Honest Universe

Ethical Pharmacy Practice 2: Time for a Spring Clean

Mark Hanna • Oct 11, 2014

• Alternative Medicine,
• ASA,
• Complaints,
• Homeopathy,
• Medicine,
• Miers Laboratories,
• New Zealand,
• NO-JET-LAG,
• Pharmacy Council,
• Regulation,
• Scepticism,
• Society for Science Based Healthcare

In July, I wrote an article on Ethical Pharmacy Practice and Homeopathic No-Jet-Lag. In it, I described the importance of the role pharmacies play in the healthcare system, and their ethical obligation not to mislead consumers or promote ineffective healthcare products. In particular, I described an advertisement I saw in an Auckland pharmacy for a […] … Read More

Movement of the Moon

Mark Hanna • Oct 11, 2014

• Amateur Astronomy,
• Astronomy,
• Greg O'Beirne,
• Lunar eclipse,
• New Zealand,
• Occultation of Saturn,
• Solar eclipse

If you were up late last Wednesday, you’d have gotten the chance to watch the second total lunar eclipse this year. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves directly between the Moon and the Sun, therefore blocking the light to the Moon and making it turn dark. This is very cool to watch, especially […] … Read More

ACC and Acupuncture 2

Mark Hanna • Sep 04, 2014

• ACC,
• Acupuncture,
• Alternative Medicine,
• New Zealand

The ACC has responded to my Official Information Act request that I mentioned in my last post on ACC and acupuncture. Here’s what I asked for in my request: Dear Accident Compensation Corporation, In response to an Official Information Act request from Kevin McCready in June (https://fyi.org.nz/request/1749-continue…), Mrs Koleti Vae’au wrote that: In 2011, ACC’s […] … Read More

Green Party Health Policy

Mark Hanna • Sep 02, 2014

• Alternative Medicine,
• Green Party,
• Kevin Hague,
• Medicine,
• New Zealand,
• Politics,
• Sue Kedgley

There was a thread recently in one of the Facebook groups I’m a member of in which, among other election-related things, the Green Party’s Health Policy was being discussed. It was mentioned that the Green Party had been essentially pro-CAM, at least in the past. As I’d been considering voting for the Greens, this was […] … Read More

The Price of Painkillers Part 2: Only Misleading in Australia

Mark Hanna • Aug 29, 2014

• Australia,
• Friends of Science in Medicine,
• Medicine,
• New Zealand,
• Nurofen,
• Paul Rolan,
• Reckitt Benckiser,
• regulation,
• Therapeutic Goods Administration

Yesterday, I wrote about how various painkillers with the same active ingredients often cost different amounts. In particular I talked about Reckitt Benckiser’s “Nurofen” ibuprofen products, some of which are advertised as targeting specific types of pain even though it doesn’t seem plausible, given that they are essentially exactly the same, that they could target […] … Read More

The Price of Painkillers

Mark Hanna • Aug 28, 2014

• GlaxoSmithKline,
• Medicine,
• Morgan Tait,
• New Zealand,
• Nurofen,
• NZ Herald,
• Panadol,
• Panadol Rapid,
• Reckitt Benckiser,
• The Checkout

DISCLAIMER: Since I mention some specific branded pharmaceutical products in this article, I want to make it very clear that I don’t intend to promote any particular product and have no conflict of interests to declare. Last Saturday, the New Zealand Herald’s Consumer Affairs reporter Morgan Tait published a very good article about a topic […] … Read More

ACC and Acupuncture

Mark Hanna • Aug 25, 2014

• ACC,
• Acupuncture,
• Alison Campbell,
• Alternative Medicine,
• Daniel Ryan,
• FYI,
• Gold,
• Judith Collins,
• Mark Honeychurch,
• Medicine,
• New Zealand,
• Richard Easther,
• Society for Science Based Healthcare,
• Thomas Lumley

Over the past year or so, various Official Information Act (OIA) requests have been made via the website fyi.org.nz, which allows for these requests and their responses to be made public. I have written previously about the results of some of these requests regarding ACC and Alternative Medicine. I’ve also shared some more information on […] … Read More

Osmosis Skincare’s Drinkable Sunscreen Trial

Mark Hanna • Aug 10, 2014

• Alternative Medicine,
• Bad Science,
• Ben Johnson,
• Drinkable Sunscreen,
• Harmonized Water,
• Osmosis Skincare,
• Paul Ver Hoeve,
• Scepticism,
• Society for Science Based Healthcare

If you haven’t already read my post about Osmosis Skincare’s Drinkable Sunscreen, you might want to do that before you read this one. A brief overview is that Osmosis Skincare claims drinking their “harmonized water” prevents sunburn. I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that this claim wasn’t backed up by evidence and the complaint […] … Read More

ASA Complaint: Osmosis Skincare’s Drinkable Sunscreen

Mark Hanna • Jul 28, 2014

• Alternative Medicine,
• ASA,
• Complaints,
• Drinkable Sunscreen,
• Harmonized Water,
• New Zealand,
• One News,
• Osmosis Skincare,
• Scepticism,
• Stats Chat,
• Thomas Lumley

In May this year, One News ran a story on a US skincare company releasing what it was calling “drinkable sunscreen”. Around the world, various sceptical websites also picked up the story, such as Doubtful News and Neurological Blog. The message was roughly that a “drinkable sunscreen” is a cool idea that isn’t entirely implausible, […] … Read More

July 2014 Auckland Skeptics in the Pub

Mark Hanna • Jul 14, 2014

• Alternative Medicine,
• ASA,
• Complaints,
• Juice Bar,
• New Zealand,
• Regulation,
• Skeptics in the Pub

Every month there’s a meetup at Juice Bar in Parnell, Auckland, of the Auckland Skeptics in the Pub group. This month, I was asked to be the speaker. The topic of my talk was the regulation surrounding medical advertisements in New Zealand, and what can be done by members of the public to counteract some […] … Read More