About a year and a half ago, Dr. Isaac Golden came to visit Toronto on his way to Cuba where he was heading to analyze the data that had come from several homeopathic interventions used to prevent and stop epidemics.
Dr. Golden is well known for his extensive research in an area of homeopathy called homeoprophylaxis. This refers to the use of homeopathy for disease prevention. His 20 year study comparing his protocols to standard childhood vaccines in Australia has garnered a lot of discussion and controversy. The Finlay Institute in Cuba based their national interventions on Dr. Golden's work.
Before arriving he received a request from Marketplace, a Canadian consumer watchdog television show, asking if he would be willing to do an interview. Despite my warning Isaac agreed, though we managed to add a caveat – I would have to be there to film the original interview., and to my abundant surprise they agreed to the arrangement.
Marketplace also asked us if they could attend the seminar, Isaac graciously invited them to attend, but they were not welcome to bring their cameras nor speak with the seminar participants. They even signed an agreement to that effect.
Low and behold the day we arrived at the location of the seminar the cameras were waiting for us. They accosted Dr. Golden right away and managed to get an interview out of him. Marketplace brought a skeptic scientist to observe the seminar and provide his feedback afterwards. And then during the breaks and lunch hour we found them outside the venue interviewing the attendees on camera.
Months later the show finally aired, and it was all as we had feared. Marketplace took Dr. Golden out of context and made him look like some uneducated new age guru rather than a PhD in statistics who had published his research under the supervision of a medical epidemiologist and a professor of medicine. The ramifications of this program were quite severe in Canada. Spurred on by the Marketplace episode, the Canadian Pediatric Association lobbied to have all nosodes (remedies made from a pathogen) to have strict warning labels on them stating that homeopathy is not an alternative to vaccination and that the remedy is not recommended for use in children. As well legislation has passed that take all cough, cold and flu remedies intended for children off of Canadian store shelves. Incredible how much one prejudiced and unfair treatment can have an enormous effect on national policy and popular opinion.
Thankfully I have the original interview footage where I can demonstrate how marketplace really didn’t give him a chance. Stay tuned, you’ll get to see it all in the film!
As we believe in giving various perspectives a voice, we may publish ideas we don't necessarily agree with, therefore the views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the views of Magic Pills, Ananda More, or Phosphorus Films.
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