.

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Jennifer Doan link
2/25/2018 09:21:13 am

Excellent work Anke and great writing. Wondering how I can get this out for more people to see (and I could consider writing myself although I am not as good a writer : )). Can I post this on FB?

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Anke
2/25/2018 09:36:19 am

Jennifer, by all means post it on fb. Don't worry about being a good writer, I'm not that good myself really. I'm sure you'll write just fine. You can use some of the points I make as inspiration or just write whatever you feel. Best, Anke

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Matt Prinsen
4/1/2018 06:34:30 pm

Great response to a biased, disrespectful and unscientific article on homeopathy. Thanks for your public response.

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Anke Zimmermann
4/1/2018 07:34:43 pm

Thank you Matt and please write to them yourself as well!

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