By William M. London
William T. Jarvis, who served as president of the National Council Against Health Fraud from its founding in 1984 through 1999 described Germany as “a mothering ground of quackery.” The herbalism of Paracelsus, magnetic healing, phrenology, homeopathy, aromatherapy, naturopathy, orgonomy, fresh cell therapy, electroacupuncture (“essentially transdermal electrical nerve stimulation masquerading as acupuncture”), anthroposophy, the Gerson cancer treatment protocol, and other ideologically-driven nonsense originated there. But Germany was also the mothering ground of one of the most influential opponents of quackery—and the most prominent opponent of the quackery-promoting efforts of Charles, Prince of Wales—during the last twenty years: Edzard Ernst.
William T. Jarvis, who served as president of the National Council Against Health Fraud from its founding in 1984 through 1999 described Germany as “a mothering ground of quackery.” The herbalism of Paracelsus, magnetic healing, phrenology, homeopathy, aromatherapy, naturopathy, orgonomy, fresh cell therapy, electroacupuncture (“essentially transdermal electrical nerve stimulation masquerading as acupuncture”), anthroposophy, the Gerson cancer treatment protocol, and other ideologically-driven nonsense originated there. But Germany was also the mothering ground of one of the most influential opponents of quackery—and the most prominent opponent of the quackery-promoting efforts of Charles, Prince of Wales—during the last twenty years: Edzard Ernst.