Skeptical Reporter for September 14th, 2012

TruthMarket, a division of Truth Seal Corporation, announced it plans to play an aggressive role in improving the state of political and commercial communications by launching its Marketplace for Truth Telling. TruthMarket offers the public a platform that enables grass-roots crowd-funding of citizen campaigns to publicly expose false claims and reinforce true claims. Cash incentives will encourage individuals to initiate, challenge or prove political, commercial and science claims. Rick Hayes-Roth, Ph.D., the founder of TruthMarket, states that “false claims, half-truths and biased polls are polluting public dialogue, tainting public opinion and undermining politics, commerce and public trust. Instead of getting angry, he adds, it is time to do something constructive and give the public a mechanism to openly challenge false claims and reinforce honest dialogue.

Add Bigfoot research to the recession-proof industries. A website called All over Albany has alerted the Internet to a job opening on Craigslist that “for a primate-lover with an open mind and a (preferably) four-wheel-drive vehicle” could be the opportunity of a lifetime. The Craigslist post, which seeks a research assistant, explains: “Not for profit organization, located in Whitehall, NY is a high-energy, team-oriented research entity that is involved in the tracking, documenting, and study of cryptozoological creatures, with a deep interest in the study and search of bipedal primitive apes. We seek an experienced researcher with a deep understanding of cryptozoology, primatology, with a good background with scientific research and interest in great apes.” Some of the research assistant’s responsibilities will be to “investigate, document and interview individuals with reported Bigfoot sitings,” and an appropriate candidate must be prepared for “occasional travel to remote areas.”

The first ever study of the adverse effects of acupuncture in state-funded acupuncture clinics in the UK has found that the procedure is largely safe, but not as safe as advertised. In extreme cases, it could even put lives at risk. Despite this, claims that acupuncture is completely safe could soon lead to the procedure being funded by Medicare, the US government-funded medical benefits programme. Acupuncture is already government-funded in much of Europe. Investigators from the National Patient Safety Agency assembled all reports of adverse events following acupuncture treatment in NHS clinics between 2009 and 2011. In these clinics, acupuncture is provided by conventionally qualified doctors and therapists, who are also trained to perform acupuncture. The investigators found 325 reports of adverse effects. Some of the reports were merely of sloppy practice. In 100 cases, patients were left with needles still in them, sometimes hours longer than intended or even after they or the staff went home. Some needles subsequently had to be surgically removed.

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will open a new research unit in China to look at traditional Chinese medicine. According to the company, Innovative TCM will be one of GSK’s R&D programs in China, aiming to transform TCM from an experience-based practice to evidence-based medicines through innovation and differentiation. Zang Jingwu, senior vice president and head of R&D China, explained that the newly formed unit is working with academic TCM experts in China to develop new TCM products for the benefits of patients in China and the rest of the world. The strategy is to integrate the existing TCM knowledge of diseases with modern drug discovery technology and clinical trial methodology. “We are developing novel therapeutic TCM mixtures as prescription medicines through innovative extraction methods and combinations, and we use clinical data/evidence to differentiate from existing TCM pr...