1. Vol 86 Issue 2 Apr–Jun 2015
Getting Science in
the spotlight:
AusSMC and Scimex
The New
Financial
Economy
Magic beans
and Dragons:
Pseudoscience
Fossil Fuel
Divestment
A Growing Case or
Misleading Politics?

2. image:©W.Carter-Wiki
10 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY APR–JUN 2015
In a world of mass-information and insatiable media there
is little we can do to stem the drip, drip, drip of published
‘studies’ that persist in eroding our knowledge base with
abominably bad science and illogical conclusions. Bad science
is all too often captivating for people in search of easy answers
– answers to relatively straightforward questions: How can I
lose weight effectively? Are these drugs safe for my children?
Why do I feel unwell?
ARTICLE BY: Dr Lauren Wright
Magic Beans and
Dragons:
The war against pseudoscience
and misinformation
S
ometimes the clear waters of
fact and evidence are muddied
unintentionally, and sometimes
they’re muddied by science
with malicious intent. So how
can non-scientists comb apart the lies
from the truth, when to the untrained eye
it all seems plausible? Like a winding path
through a dark forest, the road to the truth
is sometimes really difficult to navigate.
People are confused by the presence of
‘scientific peer-reviewed journals’that
are pure hogwash, and by‘doctors’with
a megaphone to the world that seem to
lack even the most basic knowledge of the
science behind their recommendations.

3. Understanding is confounded by statistical
fishing trips, lack of correct methods, and
biased researchers peddling beliefs dis-
guised as science.
Sometimes even highly educated
individuals get sucked into well-worded
pseudoscientific babble. The subject matter
seems endless. Fad diets, detoxing, global
warming, vaccines and autism, cell phones
and brain cancer, organic food. Drinking
water from plastic containers, microwaving
plastic containers, microwaving anything.
Gluten-shaming, carb-shaming, fat-sham-
ing. Paleo, Atkins, Dukan, Mediterranean,
Raw food. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget
GMOs forged in the fires of hell, probably
right next to the birthplace of all those
nefarious‘chemicals’that sneak their way
into everything.
Fad diets and‘chemical’-based fear are
some of the biggest realms of pseudo-
science these days. And it’s no wonder,
given our rapidly growing collective
waistline and related complications. People
are simply looking for some control, to
atone for their lack of restraint at the fast
food counter, and lack of willpower in the
gym. It’s much more convenient to blame
Big Food, Big Farming, and Big Pharma for
our health woes. Thus the answer becomes
to detox, to magically rid the body of
substances that we cannot help but unwill-
ingly ingest.
The issue is (as many people seem to
know), there is absolutely no need to detox.
The idea that you
can somehow
scrub away your
ingested sins
and leave your
innards squeaky
clean is a myth;
organs such as
your liver, kidneys,
skin, and lungs
do a fantastic
job filtering out
things that you
don’t need. Detox
diets are a scam.
These and
similar statements
have been made
time and time
again, in blogs, magazines, newspapers,
on TV. But the message isn’t getting across.
The detox diet industry remains a billion-
dollar money-making supermachine; in
2011 the industry around boutique cleans-
ing juice diets was valued at $60 billion
dollars1
, and that is only a fraction of the
detox industry segment.
Sometimes it seems that the voices of
reason are not as widely heard as the voices
of misinformation.
In many cases, these die-hard detox
dieters, organic food Nazis, and anti-
‘chemical’devotees are created by
advertising companies that know all too
well that fear sells. And it’s so easy! For just
a few bucks here and there you can tem-
porarily relieve the unease created by the
ingestion of those evil imaginary toxins.
To top it off, peddlers of hogwash are
often given significant airtime on power-
ful platforms, like TV shows such as those
of Mehmet Oz
and Oprah. Add
to this the fact
that ill-informed
celebrities with
a megaphone to
the world gather
followers with
barely any effort
at all – just look
at ex-Playboy
bunny, Jenny
McCarthy, and
her anti-vaccine
campaign.
Sometimes
these issues are
brushed off as
the problems
of people with too much money and not
enough sense. Often the feeling seems
to be“It’s too hard to educate the public
about science when they already believe in
the lies. Besides, they’re not hurting anyone
with their choices. So why bother?”In a way
this feeling is right; what you do with your
own body is largely no-one else’s business.
But what if your choices severely affect the
quality of life of other people?
Take the anti-vaccine movement for
example. Misguided decisions based on
past lies are causing the re-emergence
of deadly diseases in our population.
Individuals that are medically unable to
APR–JUN 2015 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY 11
Magic beans and dragons
Gluten-shaming, carb-shaming, fat-shaming. Paleo, Atkins,
Dukan, Mediterranean, Raw food. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget
GMOs forged in the fires of hell.
in 2011the industry
around boutique cleansing
juice dietswasvalued at
$60 billion dollars,
andthat is only a
fraction ofthe detox
industry segment.

4. Magic beans and dragons
12 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY APR–JUN 2015
image: © Senseaboutscience.org
Four qualified medical doctors went to the Ganta United
Methodist Hospital in Liberia to not only kindly volunteer their
time, but to also try to find a homeopathic cure for Ebola.
Unsurprisingly, they failed.
receive vaccines rely on herd-immunity to
stay safe, and the actions of anti-vaxxers
takes that safety net away. This is not a
matter of arguing about scientific validity;
it’s a matter of life or death.
But it's not just the anti-vaccine move-
ment that has the potential to cause
harm. Homeopathy is another face of
the pseudoscientific coin that crops up
in situations where it can endanger lives.
Homeopaths Without Borders (HWB)2
is a
not-for-profit organisation founded in 1996
based on the humanitarian-aid organisa-
tion Doctors Without Borders or Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF). HWB offers aid and
knowledge in regions“where it does not
yet exist or is minimally available”, and aims
to“provide homeopathic care and healing
in emergency situations”. At best, HWB pro-
vides a bit of water, sugar, and company to
people while they heal naturally. At worst,
they get in the way of the administration of
actual medicine.
“Essentially, [HWB] go to nations with
sub-standard healthcare, and dilute it
even more to make it 10-430
times as good
as the healthcare in wealthier nations.”–
RationalWiki on HWB.
The hazards of homeopathy can be illus-
trated by events such as that of last year,
when four qualified medical doctors went
to the Ganta United Methodist Hospital in
Liberia to not only kindly volunteer their
time, but to also try to find a homeopathic
cure for Ebola. Unsurprisingly, they failed.
Thankfully, no one seems to have been
harmed in the process. But they're not the
only ones touting homeopathy as a pos-
sible cure for this disastrous epidemic. The
internet is awash with many‘healthcare
professionals’with a bunch of letters after
their names providing well-written and
seemingly scientific resources in support
of a homeopathic cure. One blogger on
NaturalNews.com even went so far as to
provide instructions on how to make your
own Ebola homeopathic remedy.3
The pro-
cedure involved obtaining an Ebola-riddled
sample of bodily fluid from an infected
person, and diluting it as per the standard
method. In terms of pseudoscientific idiocy
endangering lives, this may be the most
quacktastic of them all.
By no means should alternative medi-
cines be written off. They have the potential
to represent the changing face of science,
the emergence of new theories and tech-
nologies that could be one day put in place
to help the human race. It is good to be
sceptical, logical, and scientific, but being
overly critical impedes progress. However,
because alternative medicines are indeed
‘alternative’to standard evidence-based
medicine, the data and statistics behind
their claims need to be transparent, and
easily understood by the general public.
Most importantly, alternative medicines
should never receive preference over more
scientifically-verified treatments.
Homeopathy itself has been repeatedly
debunked, in a torrent of articles, blogs,
and presentations, including a much-
awaited 2013 review from the National
Health and Medical Research Council.4
And,
in case you were curious, the 300-page
NHMRC report boils down to a 3.5 line con-
clusion:“paucity…not compelling…fails”.
And yet, homeopathy persists. Akin to

5. detox diet scams, homeopathy boasts a
loyal fanbase, some of whom have very
respectable credentials. Interestingly, prac-
tically every article intelligently exposing
the scientific and logical holes in the theory
of homeopathy are decorated with such
impassioned comments from die-hard
believers that it’s clear that no amount of
truth can change certain minds.
Belief is a powerful thing. It can change
lives. And it can destroy them.
Belief and opinion are wonderful. It
represents our right to free thought. But
facts don’t care about beliefs. Indeed, as
free-thinkers, we are all entitled to our
own philosophies, but we're not entitled
to our own facts. As Ricky Gervais said;
“Beliefs don’t change facts. Facts, if you’re
rational, should change your beliefs”(The
Unbelievers (film), 2013).
So is the issue here rationality? Perhaps.
There is a fantastic TED talk in which
Michael Specter
discusses the dangers
of denying the use
of science to move
forward. In it he
describes how we
have the technology
to feed the hungry
masses, and cure
horrible diseases, but
not everyone believes that we should. We,
as humans, battle progress now more than
ever before.
Why do we fight scientific progress?
Often for no reason more than a general
sense of unease. As Specter says,“We’ve
lost faith in institutions, in authority, and
sometimes in science itself, and there’s no
reason we shouldn’t have. You can just say
a few names and people will understand.
Chernobyl…the Challenger… weapons of
mass destruction…”
Ventures such as these have failed spec-
tacularly, and caused a lot of harm. Specter
goes on to tell us how his articles in the
New Yorker (articles that were describing
the safety of GMO foods and vaccines)
caused extreme backlash from some
members of the public, even in the face of
substantial evidence. But no matter how
much science he quoted, he just couldn’t
overcome the initial misinformation that
GMOs and vaccines are inherently flawed,
that they are inherently wicked.
“We hate Big Pharma, but we leap into
the arms of Big Placebo”– Michael Specter
Misinformation and pseudoscience
are thus not merely parts of an argument
about who is right and wrong. They’re
part of a greater issue.
They are - together with
the mistrust of science -
standing in the way of our
making the world a better
place. They’re standing in
the way of our efforts to
lessen human suffering. As
Specter says,“Science isn’t
a company… It’s a process,
and sometimes it works and sometimes it
doesn’t. But the idea that we should not let
science do its job because we’re afraid, is
really very deadening, and it’s preventing
millions of people from prospering.”
Misinformation and pseudoscience
really have gone far enough. It’s time to
APR–JUN 2015 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY 13
Magic beans and dragons
image: © Robert Gourley-Flickr
Link Summary
Homeopaths without Borders :
http://homeopathswithoutborders-na.org
Michael Specter’sTED talk :
www.ted.com/talks/
michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_denial
Debunking Handbook :
www.skepticalscience.com/Debunking-Handbook-
now-freely-available-download.html
Ask For Evidence campaign :
http://askforevidence.org/index
Sense About Science :
http://www.senseaboutscience.org
Emergent :
http://www.emergent.info
Spurious Correlations :
http://www.tylervigen.com/
ARoughGuidetoSpottingBadScience :
http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/04/02/
a-rough-guide-to-spotting-bad-science/
Michael Specter on TED
www.ted.com/talks/
michael_specter_
the_danger_of_science_denial

6. make a concerted effort to combat illogical
science in all of its forms. Luckily, there are
some great resources available to help this
process.
The Debunking Handbook is a freely
available guide to debunking misinforma-
tion (and it has even been translated into
seven different languages!). Within, the
authors discuss the various backfire effects
that can occur when communicators try to
debunk misinformation, and suggest ways
to avoid them. The psychology behind it is
fascinating.
Did you know that trying to debunk
a myth can sometimes entrench the
fiction in people’s minds even more? (This
effect is particularly true for emotionally
charged topics). Thus it’s better to avoid
repeating a myth on a flyer or infographic
that’s aimed at correcting a particular
inaccuracy, because this repetition (even
in the presence of new or contradic-
tory data) often reinforces the original
misinformation.
The authors mention that the key to
successfully avoiding myth reinforcement
is to provide an alternative explanation.
But then again, just tossing mountains of
information at someone is probably going
to make them tune out. And if they think
you’re calling them an idiot, or that you’re
attacking them, it’s game over. Sometimes
it can be difficult, but with a little bit of
psychology, and a lot of empathy, it is actu-
ally possible to gently
nudge people out of a
pseudoscientific belief
and engage them in
intelligent conversation
about the topic.
It seems that debunk-
ing misinformation is not
just a simple process; it
is sometimes more like a
rollercoaster of psycho-
logical manoeuvres.
Fortunately, there
are increasing numbers
of pro-science and
pro-logic infographics,
memes, and resources
circulating the internet
these days. One of the great interactive
resources is the Ask For Evidence5
cam-
paign by the British charity Sense About
Science6
. Via an easy-to-use online tool, it
aims to help the public request evidence
behind news stories, marketing claims, and
policies.
Continuing the truth train is‘Emergent’,
a tool developed by journalist Craig
Silverman that tracks and verifies or
debunks online rumours.7
Other online anti-pseudoscience
resources abound, including popular
Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and per-
sonal blogs. Some resources use humour to
get their point across, like avid graph-maker
Tyler Vigen who provides hilarious visual
14 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY APR–JUN 2015
Magic beans and dragons
80.0
92.5
105.0
117.5
130.0
20092008200720062005200420032002200120001999
1.0
2.5
4.0
Number of people who drowned by falling into a swimming pool
Number of films Nicolas Cage appeared in
Deaths(US)
Films
image: © TylerVigen.com
image: © Compound Interest
Debunking
misinformation is not
just a simple process;
it is sometimes more
like a rollercoaster
of psychological
manoeuvres.

7. AUTHOR:
Dr. Lauren Wright is an Aussie-born postdoc
currently working at the University of Padua,
Italy. Her research is focused on the delight-
fully complex world of mitochondria, metabo-
lism, and obesity. Her passion for knowledge,
science, and logic drives her to travel the
globe in search of new experiences and new
stories. Follow Lauren on Twitter @BrainLib
[BrainBox Liberation]
evidence to show that correlation does not
imply causation.8
These individuals, groups, and
companies helpfully disseminate anti-pseu-
doscience information and infographics,
such as this one from Andy Brunning in his
blog‘Compound Interest’9
.
Thus it seems the war is on. In this day
and age of freely available, scientifically-
verified information, the challenge is now
to find a way to make that information
more attractive to the general public. Only
in this way can we effectively combat pseu-
doscientific myths. Via the internet, almost
anyone can publish pseudoscience and
gather followers, and very rarely do people
question their statements, or even ask if
their doctorate (if they in fact have one)
was achieved in a
relevant field.
Similar to the
evil humours
and miasmas in
the Middle Ages,
'toxins' are now the
invisible nefari-
ous substances
in our world, claimed to be released by
evil corporations, scientists, and govern-
ments. In an attempt to avoid the evils of
Big Pharma, multitudes are falling into the
trap of smaller companies and individuals
who are predominantly out for monetary
gain. This really is a tribute to the powers of
superstition, ignorance, and mistrust. And
it needs to stop. It's time for us to bring
science back to the people.
Sometimes it may seem like an uphill
battle, but with a concerted effort to
educate the population as a whole, to help
further the understanding of the scien-
tific method, it may be possible to curb
the rising tide of misinformation and bad
scienc e that is flooding the world.
And in the end, hopefully, truth will
emerge victorious. AQ
Magic beans and dragons