They use what seem to me to be some dubious testing techniques.
"The patient holds an electrode in one hand that is connected to the testing unit and a probe is placed on an acupuncture pressure point on a finger or toe on the opposite side of the body, thus placing the patient in a circuit with the machine. Samples of the potential allergen are placed in the diagnostic unit which will then indicate whether there is any resistance from the patient to the substance in question."
They use a machine called a Med-Tronik RM10. (We do use some machines in medicine made by a company called "Medtronic", which should not be confused with "Med-tronik").
Their website says: "The electro-acupuncture according to Voll is based on the ancient tradition of Chinese medicine. By means of acupuncture it searches for overriding, impaired regulation principles that could possibly be the cause of an illness.
In electro-acupuncture the therapist employs a "pressure measuring stylus" which he positions at the acupuncture points to measure the organism's electric resistance. Thus he gains information on a patient's bio-energetic condition"
The machine looks impressive of course (see above) with buttons and a big dial- one of the hallmarks of Quackery. Their "Mora" machinery claims to offer holistic testing against a number of substances, based not on the substances themselves, rather "the complete digitally stored information spectrum of a substance is transferred into its original analogue oscillations to the MORA - device" That is to say, loaded off a CD! Funny, almost.
The allergy clinic website makes some discussion about food allergies being IgE mediated, which can be true, but doesn't then seem to explicitly state that their testing is based on no such science, though does later say that skin prick tests and specific IgE tests are available.
I haven't been able to ascertain the cost of this testing, but don't suppose it is cheap.
I don't particularly mind if people want to get their allergies tested there, but feel I ought to express my concerns about the testing because of its highly doubtful scientific basis and that if people do choose to have tests done there using this machinery that it is probably a waste of their money.
4 comments:
Well said, Dylan. There is so much junk medicine in Totnes, it's good to see you go on the offensive.
The Arcturus Centre is of course run by Stephen Hopwood, your independent "truth" candidate for Totnes constituency. The efficacy of the treatments he propagates may be well judged by his belief that the New York Twin Towers collapse was a conspiracy organised by the US government (expressed in his election literature and on his web site).
PS I see that the "magnetic therapy" devices are still on sale in the Leatside pharmacy, but at least the ludicrous claims have been torn off the display. The enlightenment strikes back!
Stuart Burgess writes...
Hear, hear. As someone once said "alternative medicine that works is just - medicine!" Are people so desperate that they are unable to question or ask for evidence of efficacy when seeking treatment from non-qualified practitioners?
More challenges of this nature needed, Dr Dylan.
My wife took our son to someone who uses a computerized version of this device. I thought it was a voodoo machine at first. It found natural gas (methane) in his body. We subsequently found out that our hot water heater was releasing small amounts of natural gas into the basement where my son played, which explained his headaches. As soon as we replaced the water heater with an electric one and gave our son medication to remove the gas from his body his headaches went away. My initial skepticism was replaced with belief. The odds of someone just guessing that Natural Gas was the problem are astronomical. It took the Chinese thousands of years to develop acupuncture, elements of which are incorporated into this machine. Maybe they are really onto something that actually works.
Hi - I am certainly delighted to discover this. Good job!
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