A journal, but not as we know it

Siouxsie Wiles takes a look at a new medical journal - available at all good supermarkets.

I'm a scientist. I know that the word journal has several meanings, but when I use it I'm referring to a collection of scholarly works that have been peer-reviewed. So when I first laid eyes on The New Zealand Journal of Natural Medicine (NZJNM) you can forgive me for assuming that the inclusion of 'journal' in the title was intended to convey the air of a scholarly publication. That it was for sale ($9.90) at a New World supermarket in Auckland was my first clue to the NZJNM's true nature.

The NZJNM claims to feature "100 pages of the most vitally important health information you may ever read". The magazine was launched in May 2011 and is published quarterly by the Full Court Press Ltd, based out of a PO Box in Pt Chevalier in Auckland. It is edited by Katherine Smith and Jonathan Eisen. If the name Jonathan Eisen rings a bell, he is the editor of Uncensored magazine, and is active on the 'chemtrails' front.* To see where he stands on health, this is how Jonathan begins his editorial for issue 11 (November 2013 - February 2014):

"Medical 'science' is killing us."

What follows are, in my opinion, 100 pages of misinformation and hysteria. We have articles on the dangers of vaccination (infertility and shaken baby syndrome) and claims that "controversial doctor" Andrew Wakefield has been proven right, that the MMR vaccine can cause autism. Umm, no. Andrew Wakefield has in fact been struck off by the UK General Medical Council, and there is a huge body of evidence that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. We also have an article on Vitamin C, a homeopath's treatment of ear infections, and some "Controversial Alternative Cancer Treatments" that we may not know about. Like bicarbonate of soda. I kid you not. Apparently cancer is caused by yeast infections and bicarbonate of soda is the solution. Although this seems to contradict another statement later in the same article that "our bodies contain everything we need to heal ourselves from every possible disease, but hectic lifestyles, poor diet, high levels of stress, and our faulty medical system have repressed our natural ability to heal".

Another author begins: "I do not want to pretend that this is an impartial investigation. Instead, I am now fully convinced that most diseases are indeed caused by the medical system". So writes Walter Last, a natural healing enthusiast, who I assume is the same person who has a website selling $30 books on how to overcome cancer, diabetes and asthma using self-healing, whatever that is.

Scattered amongst the articles are the adverts, for courses on "children massaging children" ($350 for a two-day course), for homeopathy and iridology, as well as products like paint and hoodies that can shield you from electromagnetic radiation and Genopathic® remedies that are "specifically formulated to target and change electromagnetic frequencies within the body's blood and nervous system". Sounds dangerous!

Much of the content of the magazine seems to come from well-known international online purveyors of misinformation but there is some New Zealand-specific content. No doubt inspired by the recent referendum to reinstate fluoridation in Hamilton, there is an article on the dangers of fluoride along with the obligatory accompanying photo of a bag of sodium silicofluoride with a big toxic biohazard sign. Frankly, I think the whole magazine should have a big toxic sign, or at the very least a health warning plastered over the cover. I normally don't make New Year's resolutions, but for 2014 it's going to be to get the NZJNM either renamed or off the supermarket shelf. Who's with me?!

• Or it may be because, like me, you are interested in the open access movement and know of Prof Jonathan Eisen who is an evolutionary biologist from the University of California, Davis who cofounded the Public Library of Science (PLOS).