In the last issue I discussed how quackery can be practised by New Zealand doctors with impunity, "if they do so honestly and in good faith." Alaska has a similar clause which only disciplines maverick doctors if they harm their patients. In fact, the latest NCAF newsletter outlines how a Dr Rowen has been appointed to the state medical board after "curing" the governor's wife of lumbago by extracting one of her teeth. The link between the tooth and the back was made by an electro-acupuncture circuit using a Vega machine.

An American study reported in the GP Weekly (2 Sep 1992) found that chronic fatigue syndrome was indistinguishable from depressive disorders. (Refer also Skeptic 21) Patients diagnosed as having CFS were likely to believe that their illness had a viral cause, but it is more likely that CFS is a new age variant of the 19th century neurasthenia.1

One of the techniques used by quacks is to attack conventional medicine as being a conspiracy against the laiety.

Last year there was an excellent article published in Metro magazine about a young boy, Kurt Boyle, with a mysterious illness causing paralysis. The family had featured earlier on the Holmes show when they alleged that their son had been mistreated by the Hospital staff, who were treating him for a psychological problem.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) has been described as epidemic neuromyasthenia, Iceland disease, Royal Free disease and post-infective fatigue syndrome. I will refer to it as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a good neutral description free of unproven association with infective illnesses.

It's beginning! I have long wondered when our health system would give in to public demands for fringe medicine, and I see that the West Auckland Health District has appointed a part-time naturopath offering alternative or complementary methods for the treatment of smoking, alcohol misuse and high blood pressure and including nutritional advice. This at a time when the Board's own nutrition services are struggling for funding.

In issue 16, I reported on an AIDS treatment scam run by a British doctor, James Sharp, and an Iraqi vet. This had been exposed as such by an investigative journalist.

"Repetitive strain injury": an iatrogenic epidemic of simulated injury.

Anabolic steroids were in the news during the Commonwealth Games and Dr Michael Kennedy has been studying their use by athletes for the past ten years. His conclusion is that "anabolic steroids have no effect on aerobic sports, such as running and swimming, but may lead to a small improvement in the performance of trained weightlifters." He quotes a 1972 study that showed when athletes were given placebo and told they were steroids, they got stronger and trained harder.

A recent leading article in The New Zealand Medical Journal looked at Diet and Behaviour. Food intolerance was strongly associated with the mother's level of education. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing? As regards the putative link between sugar and problem behaviours the article says "'...it is just as likely that restless or aggressive children seek out more sugar as that sugar causes the inappropriate behaviour." The authors conclude "...it should be recognized that modification of a particular child's diet is almost always accompanied by changes in management."