Tag Archives: Scams

Chiropractors adjust vaccine truths

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, Big Placebo, Chiropractic, Health, Scam by

The World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) have a “journal”, available for free subscription. It doesn’t actually have any peer reviewed studies, but is more a collection of industry positive, competitor negative and hokery pokery articles that deny credibility. Such as Energy Medicine: Futuristic Healing with ancient roots, by Dana Ullman. We know Dana from Twitter as @homeopathicdana

Today I had an article brought to my attention by New Zealand skeptic and critic of anti-vaccination nonsense, @SkepticalSkotty. He’d had the article brought to his attention by a friend. Like many in the developed world outside Sth. Korea, where it’s illegal to practice the scam, the friend had given chiropractic credence. Quite understandable. Unless one’s in a clinical setting or prone to keep an eye on non evidence based trends, chiropractors are the other “doctors” who work on backs and necks and are subsidised by insurance companies and governments.

The September 2010 article Several nations banning flu shots for babies, provides unique insight into bias, deceptiveness and unprofessional standards. Supposedly having no position on vaccination I was intrigued at the effort to mislead readers into forming a negative view of both seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccination. The article opens with an accurate observation of a QLD infant death following influenza vaccination, but almost immediately begins to blur the lines. Let’s do some housekeeping, remembering that fifteen children in QLD had an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

In WA where babies were given Fluvax – a combination H1N1 and seasonal ‘flu vaccine – febrile convulsions effected 60 and another 200 presented with higher than normal temperatures post vaccination. Well tolerated in teens and adults Fluvax was certainly not tolerated in babies and small children. One small child, Saba Button, fell into a coma and is now struggling with brain damage. It is the type of tragedy health authorities dread. Soon after the reactions WA suspended administering the vaccine to children under 5 and this was also taken up nationally. The TGA had made some noises toward CSL who manufactured Fluvax. However it wasn’t until FDA officials from the USA turned up investigate CSL’s standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) this year, that one could realistically defend Australian influenza vaccination regimes against quite justified criticism.

These two events were tragic and widespread fevers in vaccinated babies is a huge blow to public confidence. However suggesting that health authorities intend to suppress the truth at the expense of public health is a frequent unsubstantiated claim. Worse is the use of these tragedies by groups like the Australian Vaccination Network – the anti-vax darling of Australian chiropractors – to smear their critics. The day The Australian published Natasha Bita’s article on young Saba Button (May 28th), Meryl Dorey exploited this family to muster anti-vaccination support and to also make false claims about skeptics and Stop the AVN.

Meryl Dorey’s Yahoo! Twitter and Facebook libellous claims

Dorey published an “Action Alert” on Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo! claiming supporters of vaccination were “mobilising” and “organising their forces” to write letters of complaint to The Australian, and thus writing in support was vital. “They do NOT want newspapers or any media outlets to be covering this from a freeedom of choice point of view”, she lied on Yahoo!

Freedom of choice point of view? Since when are facts or a parent’s choice to speak to the media linked to whacky anti-vax lingo’? Dorey was seizing ownership of Saba’s tragedy and using it to engender disgust toward those who criticise her already extensive dossier of lies and deceit. Little wonder many believe she manufactures stories of personal threats.

Not only is this offensive to Saba, her parent’s and those maligned but one must surely question her grasp on reality, not to mention the ethical issues surrounding vaccination, to see a grown woman manipulate her members as pawns in her own delusional neocon’ fantasy. I wrote to Natasha Bita and her colleagues seeking confirmation and on June 21st she confirmed that whilst she had been on holidays no “complaints” had been received, or could be found.

Back to the WCA journal. They failed to stress the vaccine was “suspended” not banned or that other strains would be considered. Onto the second paragraph;

A short time later, Finland also suspended the H1N1 vaccines due to six reports of narcolepsy in children and teens immediately following vaccination. According to The Helsinki Times, “Medical reports suggest that over 750 of those who have been vaccinated have experienced harmful effects.”

Firstly, QLD ADR’s were due to seasonal influenza vaccine. WA’s ADR’s were due to a combination of seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. The vaccine used in Finland was GSK’s H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix. No Australians have been administered Pandemrix and Australia has had no reports of narcolepsy. This distinction wasn’t made by the WCA article. What about those “750 harmful effects” that they quoted. If we read the Helsinki Times piece we see that 2.5 million doses were given. That’s a 0.003% ADR rate. I do rush to add this is not to be dismissed as trivial, but does indicate the risk/benefit ratio. The WCA seems to think that’s an excessively high level for narcolepsy – falling asleep unexpectedly. More so, as we’ll see there are unique Finnish genetic components to this problem that are related to the vaccine.

Yet if we’re talking about removal of insurance coverage for cervical manipulation by chiropractors because of the risk of vertebral/carotid artery tears, stroke and traumatic death – as in the case of Jeremy Youngblood – then an incidence rate of up to 0.005% is a trivial matter. WCA were upset that this brought “…applause from critics who still maintain that chiropractic is linked to strokes”. Chiropractors maintain it’s “a myth”. I hope you got that. Vaccine induced narcolepsy due to genetic predisposition: bad. Higher risk of tearing of the vertebral artery and dying slowly, whilst well documented: is a myth. They write with mind blowing arrogance;

The World Chiropractic Alliance responded by sending the company a copy of its position paper on chiropractic and strokes, and a vast amount of scientifically documented information that dispels the notion that chiropractic is in any way linked to carotid and vertebral artery dissection. “The WCA has been distributing this information ever since the myth about chiropractic and stroke began, and we’ll continue to make sure we counter this campaign of misinformation,” stated WCA founder and CEO Terry A. Rondberg, DC.

Kaiser Permanente, whom I now admire greatly wrote;

Chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine is associated with vertebral artery dissection and stroke. The incidence is estimated at 1.3-5 events per 100,000 manipulations. Given the paucity of data related to beneficial effects of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine and the real potential for catastrophic adverse events, it was decided to exclude chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine from coverage.

“Paucity of data related to beneficial effects of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine and the real potential for catastrophic adverse events”. Damn that reads well. Are chiropractors going to suspend this potentially lethal practice? Hell no – they’ll call it a myth and back that claim with bad science. Are they worried about patient health or patient access to a manipulation that takes seconds? No, they’re upset that they can’t get the big bucks.

Think of how many people around the world would get a cervical manipulation on any one day. At a rate of up to 5 per 100,000 catastrophic injuries and stroke, for no benefit, not to mention all the minor cervical vertebral insults and/or soft tissue injuries you have my permission to feel a little ill dear reader. So, it’s compelling how selective this group of pseudoscientific profiteers can be when it comes to understanding not only risk/benefit ratios but the size of the risk vs the evidence for any benefit.

The WCA article also mentions narcolepsy in Sweden. That also was a rate of 0.003% – a figure they seem intent on not publishing. According to the WHO last April 21st;

The only pandemic influenza vaccine used in Finland and Sweden was Pandemrix, an adjuvanted influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

Narcolepsy is a condition that has a strong genetic linkage, being almost uniquely seen in persons who have the (HLA) DQB1*0602 genotype. Of the cases of narcolepsy tested so far in Finland (n=29), diagnosed during 2009-2010, all have that genotype. The National Institute for Health and Welfare of Finland considers it probable that the Pandemrix vaccine was a contributing factor to this observed increase, and has called for further investigation of other co-factors that may be associated with the increased risk. They consider it most likely that the vaccine increased the risk of narcolepsy in a joint effect in those genetically disposed with some other, still unknown, genetic and/or environmental factors. The final report from the Finnish National Narcolepsy Task Force is expected by 31 August 2011.

Apparently 30% of Finnish have this gene whist 15% of Europeans have it. This wasn’t dismissed as a genetic issue either. There is a nine fold risk in those vaccinated vs unvaccinated. So, GSK aren’t getting any special treatment. Nor does hysteria get to reign. As in Australia it is mainstream medical monitoring and national health responses that ultimately serve to protect the public. But it’ll be late August this year before final European reports are released.

The article goes on to quote a now missing article from the Bharat Chronicle;

The vaccines appear to be causing a pattern of neurological disorders affecting children and teens across the planet

Most facepalmingly, if you pop that sentence into your chosen search facility dear reader, you get over 2,000 hits ranging from Bible prophecy, to natural woo, to wellness, to infant chiropractic to… well you get the idea. Our WCA “journal” is running a junk piece that they probably scavenged from the depths of conspiracy central.

The piece finishes off claiming “Australian authorities” knew of the problem for “several weeks” but withheld the information whilst continuing to encourage vaccination. One assumes they’re referring to WA where ADR’s were reported for two weeks before Saba Button was injured which was around the time the number of ADR’s demanded state wide action. Far better for WCA to publish the insinuation that authorities remained silent about a free vaccine with perhaps the only motivation being to harm the public.

Then it’s back up to QLD for accusatory lies followed by some special pleading;

Health officials at first tried to convince the public that there was no “causal” relationship between the vaccine and the side effects but even the Australian coroner had to admit he couldn’t rule out that the flu shot was responsible for the death of two-year-old Brisbane toddler Ashley Jade Epapara.

Gosh. “Even” the coroner couldn’t rule it out. Appeal to authority also. The truth is no-one can rule it out or rule it in. Period.

Then back to WA with nonsense about attempting to “blame” a bad batch. In fact the possibility of a bad batch must be investigated just as the possibility of the vaccine ingredients and combination was investigated. “This is not a long-term safety issue with vaccines,” University of Western Australia School of Paediatrics and Child Health Associate Professor Peter Richmond told WA today, they add. Quite right. This is most certainly not a problem with vaccines as a long term safety issue. The only long term issue is the capitalisation by anti-vaccination groups.

All in all this is an appalling piece of junk writing that aims only to create the illusion of widespread – or “across the planet” – trends that somehow show vaccines are a health risk. They cant even manage to keep different Australian reports on two very different scenarios straight. Already this year in QLD influenza is back at six times the annual rate. Febrile convulsions and brain damage from vaccine preventable disease are constant realities. It is for this very reason the risk/benefit of vaccination is actually incredibly safe.

No doubt Australia had some serious issues with vaccine manufacture and management of ADR reporting in 2010. This is being dealt with by the proper authorities. The very last thing the present vaccine controversy needs is this band of chiropractic cowboys defending futile and dangerous treatments, whilst attacking sound evidence backed public health measures.

Ultimately there are not any nations “banning” flu shots for babies. Chiropractors have lied again.

SensaSlim Saga Update

Posted in Alternative "medicine" scams, Big Placebo, Health, Scam by

Last we left SensaSlim, it’s ever ambitious team of supporters was getting a dressing down on behalf of The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission securely ensconced within the Federal Court in NSW.

On July 20th, Justice Yates had, according to the ACCC website;

… made orders by consent granting leave for the ACCC to proceed against Sensaslim Australia Pty Ltd (Administrator Appointed) up to 27 July 2011. Orders are extended to 27 July 2011 that Foster, O’Brien and Adams be restrained from taking further steps to make representations regarding the efficacy of the Sensaslim Spray where the basis for the representation is a clinical trial or scientific report, unless the clinical trial was conducted and is the subject of a scientific report which has been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal.

SMH also ran a piece outlining the bans sought by the ACCC against these rather dishonest chaps headed up by one Peter Clarence Foster, one of the least credible exports from our nation girt by sea;

THE consumer watchdog is seeking a 20-year ban on the corporate life of serial conman Peter Foster, over his alleged misleading and deceptive conduct with the weight loss business, Sensaslim Australia.

Lengthy bans are also sought against fellow Sensaslim Spray proponents Peter Leslie O’Brien (15 years) and seven years for Adam Troy Adams. The ACCC has not sought to disqualify a former Sensaslim director, Michael Anthony Boyle from managing corporations, but is seeking a three year ban on him being involved  in businesses which have franchising characteristics. [….]

The ACCC alleged that Sensaslim made false or misleading representations about the profitability of the business to investors who bought franchises. Sensaslim had claimed that franchisees had the potential to earn $4000 a week after they invested $59,950, and there was a ”money back buy-back guarantee”.

The ACCC said there was not the potential to generate the earnings, there were no franchisees generating the projected earnings, and there was no guarantee of a refund. The ACCC also alleges false and misleading conduct by the use of testimonials of the clinical effectiveness of the spray ”when in fact no such [clinical] trial was conducted”, and the failure to disclose Mr Fosters’ involvement in the business.

The next piece of interest was published August 9th, in The Age’s Small Business section. Authorities move to dump conman’s weight-loss spray from market. At this point SensaSlim were eight days overdue in publishing the legally required warning about the action being taken against the company, on the front page of their website.

A HERBAL diet spray linked to notorious conman Peter Foster looks set to be taken off the market, six months after health authorities first received a complaint about it.

Last week, the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s complaints resolution panel called for SensaSlim to be removed from the register of therapeutic goods, which means the spray cannot be advertised or sold.

Executive officer of the panel, Judith Brimer, asked the TGA to cancel its listing after SensaSlim Australia failed to withdraw advertising that lacked approval. A spokeswoman for the TGA said it was considering the request. The panel’s call comes six months after Melbourne academic Ken Harvey first complained about the product, prompting SensaSlim Australia to launch a defamation case against him. [….]

On July 27, the ACCC won orders in the Federal Court for the company to change the front page of its website to inform visitors of the legal action against it. While the notice was required to be posted within five business days, it did not appear on the site yesterday.

Meanwhile, Dr Harvey continues to defend the defamation case launched against him by the company, which is seeking $800,000 damages. Dr Harvey said he hoped the case, which has cost him about $30,000 to date, would be dismissed this month. Supporters are raising money to cover his costs. More than 100 franchisees are believed to have paid $60,000 each to sell SensaSlim, which has sold for about $1200 a litre or $60 for a 50 millilitre bottle.

Their RTG listing is here for your perusal dear reader, the TGA Summary here. Yet, as we know there’s no joke about seasoned con men. The ACCC may get these critters off Australia’s back, reap some monies and give them some bad press overseas but in reality they’ll just keep singing in the hope of scamming the larger European market. A scroll back through some articles here gives a hint at how much energy they put into feigning disgust at having their good names tarnished and pointing to the (still) available ARTG certificate, on the Australian Weight Loss Challenge site. The “challenge” has grown from about four to thirteen participants in just over a month.

Last night a little birdie on Twitter asked if this was real. SensaSlim director files million dollar law suit against Dr. Ken Harvey. Well, yes it is true. But my, what a tantrum Peter O’Brien seems to have had;

In a writ filed in the Supreme Court of Queensland, Mr O’ Brien claimed that Dr Harvey had no grounds for calling for SensaSlim to be withdrawn from sale given that there are no safety issues over it.

“The TGA authorised SensaSlim for sale on the basis of its unique formulation and active ingredients,” Mr O’Brien said. “It is issued with a TGA Listing number approving it for sale  as a weight loss aid.”

The Sensaslim Solution formulation combines five of the most thoroughly researched weight loss ingredients over the past 30 years.   It uses all natural active components extracted from rare fruits and minerals, which together, act to stimulate the body’s natural fat burning processes, reduce cravings of sugar and carbohydrates, maintain energy metabolism, inhibit fat synthesis, increase fat oxidation, encourage lean muscle mass and decrease body weight.

Sensaslim also contains a natural analgesic which acts to desensitise taste receptors on the tongue.

“For any  product to be withdrawn from the market it has to be because of a safety issue, and Dr Harvey knew that,” Mr O’Brien said.

“He was attempting to create headlines and be mischievous and we are calling him to account.” he said. “He is a man pursuing a personal vendetta and is followed by a small group of people who pride themselves on being sceptics and cynics’. “It is one thing for him to disagree with our advertising, but it is completely outrageous to call for a product to be withdrawn from sale simply because he is against all things natural,”

Mr O’Brien said Dr Harvey was a “chronic complainer on the complementary healthcare industry who becomes louder and more vengeful and spiteful as he realises he becomes less relevant.”

“What Dr Harvey can’t tolerate is the growth in the natural nutrition and healthcare industries, at the cost of big pharmaceuticals,” Mr O’Brien said. […..]

Wait on, wait on. What sort of news agency is going to spruik a product and run a personal attack under a seemingly routine type headline? No comment from Dr. Harvey either, which is tacky given he consults and lectures on the various conflicts of interest that do plague pharmaceutical companies. It is entirely correct and proper for Dr. Harvey to call sham products to account as well as highlight the contributing flaws in Australian regulation. This does not equate to a conflict of interest born of bias toward pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Harvey is a man of impressive integrity who has worked in Australia and overseas to ensure consumers are able to access the drugs they need. He’s worked with local S.E. Asian NGO’s helping to lobby their own governments to introduce policies that enable the sort of access we take for granted as well as tackling the horrific reality of counterfeit medication.

This also had a familiar ring to it. Much like the earlier articles about the wonder spray, the expansive jockey story and the Thank you for suing us article written by a certain Peter O’Brien that had me corresponding with an editor from international.to. Or the claims of presenting these stunning clinical trial results to scientists at the 18th European Conference on Obesity in Turkey. I’d been reliably informed they were nowhere to be seen in Turkey. As I wrote back on July 6th.

Interestingly the Thank you for suing us ad piece and the Black Caviar jockey piece by Peter O’Brien have disappeared. Follow those links and you get a 404. The following day I raised concerns with the editor about an article headed, “Obesity scientists told of SensaSlim slimming spray that has the effect of ‘Fooling the Brain’ into Thinking You’re Not Hungry” and another headed “Four Twins, a Jockey and a sensational slimming spray talk Turkey”. I received no reply. Ironically, both these articles now deliver a 404 message also.

However the editor initially responded citing he’d never heard the claims I was making. Despite links provided about the missing evidence, complaints and accusations from Dr. Capehorn. Then when the proverbial hit the fan I received on June 16th;

Thanks for taking the time to provide more details…

Our role is to be objective and your point of view is valuable..  we will not take sides….

What was once a public interest story has certainly grown into something more now that there are court cases, TV segments and reports from customers ( good and bad )..

We will get back to you..  and I would need your permission to enable me to pass on your email to a reporter to pursue ?

All the best

But I never did hear back and don’t really see why I should have. That’s their call. As I pointed out in the prior article, international.to is owned by RogersDIGITAL a marketing company based in Australia. They have had a website overhaul since I last described the pseudo-psychological marketing lingo’ on their site. Presently they have a rather prominent: We publish news, press releases and advertising on websites owned and operated by our media group.

Which might well explain the far more honest footnote to Peter O’Brien’s latest rant on international.to

Editor Note.. This press release was created and submitted by Mr O’Brien. It is not news. It is not our editorial content . IT IS A PRESS RELEASE. It is for information purposes only. http://www.International.to publishes verified press releases upon application to http://www.NewsMediaReleases.com. As with any press release it is marked as such and is not intended as a report or coverage of an event or occurrence.

A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy. [….]

So, we can really only wait and see how much of this is a serious endeavour and how much is to maintain the ongoing song pitched to gullible buyers and presumably very angry franchisees.

In short is it just another last ditch push to make money from the sinking ship SensaSlim by coating the hull in fake credibility?

Of Chiropractors and Cockypop

Posted in Big Placebo, Chiropractic, Health, Scam by

Of course we don’t support vaccination, it’s the biggest medical sham since bloodletting!

Written defiantly on the Australian (anti) Vaccination Network Facebook wall by Jason Parkes, Chiropractor.

Jason’s defiance was in response to the July 27th article, Doctors accuse chiropractors of selling anti-vaccination message. It’s not only chilling in it’s partisan arrogance and ignorance but speaks of a discipline that is unprofessional in the extreme and polluted by an “anything goes” mentality. His musing sits, splendidly, somewhere between Meryl Dorey’s accusation that those who question unproven expensive “therapy” are the “ignorant, anti-choice mob”, and likening herself to Abraham Lincoln and Doug Gwyn on the matter of Truth.

Did Parkes face any professional criticism, perhaps from senior members or his employers at Boambee Chiropractic? Was he contacted by the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia and chastised over the inherent danger and risk to public health in his claim or threatened with disciplinary action? The type of discipline that actual doctors, individually accountable for their actions would face? Did vaccine scaremonger chiropractors such as Nimrod Weiner and Warren Sipser who rely on a veneer of credibility ask him to reconsider?

I don’t really know but as of a few seconds ago his comment remains. And yes, that is Meryl Dorey with a straight face accusing someone of being “shockingly unprofessional”, for quoting a chiropractor on informed choice;

Interestingly, the article included;

The CAA’s research arm, the Spinal Research Foundation recently invited Meryl Dorey from the AVN as guest speaker at a conference in Brisbane.

“I spoke with some third-generation chiropractors whose parents and grandparents were pioneers of this healing art in Australia,” she wrote on her site.

“Many of them are completely unvaccinated and they just glowed … They are the best advertisement for chiropractic and natural health you could possibly get.”

The AMA called on Federal Health Minister to review Medicare payments to chiropractors who supported the anti-vaccination lobby. A spokesperson for Nicola Roxon said chiropractors must adhere to their Code of Conduct, which includes clear directions on promoting public health through prevention and separating personal views from patient care.

So, we’re paying for Earth Mama Moonbeam & Co. to gaze at the navel, conjuring up new ways to pocket fees. The Chiropractors’ Association of Australia claim to not have an official position on vaccination. This is simply not true. Chiropractic today, infiltrated by new age quacks seeks above all, to profit. In this light recommending vaccination breaches their cardinal goal in that it would effectively divert patients toward one of the Arch Nemesi – the medical profession.

Indeed any evidence based health profession is fair game in chiropractic scamming. The CAA’s unspoken position on vaccination is to cast as much doubt on it’s safety and efficacy as possible whilst simultaneously exploiting uncertainty by offering to do the impossible. To improve immunity by chiropractic diddlie dee so that patients won’t need vaccination.

Added to this are creatures like Weiner and Sipser. Warren Sipser tripped over his ego and became the subject of the piece The Chiro Kids in The Australian. Already well known for selling his services as an “expert witness” against the necessity of vaccines, he blundered yet again into the real world and damned himself by his own words and actions. Claiming to cure colds, ear infections, colic, bed-wetting, hyperactivity, asthma Sipser produced the globally debunked journal articles on DNA repair and optimisation of the immune system which makes vaccination unnecessary. This is based on the hokus pokus of their 19th century founder – a magnetic healer – who believed in God given energy flows.

Although the article gave a fair and balanced report on arguments for and against the new age sham, the CAA were consequently rather unhappy about individual practitioners speaking to the media. Much like Dorey’s tantrum above suggests, when it’s actually written down in context it is patently absurd.

Despite having zero qualifications in immunology or medicine, Nimrod Weiner from Newtown Community Chiropractic runs public “seminars”, that he advertises via the Australian Vaccination Network called Vaccinations: An informed choice

Despite the de-registration of Andrew Wakefield for his fraudulent work attempting to link autism to the MMR vaccine, the removal of his paper from The Lancet and careful exposure of how he was to benefit financially from his scam, Weiner admires him. Despite the fact this gastroenterologist lodged a patent claim for a monovalent vaccine well before attacking the trivalent vaccine, Weiner refers to Wakefield as “an autism expert”. A board member of Australian Spinal Research Foundation, and the Chiropractic Association of Australia (NSW), Weiner’s rather predatory conduct is a black mark against his entire discipline.

Weiner’s full presentation is here for those interested. Dr. Rachael Dunlop has written an extensive deconstruction which I highly recommend, of a Nimrod Weiner seminar that she attended. His product is doubt. The more he sells the better for God given energy flows. You can get an idea of Weiner’s Nimroddery from this slide;

Yesterday The Medical Observer published Chiropractors under fire for dubious health claims. It noted that the AMA had called upon the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency – AHPRA seeking “urgent action to rein in fringe elements within the chiropractic profession relating to various unsubstantiated claims about their treatments.” The article continued;

AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said he understood a high number of complaints had also been lodged with AHPRA over claims made by some chiropractors that they could cure diseases by correcting subluxations in the spine. The demands for closer scrutiny of chiropractors have come amid media reports claiming some chiropractors were advising parents against childhood immunisation. […..]

“Claiming you can fix a patient’s genes or that their children don’t need to be vaccinated is dangerous,” said Dr Hambleton. “We need to make sure that if you are a registered practitioner, the claims you make have a scientific basis.” Chiropractors’ Association of Australia president Simon ­Floreani said many people “perceived chiropractors as ‘back-crackers’ only, but we really want to be at the primary care level”. He described Dr Hambleton’s comments as “ill-informed”.

University of NSW emeritus professor of medicine John Dwyer said while many chiropractors were skilled at physical therapy, he backed the AMA’s move, saying there were increasing numbers who accepted the “unscientific nonsense” that spine flexibility caused disease. Past president of the Chiropractors Registration Board of Victoria John Reggars said it was frustrating to see the good results chiropractors could achieve for musculoskeletal conditions overshadowed by the fundamentalist fringe.

Clearly the new woo has infiltrated the CAA and Simon Floreani can “want” all he desires. Until these peddlers of cockypop and belief systems can provide evidence supporting their presence “at the primary care level”, they remain a Clear and Present Danger to Critical Thought and proper health management. I find the intent to reciprocate with the wider health community is summed up well by this predetermined, close minded, sarcastic comment from chiropractor Rob Hutchings, another devotee to the twilight zone of the Australian Vaccination Network;

One wonders if the evidence we don’t bother to read includes Jeremy Youngblood’s death certificate and autopsy report.

Jeremy recently died of a massive stroke, cerebral oedema and pulmonary embolism with bronchopneumonia following a severed vertebral artery whilst undergoing a “routine” chiropractic manipulation.

Is this enough “primary care level” for you, Simon Floreani?

————————

Jeremy Youngblood’s death certificate in PDF.

ACCC takes court action against Sensaslim for alleged misleading claims

Posted in Big Placebo, Health, Scam by

© ACCC July 21st, 2011:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings against Sensaslim Australia Pty Ltd (Administrator Appointed) (Sensaslim), Mr Peter Clarence Foster, Mr Peter Leslie O’Brien, Mr Adam Troy Adams and Mr Michael Anthony Boyle.

The ACCC alleges that Sensaslim and several of its officers engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and made false representations in relation to the identity of Sensaslim officers, the Sensaslim Spray and the business opportunities offered by Sensaslim.  The alleged conduct includes:

  • Failing to disclose the involvement of Peter Foster in the business of Sensaslim;
  • Falsely representing that the Sensaslim Spray was the subject of a large worldwide clinical trial when in fact no such trial was conducted;
  • Falsely representing that Dr Capehorn, an obesity specialist, gave unqualified support to the effectiveness of the Sensaslim Spray and the purported clinical trials;
  • Falsely representing that Michael Boyle was managing the business of Sensaslim;
  • Failing to disclose that Michael Boyle was intending to resign as Director immediately following the launch of Sensaslim;
  • Falsely representing that Sensaslim franchisees were already participating in, and profiting from, the Sensaslim franchise, that a Sensaslim franchise had a certain earning potential and that there was a “money back buy back guarantee”.

The ACCC is seeking court orders including declarations, injunctions, penalties, compensation orders, orders that Sensaslim officers be disqualified from managing corporations in the future and costs.  In the Federal Court NSW on 20 July 2011, Justice Yates made orders by consent granting leave for the ACCC to proceed against Sensaslim Australia Pty Ltd (Administrator Appointed) up to 27 July 2011.

Orders are extended to 27 July 2011 that Foster, O’Brien and Adams be restrained from taking further steps to make representations regarding the efficacy of the Sensaslim Spray where the basis for the representation is a clinical trial or scientific report, unless the clinical trial was conducted and is the subject of a scientific report which has been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal.

The matter has been adjourned for further hearing to 27 July 2011.

How Meryl Dorey stole $12,000 from AVN members and/or donors

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, AVN, Health, Human Rights, Legal, Media, Meryl Dorey, Scam, Social Media by

Back in the days just before community members were forced to take a stand against the Australian Vaccination Network for their harassment and abuse of grieving parents, things were different. Having run almost unchecked as a largely law breaking enterprise their confidence and gall in scamming the public was at an all time high.

Yet the basis of Dorey’s urgent threats (directed at parents) of compulsory vaccination for toddlers never existed. Parent’s have never been forced to vaccinate children. The many alerts such as “Action Alert – compulsory H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination just around the corner” were all scams to scare members into giving the AVN money. Dorey’s claimed funding destinations never existed. The most famous is the Bounty Bags rort. Assisted by sisters Jane and Nicola Beeby, the scam was to take donations to “fund” AVN material in Bounty Bags maternity packages. The problem was the Bounty Bags company despised the AVN and had nothing to do with them. AVN did the same with Copeland Publishing and their Child magazine – an example of which we’ll see below.

The AVN knew no bounds. They had logo polo shirts, T-Shirts boasting Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them, media appearances, glossy magazines resembling competence, craftily tipping uncertain parents further into a maelstrom of doubt. “Tell them they have aborted foetal cells in them”, Dorey was want to advise her minions. Anti-freeze, immortal cells used in production lead to cancer, crushed up monkey kidney, heavy metals, mercury, mercury, mercury. Dorey zipped from community hall to community hall running the same unsubstantiated claims with photos easily dated from the 1970’s. Horrific injuries blamed on every type of vaccination. For unsuspecting Aussies they were dark days indeed. To this day, not one “vaccine injury” has been backed by evidence or accepted by ADRAC.

Until of course, selfless volunteers followed through with the laws they had flaunted for so long. Eventually The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission found that the Australian Vaccination Network website:

  • provides information that is solely anti-vaccination
  • contains information that is incorrect and misleading
  • quotes selectively from research to suggest that vaccination may be dangerous.

And because of this, in their public warning about the AVN, “the Commission recommended to the AVN that it should include a statement in a prominent position on its website to the following effect”:

  • The AVN’s purpose is to provide information against vaccination, in order to balance what it believes is the substantial amount of pro-vaccination information available elsewhere.
  • The information provided by the AVN should not be read as medical advice.
  • The decision about whether or not to vaccinate should be made in consultation with a health care provider.

The AVN never complied, refuting the HCCC observation of being anti-vaccination, claiming that they are for “informed choice”. Bizarre given that academic Brian Martin writes in defence of their “dissenting” anti-vaccination stance. He echoes Meryl Dorey’s complaint that they are an essential whistle blower suffering suppression of free speech.

Below we’ll get a touch of the charity fraud. But reading the group emails of how they mocked legitimate charities associated with medical care was chilling. “I tell them I’m a charity”, boasted Dorey. Ultimately this scam fell apart. The Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing stepped in conducting an “audit that revealed breaches of charitable fundraising legislation”. From the Lismore Northern Star;

These included fundraising without authority, unauthorised expenditure and failure to keep proper records of expenditure. The AVN offices were searched by the OLGR recently and staff were interviewed.

Dorey lied at the time to the public and the OLGR – as I reveal below. Despite these serious offences she claimed that the OLGR found their donation box was the wrong size and;

…the OLGR had found several errors with the network’s bookkeeping system and some minor problems with the way in which fundraising income was accounted for… errors which any small, volunteer-run organisation can and does make…

So let’s examine one very clear example. Documented no less in their own archives – in their own words. Signed off in the applicable financial statement, no less. Orchestrated by Meryl Dorey and the Beeby sisters and the AVN committee I’d like to bring to your attention the admission and publication by The Australian Vaccination Network that they successfully raised at least $11,910 which was to fund an advertisement.

I believe the manner and timing in which the money was raised, the prompt closing of the donation window and subsequent failure to reference the fate of the $11,910 is significant. The source for this is archived editions of Living Wisdom, running from March 2nd, 2009 to June 25th, 2009. These archives may be found here.

I might stress at the outset that material in AVN archives of Living Wisdom is in dissonance to Meryl Dorey’s assertion to the OLGR that the AVN did not have access to auditors between July 2nd 2007 and June 2nd 2009, when it was without authorisation to fund raise. The February 2009 edition, under the heading The AVN needs your help, includes;

The AVN has now reached a crisis point and it’s up to you to decide whether or not we are able to continue to provide these services.
Our auditors have told us that they they have serious concerns about our financial status and our ability to continue as a viable entity…. Our debts are just over $50,000 – more than half of that co-signed for by Meryl Dorey personally…..

On October 16th, 2010 Mel McMillan wrote an article in The Lismore Northern Star entitled AVN seeking legal advice. It includes;

It is understood that between July 2, 2007 and June 2, last year (2009), the AVN was without authorisation to fundraise.
Ms Dorey admits this was true but claimed the OLGR was aware of the AVN’s fundraising status. ‘During this time we were unable to find an auditor,’ Ms Dorey said.
‘It took the AVN 12 months to find an auditor and then another year before the audit was conducted because the AVN was put at the bottom of the new auditor’s work pile’, Ms Dorey claims.

I believe this disparity suggesting a delay until mid 2010 in finding auditors, is quite pertinent. Either Ms. Dorey misled members, readers and donors or misled the OLGR. Which brings the next matter – the successful collection of $12,000 into stark consideration. The appeal began in the very next Living Wisdom publication on March 2nd 2009, 11 days after the published claim that AVN auditors had “serious concerns about [the AVN] as a viable entity”.

Regarding the advertisement, the March 2nd, 2009 edition sought donations from members totalling $53,000 by Monday March 9th, 2009. It suggested readership numbers meant a donation of $20 would suffice. The AVN had been in touch with Generation Rescue in the USA (they claimed citing no correspondence) and were “given permission” to run their USA focused advertisement in Australia. Donors could email judy@avn.org.au for internet banking or donate directly into:
Australian Vaccination Network Gift Fund Westpac BSB 032591 Account – 196282

Further ambiguity as to financial record management appears in the same issue under Your support is amazing! It is claimed that the call for $50,000 11 days earlier had allowed the AVN to “continue… for now”. It includes;

The AVN committee is in the process of working with our accountants in order to develop systems which will make our operations more sustainable. In the meantime, if there are any business mentors out there who would like to help us with advice, that would be very much appreciated.

A suspicious typing error led to Generation Rescue being referred to as Operation Rescue, and was corrected later the same day. Yet they’d just been in frequent contact with Generation Rescue, negotiating a deal…. hadn’t they? Four days later on March 6th, 2009 under Update on Fundraising for Autism Ad, the AVN’s Living Wisdom claims a total raised of $5,000.

By March 31st, 2009 the AVN Living Wisdom claims under What’s been happening? – Item 1 – that $7,000 of $53,000 has been raised. At this point the authors claim to have been seeking to; “Fund a full page ad in The Australian newspaper”. However, rather than a one off ad, they now seek;

“a full page ad in every edition of Copeland Publishing’s CHILD magazine…. This will cost $26,000 in total”.

Copeland Publishing do not accept or agree with AVN material. An advertisement claiming vaccines cause autism is factually absurd, deeply offensive, runs against the ethics and standing of Copeland and CHILD magazine, and would have lost them support and paying customers. The closest the AVN have come was a discussion online to have members flood GP offices and “sneak” anti-vaccination material into existing copies of CHILD magazine.

This attack was phase two in a 2010 revenge attack on Copeland for refusing to publish AVN propaganda, earlier reported in an “Action Alert” by Dorey herself, calling for letters to bombard Copeland Publishing. Later praised here. And still later praised as a “fantastic job”.

The next mention of the fund raising drive is in Living Wisdom, June 14th, 2009 [incorrectly headed “July 2009”] under Two weeks left – please don’t let this effort go to waste! They write (again with no citation of Generation Rescue);

We need to raise $23,000 in total and if we get 2/3 of the money, the American organisation, Generation Rescue, will give us the other 1/3. So far, we have raised $7,000 and we need to raise another $8,000 before Generation Rescue will give us the rest. I feel that we have given it a really good go, but it’s time to say there needs to be a time limit.

We cannot get the media to cover this issue from our side at all. They still insist that there is no evidence that children are becomming autistic as a result of vaccination. We know this is not the case. The US vaccine court knows this is not the case. But the average Australian mum and dad still has no idea. It is vital that we get this information out there. It will blow the roof off of the claims by our government, our medical community and others who want to continue the cover-up of this issue.

Please, if you have not already donated towards this cause (please click here [Ed: no longer functioning] to read more about this effort and to see a copy of the ad), do so today. If you can, forward this letter (using the link below) to your friends, family, workmates or anyone else who has an interest in child health.

Today, is Monday, June 15th. We will give it until Monday, June 29th to raise the rest of these funds. Your help and support are very much appreciated.

Oh, one other VERY IMPORTANT thing. When you make your donation via our website, please use this link [archive] so we will know to direct your donation towards this fundraising appeal? It is for a $20 donation. If you want to donate more, just change the quantity (in other words, if you want to donate $100, just change the quantity to 5 and that will be 5 X $20 or $100 in total).

A fund raising closure date of June 29th is now set.
The bank deposit account details change to;
Westpac Account Account name – Australian Vaccination Network, Incorporated BSB – 032 591 Account Number – 188223

At this point the total sought is $15,000 – $7,000 raised plus $8,000 needed. On June 25th – 11 days later – an additional $4,000 is reported, bringing the total raised to $11,000. They write in Living Wisdom;

We are entering the home stretch folks. On June 14th in our last e- newsletter, I put out an appeal for the final $8,000 needed to get our ad regarding the connection between autism and vaccination into all of the Copland Publishing magazines (Sydney’s Child, Melbourne’s Child, etc.). We have raised about 1/2 of that $8,000 but, like the saying goes (sort of!), you can’t be a little bit pregnant or a little bit dead. $4,000 won’t get the ad in these publications – we need another $4,000 and we only have 3 days to get it.

Based on the last receipt of $4,000 in 11 days, or indeed the initial $5,000 in four days, if the fund raising was extended for a short time past the final 3 days, the $15,000 sought may have been achieved. The outcome of this fundraising attempt or the promised advertisement is not noted again. According to the OLGR it reached $11,910.

No mention is made of monies raised over the final three days in which donations would have continued coming in – perhaps the $4,000 sought. Nor indeed was there any mention of whether the AVN itself could contribute with the help of accountants the AVN claimed were making “our operations more sustainable”.

Donations appear to have been made, or at least called for, into two separate Westpac accounts. The AVN Gift Fund and The AVN Incorporated. No mention of trust account deposits is presented to members. Monies raised in this manner are legally bound to be placed in trust accounts and members notified.

The $11,000 is not mentioned again in subsequent Living Wisdom editions. The only reference to money (two weeks later) are calls to buy tickets to seminars, sign up for membership or subscribe to Living Wisdom. The at least $11,000 is by their own admission, in AVN hands. Money raised immediately after a separate appeal for $50,000 to keep the organisation afloat. After financial auditing found “serious concerns about [the AVN] as a viable entity”. The latter being acknowledged again on March 2nd, 2009.

Of course I informed the OLGR of how this “minor problem with how fundraising was accounted for”, by Dorey and most likely the Beeby’s. Both Meryl Dorey’s and Jane Beeby’s signature’s are on the annual financial statement covering this period. Again, in their own words they damn themselves. The question must be asked: Was there ever a real appeal to fund an advertisement? Or was it a ploy targetting readers touched by autism? The average Australian mum and dad still has no idea. It was a government and media cover up.

The evidence is overwhelming. The money appears as good as stolen. Dorey denies accountability to the OLGR, claiming their motivation to act is derived from the HCCC whose motivation was derived from “forces” intent on suppressing their civil rights. To point out these scams is according to Dorey and the likes of Dr. Brian Martin, suppressing their right to free speech.

I’m afraid I beg to differ.

On October 18th, 2010 the NSW Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing wrote to Mr. Ken McLeod in response to his many complaints about AVN breaches of the charitable fund raising act 1991. It included, along with 17 confirmed breaches of the Act:

During the course of the inquiry evidence of possible breaches of the Charitable Trusts Act 1993 was detected in relation to the following specific purpose appeals conducted by AVN: [….]

2. Advertising Appeal – initially this was an appeal for the specific purpose of raising funds for an advertisement in the Australian commencing in March 2009 and concluding July 2009. The specific purpose was changed during the course of the appeal to fund advertisements in Child magazine. This appeal raised $11,910. None of the funds were applied to the specific purposes. It is noted that AVN did spend some $15,000 during the period December 2009 to July 2010 on various forms of advertising.

Two days later the Minister for Liquor, Gaming and Racing revoked the fundraising authority held by the AVN.