Friends of Science in Medicine- a recently formed group that includes more than 400 prominent scientists, doctors, academics and consumer advocates from Australia and overseas- wrote to the vice chancellors of Australian universities last month. Thy outlined their concerns about what they called the “diminishing of the standards applied to the teaching of science in our universities” and “ the increased teaching of pseudoscience”. The vice chancellors were asked in the letter to help reverse “ the trend which sees government- funded tertiary institutions offering courses in the health care sciences that are not underpinned by convincing scientific evidence”. “ Such courses involve so-called ‘ complementary or alternative medicine” masquerading as, and sitting side-by-side with, evidence- based health care sciences courses”, the letter said. It added that universities were risking their reputations by teaching courses like chiropractic, homeopathy, iridology and reflexology.
“ We take the view that those universities involved in teaching pseudoscience”, the letter said “ give such ideologies undeserved credibility, damage their academic standing and put the public at risk. The group says that 19 of Australia’s 39 universities offer degrees or courses in alternative health care. Such universities have asserted that their courses are legitimate. Macquarie University, which is in Sydney and offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chiropractic science, said it offered rigorous, high-quality courses. “Our chiropractic science students are will trained in the fundamental relevant sciences (physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, biophysics, radiology) together with unites in chiropractic methods of and clinical practice” university said in it’s statement “ our students are taught to understand that science proceeds only on the basis of evidence. We are confident that our graduates have been taught those techniques that are known through science to be beneficial” Klomp, dean of the science faculty at Charles Stuart University in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, said while Friends in Science in Medicine made some points, the degree offered at his university, a bachelor of health science ( complementary medicine) was based on science. He said that course was designed to import evidence-based science to people who already had a qualification like a diploma in alterative health care. The course includes such subjects as biology and physiology.
They’re all subjects that already mainstream he said that thousands of practitioners were already providing alternative medicine and that there much demand for their services. I could ignore them or I could train them better”, Mr Klomp said, adding that a majority of the universities students were already practising “We actually create graduates who are much better health care providers. It’s all about evident based, science based. Murdoch University in Perth said it was committed to the promotion of research-led teaching and evidence-based practice across all disciplines, and that it’s school of chiropractic and Sport science was “ established to be consistent with that approach”.
Students are taught the science-practitioner model and our aim is to produce graduates who are critical thinkers,” the university said in a statement. “ This enables them to distinguish between fads and genuine innovation in the discipline as practitioners, intelligent consumers of research and promoters of the scientific method A clear distinctions is made in all of our courses between areas for which the evidence is clear and those in which the science has not caught up with accepted practice where sufficient evidence has yet to be accumulated”
Universities Australia which represents the country’s universities said in a statement that the schools were “self accrediting institutions with the autonomy and capacity to ensure the quality and relevance of the courses they offer”.
John Dwyer co-founder of Friends of Science in Medicine and an emeritus professor of medicine at the university of New South Wales said the academics has decided to form the group because of concerns about growing number of courses in alternative medicine and their rising popularity among students. For many of us we been concerned for a long time that in this most scientific of all ages, pseudoscience seems to be flourishing” he said in a telephone interview. “ Its becoming an international effort” he said adding that the British government withdraw government funding for alternative-medicine courses In January. Daivd Colquhoun, a professor of Pharmacology at the University college London who has called for ending of the Australia group. “Course in alterative medicine are dishonest, they teach things that aren’t true and things that are dangerous to patents in some cases” Mr Coluhoun said in a statement. Emphasizing that the group was not opposed to universities” conducting research into different fields, Mr Dwyer said the scientists were urging the vice chancellors to review the teaching of these courses and come up with a statement on the issue when they meet in March.