British Columbia, Naturopaths And The Local Media

On August 23, 2011 I read this letter http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/letters/128212283.html by Warren Bailey, MD which apparently had appeared originally in The Parksville Qualicum News, a Canadian newspaper published in the Province of British Columbia commenting on an article by Tara McCart, ND.

I left the following comment which as of today, September 3, 2011, has not been posted.

Unlike those who practice scientific or evidence-based medicine, naturopaths practice a belief-based system of medicine. I personally would have no problem with that if they admitted it to themselves and everyone else, but they don't.

In support of my claim about their use of drugs and therapies unsupported by objective evidence, and even in the face of a large body of evidence which shows that the substance is at best useless and at worst harmful, look at their use of silver

http://rosemaryjacobs.com/naturopaths.html

and tin

http://rosemary-jacobs.blogspot.com/2011/08/naturopaths-vermont-and-me.html (Scroll down to #12.)

Rosemary Jacobs

http://rosemaryjacobs.com

http://rosemary-jacobs.blogspot.com

Looking at it now, I realize that my last paragraph wasn’t very clear. I should have said, …in the face of a large body of evidence showing that substances that they use are at best useless and at worst harmful….But I don’t think that was a legitimate reason for not posting my comment, and unfortunately, this is the second time that bclocal has refused to publish a comment of mine about NDs.

After reading this article

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/business/116764229.html about naturopaths on their site on February 23, 2011, I submitted the following comment:

Naturopaths do not learn science-based or evidence-based medicine at Bastyr University or at any of their 4-year graduate schools. They know absolutely nothing about pharmacology or toxicology. I know this because naturopaths who have graduated from such schools and are licensed as physicians in the US State of Vermont have a state sanctioned formulary that includes silver, even permitting them to use it IV, this in spite of the consumer warnings from the FDA and National Center for Complementary and Alternative medicine. Ingesting silver is all risk and no benefit. It can discolor your skin. The condition is called argyria. Even worse when I alerted them and presented them with the evidence they ignored me.

http://rosemaryjacobs.com/naturopaths.html

http://www.webanstrich.de/rosemary/naturopaths.html

http://rosemaryjacobs.com

http://www.webanstrich.de/rosemary/

http://rosemary-jacobs.blogspot.com

After living in Canada for 10 years, I know that like their American cousins Canadian journalists pride themselves on accurately reporting all the news that is relevant to their readers, so I was surprised at their failure to include my comments, especially since the site itself states, “BCLocalNews.com was created in 2007 to provide a single, comprehensive source of provincial news.” http://www.bclocalnews.com/about_us/ If someone like myself is saying that professionals licensed to practice medicine are using useless and dangerous products and giving solid references to substantiate my claim, I would think that a lot of readers would think that was news that was very relevant to them.

What’s is BClocal’s problem? I know that my comments are accurate and believe that they state facts important for the public to hear. If they were published than anyone who cared about the topic could investigate it for himself, draw his own conclusions and, if he chose, add his own comments.

What makes the publication’s failure to post my comments even stranger is that other publications are reporting that the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons are saying the same thing that I am saying.

http://www.ratemds.com/social/?q=node/48444

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Naturopaths+lack+important+training/4415122/story.html

I am sending the link to this blog to BClocal and hope that they leave a comment here explaining why they have not posted my remarks. Do they find them inaccurate or rude? I can’t imagine that they do. Neither can I imagine that they don’t believe my claims are substantiated. Do they find my comments controversial? If so, I would think that would be a very good reason to publish them. Or is it that they think of NDs as advertising customers and don’t want to lose their business? I’d love to know.