College program panned as ‘magical thinking’

Association’s section on chronic pain, said in an interview.

He said it’s unethical for an academic institution to teach students a program based on scientifically implausible principles and worries the public could ultimately be harmed by leading people to assume homeopathy is a valid form of medicine.

“This will likely result in patients delaying or even failing to seek effective health care for their ailments,” Giorshev wrote.

The Georgian College’s curriculum includes a discussion on the “role” of nosodes — homeopathic solutions some natural-health practitioners and anti-vaccine advocates claim can “Georgian is seeing strong interest in the program,” added Fay Lim-Lambie, dean of health, wellness and science.

“As an educational institution we welcome critical discussion and debate,” she said. “It helps ensure the best possible curriculum and learning outcomes for our students.”

She added that, “in an era of patient choice, it is important for the college to provide students with the most diverse education possible, including options for care and different methods.”

A spokesperson for Matthews said Wednesday the minister had no comment.

Georgian College received funding approval for the program last August. “The Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society.

The theory is that with each dilution and shakings the water molecules somehow retain a memory or “imprint” of the original substance.

However, according to Schwarcz, “any talk about solutions having some sort of ‘memory’ is utter claptrap, and even if such memory would exist why should it have any therapeutic effect?” he said.

“The real danger in homeopathy is not toxicology — there’s nothing in there,” he added.

“The real danger is toxicity to the mind because it can convince people to go down this ridiculous route when there actually might be treatments that can work for whatever condition they have.”

He said it’s “unfathomable” public dollars are being spent on homeopathy when there have been calls by other countries to clamp down on the field.

After an extensive review, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council concluded in 2015 “there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective” and warned it should not be used to treat conditions that are “chronic, serious or could become serious.”

“It’s the air guitar of medicine,” pharmacist Scott Gavura wrote on his Science-Based Medicine blog.

Homeopathy “goes through the motions of health care, and looks a bit like medicine, but actually accomplishes nothing at all.”

Chris MacDonald, who teaches ethics and critical thinking at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto, said it’s bad ethics when public money is being spent “to supposedly teach people how to do something that we know doesn’t work.”