16 October 2013

Anti-vaccination nutjob being promoted by The Hierophant

16 October 2013 | Masquara

I don’t mind too much the Hierophant herbalist above the Griffith Shops charging high prices for plastic dragon and dolphin figurines, and if many of their clients are people whose “spiritual” schtick is to buy blown glass “cosmic” objects made in sweatshops by Chinese workers, I guess whether that’s ultimately harmful is for economics experts. But I think the Hierophant has crossed a line by promoting this anti-vaccination nutjob. Here is the text of a flyer (minus a photo of “Dr” Golden that I can’t figure out how to post) that the Hierophant is promoting. And he is almost certainly NOT a medical doctor. (And wasn’t an anti-vaccination network with similar dangerous messages ordered by a court to stop its promotions last year?)

Homeoprophylaxis – A clinical overview for Implementation of HP Programs – Dr Isaac Golden

Homeoprophylaxis is still a controversial issue for many homeopaths and other practitioners and its history and evidentiary base is frequently misunderstood. Dr Isaac Golden, a leading expert in this field has offered to deliver a talk over 4 sessions to a diversity of practitioners and students of any modality, to assist in further education on this subject as well as the treatment of vaccine damage – from autism and ADHD to asthma and eczema.

Topics covered:

The immunisation controversy will be discussed frankly.

The identification and treatment of vaccine damaged children will occupy the first part of the seminar. Isaac will present new research relating to both treatment protocols as well as a Materia Medica of some common vaccines.

The second part of the seminar will focus on the evidence base of homoeoprophylaxis (homeopathic immunisation) for both long-term and short-term protection. The now considerable international evidence supporting both the effectiveness and safety will be presented.

Practitioners will be presented with practical options to offer their patients, and as much time as is required will be devoted to answering questions.

Date: Sunday 17^th November 2013

Time: 9:30am – 4:30

Cost : Practitioner – $200 / Student – $120

Venue : The Hierophant , 6 Barker Street Griffith ACT – upstairs at the Griffith Shops

Bookings are essential and payment must be made when booking

Phone the Hierophant on 02 xxxxxx to ensure your place or email xxxx@cbit.net.au for further enquiries.

[Ed – I’ve written it 10,000 times, but email images to images@the-riotact.com ]

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Maya12311:08 pm 10 Oct 16

Tenpenny, Golden, Weed.

Are those names for real?

Masquara9:44 pm 10 Oct 16

Update & community health warning: You’d think that years after the anti-vaxxers were banned from promoting their dangerous message, The Hierophant would have reconsidered their approach. However, they have just advertised that they are hosting infamous anti-vaccination campaigner and anti-vaxxer nut job “Susun Weed” for a workshop on 18 November 2016. Sorry to revive an old thread re a new development.

Masquara10:16 pm 06 Jan 15

Update: in the light of current controversy being covered by the ABC (dangerous anti-vaxxer Sherri Tenpenny tour slated for March 2015) here’s the upshot for “Dr” Golden in December 2014: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/court-finds-homeopathy-plus-vaccine-claims-misleading
And here are the court orders:
https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/FEDERAL/P/NSD256/2013/order_list

BimboGeek6:53 am 19 Oct 13

lostinbias said :

BimboGeek said :

I take a completely different herb for colds, it’s just not very well known in Canberra.

There’s only one herb worth taking in Canberra…

Oh, I only take that one homeopathically. The side effects are too intense for me otherwise.

lostinbias8:58 pm 18 Oct 13

BimboGeek said :

I take a completely different herb for colds, it’s just not very well known in Canberra.

There’s only one herb worth taking in Canberra…

Masquara8:03 pm 18 Oct 13

poetix said :

By the way, thank you for posting this, Masquara. You are an observant person!

Happy to do what I can – the thought of any Canberra parents going through what those poor Northern NSW parents did a few years ago who lost their baby to whooping cough after falling for evil Isaac Golden type spin, is just awful.
(I got the info from a friend of mine who is subscribed to Hierophant’s email list … )

poetix9:44 pm 17 Oct 13

By the way, thank you for posting this, Masquara. You are an observant person!

c_c™8:11 pm 17 Oct 13

Gungahlin Al said :

intaba said :

BimboGeek said :

So has anyone found out where this dude got his PhD and in what field? I’m guessing Cayman Islands or his American friend’s university and complimentary medicine.

Swinburne
http://www.homstudy.net/publications/about.html

http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/swin:7488

“The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease.”

Title
The potential value of homoeoprophylaxis in the long-term prevention of infectious diseases, and the maintenance of general health in recipients

Author(s)
Golden, Isaac

Abstract
Homoeoprophylaxis (HP) is the use of homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients. Its first use in an epidemic of Scarlet Fever was documented in 1801. It has been used throughout the world since then for both short-term and long-term preventative purposes. The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease. However, a possible level of effectiveness of 90.3% was identified subject to specified limitations. Further research to confirm the effectiveness of the program is justified. Statistically significant results were obtained that confirmed the safety of the program both in absolute terms as well as compared to all other methods of disease prevention studied. It also appeared possible that a national immunisation system where both vaccination and HP were available to parents would increase the national coverage against targeted infectious diseases, and reduce the incidence of some chronic health conditions, especially asthma.

Publication type
Thesis (PhD)

Research centre
Swinburne University of Technology. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine

Publication year
2002

From the report itself:

The research reported in this thesis is not perfect, especially when estimating the
effectiveness of HP. However, many of the identified weaknesses in the research could
be corrected if a much larger data base of responses was obtained. This challenge is
fundamentally a matter of resources, as the collection of the data in this study has been
time consuming and, on an individual level, expensive.
However, the General Health Study in particular could readily be expanded to obtain
many thousands of responses, especially if support was received from State Education
departments to distribute the questionnaire in primary schools nationwide, and attempts
to block the research were not made by State Health Departments, as occurred during
this research.
Secondly, it would be ideal if a long-term study was undertaken involving parents
who (1) had decided not to vaccinate their child and (2) who were unconcerned if their
child contracted Measles.
In such cases a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial could be
undertaken to obtain statistically significant evidence as to the effectiveness and safety
of HP against Measles.
In fact a pilot of such a study was proposed as part of this thesis, but was rejected by
the ethics committee.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the years researching vaccines.
A mere fraction of these resources would easily cover the costs of the above two
research projects, and would enable a conclusive scientific finding as to whether HP can
provide a safe and effective means of disease prevention.

So what it is saying is that it was flawed research, and found nothing conclusive, therefore a really well-funded study would be required to prove its hypothesis wrong. Lovely circuitous “logic”…

I can find no record of the thesis being accepted and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I call shenanigans. Swinburne, you should be embarrassed.

Sounds very specious.

An academic once told a cautionary tale about some of these PHDs, particularly in the sciences and maths. Yes, they’re technically very intelligent, but also frequently unhinged. He told of one he knew who could master the longest equations, but undermined himself by genuinely claiming to people that he calculated he was a reincarnation of someone famous. No joke.

c_c™8:07 pm 17 Oct 13

Gungahlin Al said :

intaba said :

BimboGeek said :

So has anyone found out where this dude got his PhD and in what field? I’m guessing Cayman Islands or his American friend’s university and complimentary medicine.

Swinburne
http://www.homstudy.net/publications/about.html

http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/swin:7488

“The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease.”

Title
The potential value of homoeoprophylaxis in the long-term prevention of infectious diseases, and the maintenance of general health in recipients

Author(s)
Golden, Isaac

Abstract
Homoeoprophylaxis (HP) is the use of homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients. Its first use in an epidemic of Scarlet Fever was documented in 1801. It has been used throughout the world since then for both short-term and long-term preventative purposes. The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease. However, a possible level of effectiveness of 90.3% was identified subject to specified limitations. Further research to confirm the effectiveness of the program is justified. Statistically significant results were obtained that confirmed the safety of the program both in absolute terms as well as compared to all other methods of disease prevention studied. It also appeared possible that a national immunisation system where both vaccination and HP were available to parents would increase the national coverage against targeted infectious diseases, and reduce the incidence of some chronic health conditions, especially asthma.

Publication type
Thesis (PhD)

Research centre
Swinburne University of Technology. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine

Publication year
2002

From the report itself:

The research reported in this thesis is not perfect, especially when estimating the
effectiveness of HP. However, many of the identified weaknesses in the research could
be corrected if a much larger data base of responses was obtained. This challenge is
fundamentally a matter of resources, as the collection of the data in this study has been
time consuming and, on an individual level, expensive.
However, the General Health Study in particular could readily be expanded to obtain
many thousands of responses, especially if support was received from State Education
departments to distribute the questionnaire in primary schools nationwide, and attempts
to block the research were not made by State Health Departments, as occurred during
this research.
Secondly, it would be ideal if a long-term study was undertaken involving parents
who (1) had decided not to vaccinate their child and (2) who were unconcerned if their
child contracted Measles.
In such cases a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial could be
undertaken to obtain statistically significant evidence as to the effectiveness and safety
of HP against Measles.
In fact a pilot of such a study was proposed as part of this thesis, but was rejected by
the ethics committee.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the years researching vaccines.
A mere fraction of these resources would easily cover the costs of the above two
research projects, and would enable a conclusive scientific finding as to whether HP can
provide a safe and effective means of disease prevention.

So what it is saying is that it was flawed research, and found nothing conclusive, therefore a really well-funded study would be required to prove its hypothesis wrong. Lovely circuitous “logic”…

I can find no record of the thesis being accepted and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I call shenanigans. Swinburne, you should be embarrassed.

Sounds very specious.

LSWCHP7:56 pm 17 Oct 13

Buckaroo_Banzai said :

BimboGeek said :

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

http://skeptoid.com/mobile/4034

Yes a very good point raised here. If you tell people there’s nothing but lactose in that pill they do get very defensive as if you’re attacking herbal medicines.

Some naturopaths are good people and reading every scrap of research on herbal medicine. Many of these medicinal plants are really potent. St John’s Wort, Passionflower, Cannabis, Opium, Echinacia, nobody doubts for a second that these work.

Except maybe scientists.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/echinacea-for-cold-and-flu/

Yeah, echinacea is about as effective as any other placebo, but on the other hand I have no doubt that cannabis and cocaine “work”, however you wish to define the word. 🙂

And St Johns Wort certainly “works” in some way. I took some many years ago amidst the wreckage of my first awful marriage. I clearly remember that it made me feel totally zoned and kind of detached from the world…disassociated is the term, I think. I hated the sensation and haven’t touched it since.

Gungahlin Al1:02 pm 17 Oct 13

intaba said :

BimboGeek said :

So has anyone found out where this dude got his PhD and in what field? I’m guessing Cayman Islands or his American friend’s university and complimentary medicine.

Swinburne
http://www.homstudy.net/publications/about.html

http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/swin:7488

“The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease.”

Title
The potential value of homoeoprophylaxis in the long-term prevention of infectious diseases, and the maintenance of general health in recipients

Author(s)
Golden, Isaac

Abstract
Homoeoprophylaxis (HP) is the use of homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients. Its first use in an epidemic of Scarlet Fever was documented in 1801. It has been used throughout the world since then for both short-term and long-term preventative purposes. The effectiveness and safety of Golden’s long-term HP program using homoeopathically prepared substances to prevent targeted infectious diseases in recipients was tested through two research projects. The effectiveness of the program could not be established with statistical certainty given the limited sample size and the low probability of acquiring an infectious disease. However, a possible level of effectiveness of 90.3% was identified subject to specified limitations. Further research to confirm the effectiveness of the program is justified. Statistically significant results were obtained that confirmed the safety of the program both in absolute terms as well as compared to all other methods of disease prevention studied. It also appeared possible that a national immunisation system where both vaccination and HP were available to parents would increase the national coverage against targeted infectious diseases, and reduce the incidence of some chronic health conditions, especially asthma.

Publication type
Thesis (PhD)

Research centre
Swinburne University of Technology. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine

Publication year
2002

From the report itself:

The research reported in this thesis is not perfect, especially when estimating the
effectiveness of HP. However, many of the identified weaknesses in the research could
be corrected if a much larger data base of responses was obtained. This challenge is
fundamentally a matter of resources, as the collection of the data in this study has been
time consuming and, on an individual level, expensive.
However, the General Health Study in particular could readily be expanded to obtain
many thousands of responses, especially if support was received from State Education
departments to distribute the questionnaire in primary schools nationwide, and attempts
to block the research were not made by State Health Departments, as occurred during
this research.
Secondly, it would be ideal if a long-term study was undertaken involving parents
who (1) had decided not to vaccinate their child and (2) who were unconcerned if their
child contracted Measles.
In such cases a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial could be
undertaken to obtain statistically significant evidence as to the effectiveness and safety
of HP against Measles.
In fact a pilot of such a study was proposed as part of this thesis, but was rejected by
the ethics committee.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the years researching vaccines.
A mere fraction of these resources would easily cover the costs of the above two
research projects, and would enable a conclusive scientific finding as to whether HP can
provide a safe and effective means of disease prevention.

So what it is saying is that it was flawed research, and found nothing conclusive, therefore a really well-funded study would be required to prove its hypothesis wrong. Lovely circuitous “logic”…

I can find no record of the thesis being accepted and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I call shenanigans. Swinburne, you should be embarrassed.

BimboGeek6:57 pm 16 Oct 13

So the way the “like cures like” part works is “Hmmm those symptoms look like heavy metal poisoning, I suppose it’s not, but giving arsenic will shock the body into overreacting to both causes.”

The way the dilution works is that things can be in various levels of dilution from very weak to none at all, depending on the “strength” of the treatment prescribed by the homeopath. More diluted treatments are supposed to be stronger because magic, and if the homeopath decides you need a more gentle treatment you will possibly be given a very small dose of whatever poison they think is brilliant here.

It gets confusing when a particular drug or herb becomes trendy but hasn’t been approved yet so you buy a “homeopathic preparation” of it, or if people decide it’s cheaper to make a homeopathic remedy of some expensive product like gold and saffron or something.

The other problem is if the water it’s made from is contaminated or if the sugar pills have been bought really cheaply from a company that doesn’t have safe manufacturing processes. Or if the packet it’s put into is contaminated. Because homeopathic dealers tend to be small shonky operators, it’s a bit like buying herbs in that there’s nowhere near the oversight that drug companies have to prove themselves compliant with. Lots of herbal medicines and supplements are also laced with heavy metals for no good reason.

It could be worse. I read recently a report on the adulterants in cocaine and it turns out that stuff is getting cut with a drug that damages your immune system a little bit more each time you take it because it looks like cocaine and passes all the high school chemistry level tests that you can easily do with household ingredients to prove your coke is pure. I don’t think the herb and homeopathic suppliers are doing anything as carelessly harmful as cocaine manufacturers but I’m sure they aren’t all as smart as they think they are and haven’t been properly educated in laboratory technique.

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