NZ Skeptics were recently contacted by a journalist in response to an Official Information Act request which revealed the numbers of people and their occupations entering the country under the guise of being a critical health worker.
Mark Hanna has written a great blog post detailing the issues the Chiropractic Board has had getting their members to abide by their codes and New Zealand law. While I'm not surprised to hear about Chiropractors' efforts to circumvent laws designed to protect patients, it is disappointing to hear. The Chair of the board wrote in their newsletter about a worrying experience she had:
The Society for Science Based Healthcare has recently submitted complaints about articles in two newspapers.
Mark Hanna and I wrote a letter to the New Zealand Medical Journal about research we had completed showing that the majority of chiropractors break the Chiropractic Board policy on advertising. The policy states:
A group of 9 skeptics visited the Mind Body Spirit fair in Taita, Wellington yesterday. We had a good time, and saw lots of weird and wonderful things on offer.
An osteopath in Christchurch has been disciplined for treating a patient's toothache by touching her breast.
Chiropractic has had a colourful history since its invention in the 19th Century.
The nzskeptics Yahoo discussion group has been very busy of late, with December 2009 registering more than 300 new messages - the largest number in the almost five years of the group's existence. In large measure this has been thanks to contributions from a couple of participants who hold views which I would assume most of our members don't share.
In his previous Hokum Locum column (NZ Skeptic 90) John Welch commented on an article on Chiropractic that appeared in the Marlborough Express on 22 August 2008. This relied upon innuendo, blog sites, opinions and basic mistruths to validate a spurious argument.
I thought they were all bogus! A Motueka man, Michael Dawson, was fined $4000 for describing himself as a chiropractor. This upset Nelson chiropractor Dr John Dawson who was quoted as saying his "unrelated namesake tainted the industry." Quite apart from Dr Dawson's pretentious use of the title 'Dr', his description of chiropractic as an industry is particularly apt. It is a massage business based on aggressive marketing and creating a non-existent need for gullible people to have their backs rubbed and clicked.
It will be interesting to see how the government handles the latest health scare which is being helped along by the usual sensationalist media reporting. How about this example: "The men who made the poisons that blighted a New Plymouth community…." (Sunday Star Times, 12 September 2004).
Bob Brockie gets himself a qualification in acupuncture
In which John Riddell continues his pub night discussions.
A colouring book for young patients of chiropractors says "A is for alligator and adjustment. B is for bells and for back. C is for caterpillar and for chiropractor. D is for dog and for doctor." The latter two may have more in common than is apparent at first glance.
An attempt at chiropractic consultancy in Southland schools didn't do too well after their dubious practices were debated by the local community.