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Consultation on amendment to the Medical Council’s statement on advertising
The Medical Council asked for submissions on a proposed amendment to their statement on advertising in relation to the use of testimonials, with the amendment prohibiting the use of testimonials by doctors in advertising. The consultation asked three questions, and here are the answers that the NZ Skeptics gave: 1. Do you agree with…
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Submission on The Regulation of Natural Health Products consultation
Below is the NZ Skeptics’ submission on the recent Regulation of Natural Health Products consultation, run by the Ministry of Health. The consultation is related to the Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill, which is likely to become a new piece of New Zealand legislation in the near future. Our submission is a point by point response…
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Palm Reading claims – our response
We were asked today to comment on an article on Stuff about palm reading, and how seeing the letter M on your non-dominant hand is a sign of future success. Luckily, despite it being Christmas Eve, our new Media Spokesperson (and Secretary) Craig Shearer was able to put together a solid response on short notice! Here’s…
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Herman Petrick’s Ghost-busting Claims
The Taranaki Daily News published an article about Herman Petrick, who claims to be able to help people by removing harmful negative energy. The author of the article, Taryn Utiger, asked the NZ Skeptics to respond to five questions about Herman’s claims. Here are our responses in full: Is there any scientific proof that negative energy…
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NZ Skeptics announce 2015 Awards
The Pharmacy Council has been awarded the 2015 Bent Spoon Award from the NZ Skeptics for proposing a change to their Code of Ethics that would allow the sale of healthcare products that have not been shown to work. The Pharmacy Council is responsible under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act for setting standards of…
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Edward Linney – Pharmacy Council Code of Ethics Consultation Response
Submission relating to proposals by the Pharmacy Council to alter Clause 6.9 of the code of Ethics I am Edward Linney a consumer with an active interest in evidence based medicine. I do not support the intent of clause 6.9b to avoid a requirement of credible evidence of efficacy for complementary therapy or other healthcare…
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Pharmacy Council Response Submitted
The NZ Skeptics sent a submission to the Pharmacy Council last Friday in response to the Council’s consultation on a suggested change to their Code of Ethics. Thanks to all our members who took the time to visit pharmacies and send us your reports about what they had to say about homeopathy. We know of…
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Pharmacy Council Code of Ethics Consultation
Submission to the Pharmacy Council’s 2015 Code of Ethics Consultation The Pharmacy Council’s Code of Ethics 2011 appears to be a well written document which puts the wellbeing of the patient front and centre. This can be seen throughout the code, and is embodied in the very first clause: 1.1 Take appropriate steps to optimise…
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Pharmacies Promoting Homeopathy
This report is part of the NZ Skeptics’ Submission to the Pharmacy Council‘s consultation of their Code of Ethics. The pharmacies below are were found by a quick google search to be promoting the sale of homeopathy in New Zealand. This list is by no means exhaustive. The text shown under each pharmacy’s name was copied…
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Pharmacy Homeopathy Reports
This report is part of the NZ Skeptics’ Submission to the Pharmacy Council‘s consultation of their Code of Ethics. The following are reports gathered in response to a request the NZ Skeptics sent out to its Alert newsletter subscribers. All identifying information about the sender of each report has been removed from the document. I visited…
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Skeptical Thoughts on the Radio!
Graeme Hill’s Weekend Variety Wireless radio show on RadioLive is a Sunday night fixture where two prominent skeptics, Siouxsie Wiles and Mark Honeychurch chat about current skeptical topics and events. Sunday, June 25th 2018 Sunday, June 18th 2018 Sunday, June 11th 2018 Sunday, June 4th 2018 Sunday, May 28th 2018 Sunday, May 21st 2018 Sunday,…
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Skeptical Thoughts
Our current chair, Mark Honeychurch, has been filling in for Siouxsie Wiles recently on Graeme Hill’s Weekend Variety Wireless show on RadioLive. He’s had fun chatting with Graeme on the Skeptical Thoughts segment, and has talked about rugby injuries, therapeutic paint, the igNobels and the Republican Primary, amongst other topics. Here are links to the…