Bad Science: the missing chapter...

[bignumber5]

I'm sure I'm not the only fan of Ben Goldacre on the forum, what with the high incidence of Guardian reading tendencies about these parts (and, I hope, some of the raw common sense that he alludes to the need for), and so I thought I'd share the good word, so to speak.

This is the ?missing chapter? about vitamin pill salesman Matthias Rath. Sadly I was unable to write about him at the time that book was initially published, as he was suing my ass in the High Court. The chapter is now available in the new paperback edition, and I?ve posted it here for free so that nobody loses out.

Although the publishers make a slightly melodramatic fuss about this in the promo material, it is a very serious story about the dangers of pseudoscience, as I hope you?ll see, and it was also a pretty unpleasant episode, not just for me, but also for the many other people he?s tried to sue, including Medecins Sans Frontieres and more. If you?re ever looking for a warning sign that you?re on the wrong side of an argument, suing Medecins Sans Frontieres is probably a pretty good clue.

Anyway, here it is, please steal it, print it, repost it, whatever, it?s free under a Creative Commons license, details at the end.

So here it is.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Good shout BN5 - I'll read that on the way home tonight

A great book anyway, recommended heartily

[Kells]

Seconded. I wanted to go to a lecture he gave recently at the IOP, but work got in the way :(

[SeanMacGabhann]

Anybody catch the good doctor on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe last week?

[RosieH]

Indeed.

The doctor spake and the doctor was good.

[Huguenot]

Good for you BN5. It's an excellent tale.

[Huguenot]

Actually, I'm being flippant.

I'm sure that some guys might interpret some of my postings as being 'angry', but they're not, of course. Generally they're intellectual brigandry. I'm exploring ideas ;-)

This issue (Matthias Rath and vitamins) makes me really angry. I become verbally incompetent.

This kind of dishonorable behaviour (touting snake oil) is genocidal, and it takes a particular kind of psychopath to pull it off. Waterboarding is not good enough.

It is not reasonable to lay the blame for embracing thse ideas at the door of Africa. If you haven't been there it would be difficult to explain the desperation and lack of education that these guys face in making everyday decisions.

It was characterised to me once as 'these guys will follow a guy running down the street shaking a chicken', and whilst essentially a belittling generalisation, it says a lot about Rath. He was a guy running down the street shaking a chicken. Nevertheless, he had the knowledge and insight to recognise the error in his ways, and dismissed it when he chased his ego.

And then he killed millions. Many more than Reinhard Heydrich. It's right under our noses.

I share the frustration with mega-pharma that feeds his followers, but lemon juice is not the solution.

[Huguenot]

You won't mind, of course, if I draw parallels between Thabo Mbeki, Matthias Rath, Anthony Brink, and climate change denial.

[SeanMacGabhann]

That was my first thought upon reading the article as well H

[bignumber5]

It's an excellent tale.

**

Actually, I'm being flippant.

Sorry, H, I'm being a bit slow and I'm not the best at picking tone from posts - we are happy that Goldacre has brought the spotlight on to this issue, or we aren't?

[SeanMacGabhann]

the former, BN5, most definitely

[louisiana]

Huguenot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Actually, I'm being flippant.

>

> I'm sure that some guys might interpret some of my

> postings as being 'angry', but they're not, of

> course. Generally they're intellectual brigandry.

> I'm exploring ideas ;-)

>

> This issue (Matthias Rath and vitamins) makes me

> really angry. I become verbally incompetent.

>

> This kind of dishonorable behaviour (touting snake

> oil) is genocidal, and it takes a particular kind

> of psychopath to pull it off. Waterboarding is not

> good enough.

>

> It is not reasonable to lay the blame for

> embracing thse ideas at the door of Africa. If you

> haven't been there it would be difficult to

> explain the desperation and lack of education that

> these guys face in making everyday decisions.

>

Yes, but... Mbeki was educated at the University of Sussex.

[Huguenot]

Mbeki went to the University of Sussex, he clearly didn't receive an education.

[Huguenot]

To clarify, I thought I was being flippant in referring to it as an excellent tale. It's far more important than that!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I confess to being confused by what owning a flat has anything to do with anything?

[louisiana]

He can't be sued for its value. He has no assets.

It would be a little tricky if being sued by some witch-doctor meant you lost your home.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Ah, capiche.

[Brendan]

Bless you!

[LegalEagle-ish]

Good stuff