» Continued from Part 2

=== Alternative Healing
26. US panel examines alternative medicines
27. Its medicine, not glitz
28. Centre mulls introducing Ayurveda science in US
29. Deepak Chopra's daughter puts new age healing on Net
30. No Real Way to Put Prayers to the Test
31. Hospital dedicated center to lift spirits

=== Science
32. Kan. Board To OK Science Standards
33. Sideshows of Science (CSICOP)

=== Noted
34. Poll: Politics, Religion Don't Mix
35. Britain's growing band of religious hermits


=== Alternative Healing

26. US panel examines alternative medicines
AP, Jan. 10, 2001
http://www.timesofindia.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) An estimated four in 10 Americans use some form of alternative medicine, from acupuncture or hypnosis to herbs or Internet-touted wonder remedies. Some may work; in fact, some of the nation's best-known hospitals have begun offering certain remedies. But others can be quackery or outright dangerous. How is a patient to know the difference?

A new presidential commission is travailing the country on a two-year quest to determine how to help doctors and consumers sort out what works, what doesn't, and what's too risky, and to integrate alternative remedies that do prove effective into mainstream health care.

It's an ambitious effort, funded with $2 million in taxpayer dollars, to breach the medicine wars and recommend to Congress a national policy on alternative therapies.

But it's drawing fire from some critics who complain the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy is packed with proponents of the unconventional.
(...)

But there is little science behind other alternative remedies. The National Institutes of Health is spending tens of millions of dollars this year testing some of them.

Proof may be years in coming, but the White House commission is charged with determining how to ensure doctors and patients learn the available evidence and if something works, how to pay for it.

Indeed, at meetings in Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, alternative practitioners including a controversial cancer doctor who has faced scrutiny for pushing coffee enemas and pancreatic enzymes have touted untested remedies and begged for funds.

Don't expect a push to pay for alternative remedies before getting Medicare to pay for proven disease-fighting medications, cautions Fins. Will other commissioners agree? The panel's first draft report to Congress is due in July.
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27. Its medicine, not glitz
The Times (England), Jan. 9, 2001
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Eastern medicine may be fashionable, but is often misunderstood, says Anne Woodham In a society dominated by long working hours, deadlines and mobile phones it is easy to understand the appeal of Eastern medicine, with its emphasis on ancient philosophies and inner harmony. ''People want more from their GP than seven minutes and a prescription,'' says Dr Rajendra Sharma, the medical director of the Hale Clinic in London, a centre for complementary and alternative therapies. ''That's why Eastern medicine is now so popular.''

Celebrity devotees, including Madonna, Richard Gere and Demi Moore, fuel the popularity of systems such as TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine. These encompass the whole person. Ill-health is seen as a disturbance in natural forces, and healing as a restoration of balance. Like other non-conventional medicine, it seems most effective for conditions such as eczema and irritable bowel syndrome.

But do Westerners understand what they are dipping into? Does the pick-and-mix attitude dilute the potency of these systems? Could it open lay users to harm?

In some health and beauty salons therapists offer introductions to Ayurveda. The Practice, a health centre in Leicestershire, offers a three to five-day ''panchakarma'' retreat designed to purify body and mind. Traditionally, this process can last up to three weeks and includes medicated oil enemas, laxatives, induced vomiting, blood-letting, yoga exercises and meditation.

Jo Pickering, The Practice's founder, trained at Dr Deepak Chopra's centre in California. Chopra, an American orthodox doctor, rediscovered his Ayurvedic heritage when he wrote a bestseller, Quantum Healing. Pickering omits vomiting and bloodletting ''because they're not acceptable in the West'' and, although she has not been to India, says her approach is ''more nurturing and compassionate''.
There is concern, however, that unqualified people are practising treatments normally prescribed and supervised by Ayurvedic doctors who have studied for years at an Indian or Sri Lankan university.
(...)

Gopi Warrier, the chairman of the Ayurvedic Company of Great Britain, opened the 20-bed free Ayurvedic Charitable Hospital in West London this year because he says he is ''tired of charlatans. In untrained hands, this is like a barber doing neurosurgery''.
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28. Centre mulls introducing Ayurveda science in US
The Economic Times (India), Dec. 31, 2000
http://www.economictimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The government of India is seriously considering tying up with America based doctors to introduce the Ayurvedic sciences to medical students there. The ancient science, often referred to as an alternate medicine system, will initially be introduced to students in American medical schools through ''exposure sessions'' to be held by Indian practitioners of the science.

Says Shailja Chandra, secretary, Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy: ''Ayurveda is a scientific and well documented science, which has its own pharmacopoeia. The government of India will designate and sponsor good communicators and Ayurvedic practitioners to conduct these exposure sessions in American medical schools.

We basically want to highlight the strengths of Ayurveda.'' Alternately, she says, the government would be happy to receive delegations from America who would come here for exposure to Ayurveda. In fact, recently, a WHO-sponsored delegation from Africa was here to ''get exposure'' to this ancient system of science.

The proposed plan reportedly has PM Atal Behari Vajpayee's blessings - especially considering he was recently on holiday in Kerala taking Ayurvedic treatment for his ailments. According to Dr Navin Shah, a urologist based in Maryland, and former president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, concerns of high costs in healthcare and the side effects of allopathic medicines are raising American interest in herbal and alternative systems of medicine.

Combined with spiritual packaging by gurus such as Deepak Chopra, alternate medicines are becoming all the more attractive.

Says Shah, who has been instrumental in this proposal: ''We have 32,000 Indian doctors in the US, of which about 5000 are in faculty positions in medical schools. In addition, 10 per cent of all US medical students are of Indian origin. Therefore, if we introduce short courses in Ayurveda, we al- ready have a captive audience.''
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29. Deepak Chopra's daughter puts new age healing on Net
The Times of India/IANS (India), Jan. 10, 2001
http://www.timesofindia.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NEW YORK: When you are the daughter of New Age guru Deepak Chopra, it becomes that much easier to sell an idea. And the credibility promises to be especially high if the idea is about putting New Age stuff on the World Wide Web.

Which is why Mallika Chopra, 29, the guru's daughter, launched her website MyPotential this month and is immediately featured in the upcoming January-22 issue of Forbes.

Mallika Chopra opted out of her business management programme at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Evanston, Illinois, in her third year after Silicon Valley investors agreed to put more than $5 million into her plan for developing a holistic healing site on the Web. Founded in September 1999 by the elder and younger Chopra, the site has yet to offer the services though.

Currently the website contains a brief description of the company and the services it will offer. Calling itself the ''global multimedia company,'' MyPotential says, ''we are home to over 50 leading authors, doctors, leaders, experts, entertainers and artists in the world of health and human potential.'' It claims, ''we can empower you to lead a healthier, more enriching life and truly experience vitality and well being.''

The founders say they create new programmes, shows, tools and online workshops from ''great minds'' and bring them to life on both the Internet and television and also through syndicated articles and their publishing division. But, at the moment, nothing is on the site.

Forbes notes that Deepak Chopra accompanied his daughter going knocking on venture capitalists' (VCs) doors to start the service. They pitched the idea of a site that would lay out everything New Age-ey on food, books, TV, the Internet -- whatever people of that ilk would like to know about.
(...)

The elder Chopra is the founder and chairman of the Santa Monica, California-based company and owns a majority of the shares, Forbes says. Four investors shelled out some $10 million, of which more than half came from Mary Adelson of EastWest VentureGroup, a Chopra fan, the magazine reveals.

Forbes conjectures it will be difficult for the Chopras to make a go of MyPotential in light of the hard times all Internet-related start-ups have been having since last April.
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30. No Real Way to Put Prayers to the Test
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 8, 200
http://www.latimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Prayer may be the most universally applied form of treatment for sickness, injury and disease. It's used around the world, across cultures and for at least as long as reports of human suffering reach back. But nobody seems to know whether it really works.

A surprising number of researchers, some representing mainstream institutions and applying standard research protocols, have taken up this controversial and provocative question in recent years.

Studies that have found associations between religious activities or beliefs and good health fail to prove cause and effect. And studies targeting the act of prayer are harder to do and have so far been inconclusive.

While some research has demonstrated health benefits from praying for oneself and--perhaps more arrestingly--being prayed for by others (which is known as intercessory prayer), most of these studies have problems that leave experts questioning their validity. Many use too few participants to produce statistically accurate results or apply imprecise measures to such variables as pain and recovery.

And most important, events that believers would consider manifestations of God can be maddeningly difficult to account for in a way that satisfies science.

''Trying to scientifically determine prayer's effect on health is nearly impossible,'' says Adriane Fugh-Berman, assistant clinical professor of health-care science at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and author of the book ''Alternative Medicine: What Works'' (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins). ''Prayer studies are interesting, but from a public health point of view, they are not the best place to put our dollars.''

Researchers who head many of the studies acknowledge the topic's inherent challenges, but believe its importance outweighs its problems.
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31. Hospital dedicated center to lift spirits
Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6, 2001
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) Recognizing the impact of positive thinking on healing, the $7.9 million cancer center, which Cardinal Francis George blessed Friday, adds alternative medicine to its roster of patient services.

Along with tai chi, patients can take yoga classes, receive therapeutic massages or attend sessions in stress management, relaxation techniques, acupuncture or ''healing touch'' therapy.

''We know there is hard research data out there that people with a positive outlook do much better,'' said Pat Murphy, the center's director.
(...)

''We are reaching the whole person--mind, body and spirit,'' said Linda Courts, a registered nurse, of the hospital's integrative medicine department. ''A lot of energy is gone when people receive radiation and chemotherapy. We're hoping to replace some of that energy for them.''
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=== Science

32. Kan. Board To OK Science Standards
AP, Jan. 9, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
TOPEKA, Kan. -- A newly elected Kansas Board of Education took a step Tuesday toward restoring evolution to state science curricula, more than a year after causing an uproar over how biology and faith should be taught in the classroom.

After more than two hours of debate, the board decided it would give final approval to the new standards at its Feb. 13-14 meeting. No vote was taken, but enough members signaled their support for the revised standards to guarantee their adoption next month.

The new science standards would replace ones adopted in August 1999 that omitted references to many evolutionary concepts.

The discussion was dominated by board member Steve Abrams, one of the three remaining supporters of the current standards.

''It still comes across that this is dogma, that this is the only way it is,'' Abrams said of the latest version.

Others raised concerns about censoring opposing views on science.

''Why not teach everything that we know?'' asked board member John Bacon.
John Staver, chairman of the committee that wrote the current standards, said the scientific community can't test the supernatural or the existence of God.

''In my personal life, when I encounter that, I leave my science background and I go to church,'' Staver said.
(...)

A public comment session on the new standards also was held Tuesday.
''You will be legislating naturalism into the public school curriculum,'' said Jody Sjogren of the Intelligent Design Network, which says evidence shows that a higher power created the universe. ''We need to stop making evolution a religion.''

But Jack Krebs of Kansas Citizens for Science said the revisions would help improve the state's tarnished image with scientists by restoring mainstream standards on the history the universe.
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33. Sideshows of Science
San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 8, 2001
http://www.sfgate.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
There have long been hoaxers and jokesters in science, true believers in pseudo-science, and the end is not in sight.
(...)

To the scientists and whistle-blowers who compose the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP - pronounced ''sci- cop''), the credulity of Americans knows no bounds.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of CSICOP, which was founded by astronomer Carl Sagan and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, among others, to root out fraud and pseudoscience. Today, the organization's gumshoes continue to expose the most egregious offenders. They publish a lively magazine called the Skeptical Inquirer, with fresh revelations every two months.

Paul Kurtz, a former philosophy professor and CSICOP's chairman, fears that the Internet and TV are spreading irrational ideas ever wider. ''Belief in the paranormal is growing by leaps and bounds,'' he said, ''and there are too many people eager to exploit the believers for a price.''

Take the persistent case of Uri Geller, the famed Israeli spoon-bender and clairvoyant who as far back as the 1970s confounded many serious researchers with his apparent ''remote viewing'' and mind-over-matter powers. Despite efforts to discredit him, his ''paranormal'' enterprises continue to thrive.
(...)

But James Randi, one of the founders of CSICOP and a widely known stage magician, has shown that Geller's most mysterious feats can be easily duplicated. He brands Geller a ''litigious fraud'' who uses ordinary tricks that are every magician's stock in trade. Randi said that Geller has sued him for defamation four times for ''millions and millions of dollars,'' but that every lawsuit was later dismissed.
(...)

Another target of the fraud-busters is ''psychic surgery,'' in which healers claim to be able to extract diseased tissue from the body with only their hands.
(...)

Psychic surgery is big business particularly in the Philippines, but also through a kind of psychic underground in America, England, Russia and many other countries. Last month, Orbito presided over an ''International Healing Festival'' in Manila, where crowds of American and European believers paid $1, 750 each to attend 10 days of inspirational lectures and testimony.
(...)

Over and over again, so-called psychic healers have been caught doing their act by sleight-of-hand - apparently pulling clumps of bloody tissue from a patient's body without anesthetics just when sharp-eyed investigators reach over the body and find bits of chicken innards and imitation blood.
(...)

Even very reputable scientists have been tarred with fraud. It was almost a century ago, in 1912, that the world of anthropology was startled and conned by the discovery near Piltdown in southern England of ''Eoanthropus dawsoni,'' a skull hailed by scientists as being from the true ancestor of all modern humans.
(...)

But it wasn't until 1953 that new age-dating techniques established that far from being humanity's long-sought missing link, Piltdown Man was a glued- together hoax, with the cranium of a modern human and the jawbone of a juvenile orangutan.
(...)

''A vast and growing undercurrent of irrationality and pseudoscience'' in America is what worries Paul Kurtz, the former professor of philosophy who founded CSICOP, the international fraud-fighting network, 25 years ago.

The acronym stands for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Among its co-founders were Carl Sagan, the famed astronomer, and Isaac Asimov, the biochemist who became the world's most prolific author of science fiction and books on science.

With a membership of more than 70 scientists, engineers, physicians and magicians who serve as ''fellows,'' the committee has a network of volunteer
groups in 35 foreign countries and 27 states. The Bay Area Skeptics in Castro Valley and the East Bay Skeptics in Oakland are part of the network.
(...)

More information is available on the Internet at:
-- www.csicop.org (http://www.csicop.org)
The committee's principal Web site.
-- www.baskeptics.org (http://www.baskeptics.org)
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=== Noted

34. Poll: Politics, Religion Don't Mix
AP, Jan. 9, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
[...more trends...]
NEW YORK -- A post-campaign poll from a secular think tank found that Americans are wary of religion in the political arena but want more of it in public schools and think U.S. society would benefit if more people became devout.

Religion is the best way to strengthen moral behavior and family values, 69 percent of those polled said. Decreasing greed, materialism and crime, increasin 87 percent.

The November poll of 1,507 U.S. adults was conducted Public Agenda, a nonpartisan New York-based policy research agency founded by former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and pollster Daniel Yankelovich. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. A report on the poll was being released Wednesday at a Brookings Institution forum in Washington.

Fully 74 percent agreed that ''it's a bad idea for families to raise children without any religion.'' Seventy-four percent said school prayer teaches children that belief in God is important, and 56 percent consider it an effective means of improving youngsters' behavior.

But majorities said school prayer can be unfair to some families and students, which apparently explained why there was far more support for a nonsectarian ''moment of silence'' in classrooms (53 percent) than prayers addressed to God (20 percent) or to Jesus (6 percent). Nineteen percent opposed all such observances.
(...)

Seventy-four percent in the poll thought politicians who talk about their faith ''are just saying what people want to hear.'' Only 26 percent said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who always decides on the basis of religious convictions.
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35. Britain's growing band of religious hermits
The Guardian (England), jan. 8, 2001
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Rising numbers of lay people are choosing to live a solitary life of prayer and contemplation, according to Church of England sources.

At a time when church attendance is in decline, applications to live a contemplative life, in the style of the saints of the early church, have increased.

However, whereas the Syrian St Simeon Stylites prayed on top of a 60ft pillar for 36 years, modern ascetics rarely live a totally reclusive existence.

Dominic Walker, bishop of Reading, said: ''There is a growing interest in the solitary life. It is not necessarily living as a recluse - although there are a few anchorites - it is more that people feel they are being called to a greater consecration of their lives to God. Most are living normal lives but, with people living in more loosely structured communities, it is much easier to be solitary.''

The bishop, who acts as spiritual director for a number of contemplatives, added: ''There is a solitary living in my own area who has a hermitage in her garden. Her husband seems to be quite sympathetic.''

Strangely, while increasing numbers of Anglicans are attempting to follow the medieval rules of solitary living laid down by St Benedict, the Roman Catholic Church is reporting a decline in applications to join contemplative religious orders or tolive as solitaries. ''We can only think of three [hermits] living in this country,''said Tom Horwood, spokesman for the Catholic Media Office.
Community work
(...)

The number of societies for lay contemplatives is growing. There is the Fellowship of Solitaries, which has about 300 members, the Association of British Contemplatives, the Companions of Jesus Crucified, and even an organisation called the Order of Consecrated Virgins.

In the US there is an urban hermit movement, some of whose members retreat to their Manhattan apartments after a day behind their Wall Street computer screens for evenings of prayer, reading and quiet thought.

Eve Baker, newsletter editor of the Fellowship of Solitaries, who is married to a retired clergyman and lives in Brecon, Powys, said: ''There is a dissatisfaction with institutional religion, which seems to dwindle these days.
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