Posts Tagged NICE
NICE work: acupuncture coming to a primary care trust near you
Posted by Mike in Pseudomedicine, Public Health on May 27th, 2009
When I first set up Merseyside Skeptics, I had only one real rule in mind – “no sacred cows”.
I’m always fascinated by which ideas people hold as their metaphorical cow. A few years ago, when I first started getting enthusiastic about skepticism, I was ranting in the pub with a doctor friend of mine about homeopathy, crystal healing, iridology, and their friends. We laughed and joked together about the implausibility of it all and the lack of credible evidence, until I mentioned acupuncture. Suddenly, his face fell and his tone became more stern. “Actually, acupuncture is effective and there are good scientific reasons for that.”
I was briefly taken aback by this. My friend is one of the most fiercely scientifically-minded people I know, to the point where he has been accused of bringing down a fun, but daft, conversation by pointing out how daft it is from a scientific stand point. He was the last person I would have expected to claim efficacy for a pseudomedical practice like acupuncture and looking back now, I should have asked him to explain. Instead, the subject was dropped, glasses were refilled and conversation breezed on to something else.
