Author Archives:
Griffith Uni rejects homeopathy link
Griffith University, having recently launched a candidate malaria vaccine to protect against all known strains of the deadly disease, has definitively rejected any link between the vaccine and homeopathy. “Our candidate vaccine is not related to homeopathy in any way,” says Professor Michael F Good, chair of the National Health & Medical Research Council, and chairman of … Read on »
Review into TGA transparency
A review into the transparency of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the body that is tasked with establishing and maintaining a “national system of controls relating to the quality, safety, efficacy and timely availability of therapeutic goods”, has found that the TGA has been conservative in its actions and that it can do a lot more … Read on »
Call for no-fault compensation for adverse vaccine events
In an article in the June issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, three medical specialists have called for the introduction of a no-fault compensation scheme for serious adverse events which can be confidently attributed to vaccination. The authors of the article are Heath A Kelly, head of the Epidemiology Unit at the Victorian Infectious Diseases … Read on »
UPDATE: SensaSlim, the ACCC and Dr Ken Harvey
UPDATE: Subsequent to the ACCC freezing SensaSlim’s Australian bank account (see story below), Dr Ken Harvey reports that SensaSlim’s lawyers (Kennedys) have withdrawn from the case, and an external administrator was appointed to take over the company on June 30, 2011. A revised statement of claim from SensaSlim in the defamation case against Harvey was not … Read on »
ACCC investigates SensaSlim
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has applied for an order to “preserve” the assets of SensaSlim, the company promoting a ‘weight loss’ product and which has also taken legal action against health campaigner Dr Ken Harvey for defamation. The application will be heard in the Federal Court in Sydney on June 23 at 12 noon. While the … Read on »
Skeptics co-founder Mark Plummer dies
It is with deep regret that we learn of the death on June 16 of Mark Plummer, co-founder and early power-house of Australian Skeptics. Barry Williams, himself a member of Australian Skeptics for its entire lifespan and a former president and founding executive officer, comments on Mark’s role and impact on the Skeptical movement in Australia and elsewhere: In … Read on »
Update on Ken Harvey law suit
The latest events in Dr Ken Harvey’s legal stoush with the SensaSlim weight-loss company have seen further delays put in the face of the noted campaigner against unproven or disproven medical practices and products. Harvey’s lawyers have succeeded in having SensaSlim Australia’s initial statement of claim ‘thrown out’, due to technical legal errors. However, SensaSlim’s lawyers have … Read on »
Warning on unproven breast imaging
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Cancer Council Australia and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) are urging Australian women not to rely on unproven commercial breast imaging technologies to detect breast cancer. The warning comes after Cancer Council Western Australia raised concerns with the ACCC that women may have been misled into believing certain commercial breast … Read on »
Teachers Health teaches woo
In a worrying gesture toward a profession concerned with education and critical thinking, the NSW Teachers Federation’s Teachers Health Fund has given a ringing endorsement to unproven and disproven alternative health practices, without any caveats or suggestions there might be serious doubts about them. Nicole Lestal, the editor of the Fund’s Health Matters publication, says in her … Read on »
Ken Harvey taken to court
Dr Ken Harvey, adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Public Health, La Trobe University, and a regular campaigner against nonscientific products and services, has been put under great personal and financial pressure by a ‘SLAPP’ suit (a strategic lawsuit against public participation) over a complaint he has made concerning a slimming product. Dr Harvey complained to … Read on »
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