Skeptologic

I really hate it when celebrities that I like do, say, or support stupid and harmful things. Most celebrities are into one wacky thing or another, so this is pretty much impossible to avoid. One celebrity I generally like is Bill Maher. He’s really funny, and he is pretty rational when it comes to most things. He is an outspoken critic of religion and 9/11 conspiracy theories for example. As a matter of fact he calls himself a rationalist and champions science in his criticism of those things. But last Friday on his show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” he criticized western medicine in favor of alternative medicine. Let me say again that I do not like the term western medicine. It is misleading in that it gives the impression that where a treatment originates has anything to do with its validity. I prefer the terms science based medicine or scientific medicine, which I will use henceforth. In the video clip, Maher puts forth a question to his panel from one of his viewers:

“Will the implementation of universal health care help or hinder alternative medicine?”

One of the panelists, Jefferey Toobin, starts to say exactly what I would “There’s only medicine, if it works it works, if it doesn’t it doesn’t.” But Maher quickly interjects with a pro alternative anti-scientific rant. I will take his claims point by point:

“That’s not how this country works, often alternative medicine is illegal in this country you can go to jail for practicing it.”

This is not true, but it should be. There are lots of so called alternative treatments in this country that are perfectly legal. Homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, acupuncture, and various detoxification “treatments” are all perfectly legal and some are even covered by insurance. Why in the world would anybody want quackery, and make no mistake that is what many of these treatments are, to be allowed? You want to be taken advantage of by snake oil salesmen with treatments that have absolutely no plausible scientific validity? What exactly is rational about that Bill? He goes on:

“Such as even suggesting any alternative treatment for cancer, you don’t understand how much the pharmaceutical companies have their tentacles wrapped around the government in this country. I don’t know whether Laetrile works, I know the shit they’ve been trying for the last 50 years doesn’t. I know they’ve made no progress as far as cancer in this country.”

Ah the old “Big Pharma” conspiracy.  I have news for you Bill, every large corporation “has its tentacles” wrapped around our politicians, not just the pharmaceutical companies. That is a totally separate issue than whether or not scientific medicine is better than quackery. And it does not mean that somehow doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and the government and all part of a grand conspiracy to keep us all sick for fun and profit. Offering alternative treatments to a person with a serious disease such as cancer should be illegal, because if that person avoids or delays real medical treatment, it can lead to their death. And “no progress” in cancer treatment for 50 years? First of all, there are many different types of cancer. They have made more progress with some than with others, but even if they hadn’t that still would not validate pseudo-scientific treatments in any way.

“There are people who actually go out of this country when they get cancer and some of them come back alive when they’ve been given a death sentence, but in this country you can’t talk about that.”

The logical fallacy here is anecdotal evidence. How does Bill know how all of the people who leave the country for cancer treatment and come back alive were cured? Where exactly to they go? What treatment do they get? Is his statement even true? What if they left the country and got a real scientifically valid cancer treatment that they could not get here for some reason or another? What if their cancer spontaneously went into remission? This has nothing to do with unproven non scientific medicine being a better solution.

He then defines alternative medicine as “holistic” and says “As opposed to drugs and surgery.”

So he’s opposed to drugs and surgery? I can’t understand why anyone would be opposed to drugs that can cure diseases and life saving surgery, but here is Bill’s reasoning:

“The reason why we have this giant health care problem is because people are so sick and the reason they are so sick is that the system we have now, western medicine, the non alternative system, only treats symptoms. That’s how they keep the scam going, if you only treat symptoms, of course people are going to get sicker. Yes, Nasonex will stop you from sniffling and will shove the mucus right down your throat.”

Wow. Let me say first that he is correct that there are some drugs and treatments that do only “treat symptoms.” For example there is no cure for the common cold, but when I get a cold I would at least like something to relieve the symptoms so I don’t feel like crap while I have it. The medicine he mentions, Nasonex, is an medication that treats allergy symptoms. I have no idea if it “shoves the mucus right down your throat” as Bill claims, but I do know that when I am suffering from severe allergies in the spring, I definitely want something to temporarily relive those symptoms. But his claim that the system we have only treats symptoms for everything and that it’s a scam is so demonstrably false it’s not even funny. Life expectancy has doubled since medicine became science based and we discovered what actually causes disease. Since then, through vaccination we have eradicated or marginalized many very serious diseases: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Hepatitis A and B, Polio, Small Pox, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Tetanus, Varicella, HiB, Meningoccal, and Rotavirus. Not good enough for you? What about antibiotics? Millions of lives have been saved by antibiotics. They don’t just “treat symptoms,” they kill the bacteria that have infected you. And since we’re talking about cancer treatments too, chemotherapy kills cancer cells. It’s not perfect, it does not always work, and the side effects really suck, but it is not designed to just treat symptoms.  I can’t believe he also seems to have a problem with surgery. There are many types of conditions where surgery will absolutely save your life. I guess if Bill Maher gets seriously ill, he would rather have some crank stick little needles in his skin or something.

People do not get sick because of the system we have. People get sick because there are viruses, bacteria, and other things in the world that make them sick. Proponents of alternative medicine often use these kind of buzz-phases like “western medicine only treats symptoms,” “holistic,” “treating the whole person,” and “all natural” because their “treatments” are totally made up and have no scientific evidence or even plausibility to back them up. Bill Maher may not like the pharmaceutical industry (and I’m sure there are probably many valid criticisms of those and many other types of companies) but at least the pharmaceutical companies have to prove their products work  in real scientific clinical trials before they can sell them. Can you imagine if a pharmaceutical company were to sell a drug to the public for a serious illness that they knew was only a placebo? It would be a scandal! But alternative medicine does this all the time. Their treatments are usually nothing more than placebos and they don’t just give them away. Supplements, complimentary, and alternative medicine, there is your S.C.A.M.

What I do not understand is how Bill Maher can champion science when it fits with what he wants it to, and dismiss it for something else. He understands why evolution is true and why 9/11 conspiracy theories are not (even though he is a very outspoken critic of the Bush administration whom those conspiracy theories target), based on the scientific evidence. You can’t pick and choose what scientific data shows based on what you want to be true. Bill Maher calls himself a rationalist, but his disdain for science when it comes to medicine is not rational at all. In fact it is extremely dangerous. This is why while he may agree with skeptics on many things, but is definitely not a skeptic. Skeptics go with what the scientific data shows, even if that data goes against what they want to be true. I hope that if Bill Maher or anyone in his audience gets seriously sick that they will avail themselves of what science has to offer instead of quackery. It will probably save their lives.

For more information on scientific medicine, why it works, and how to spot quackery please visit Dr. Steven Novella and his team at http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org.