Sue "Play The Race Discrimination Card" Trotter

Calling all sceptics! Calling all sceptics! The game is up.

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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have been receiving a flood of complaints in recent months, but homeopath Sue Trotter has come up with a sure-fire counter-strategy (mirrored here and here).

It's called the "Play The Race Discrimination Card" gambit, and it is the most stupid thing I have ever read.

"Chatting with my husband last night about the complaints by the Advertising Standards Authority here in the UK agains [sic] homeopaths, we think we have come up with a plan to put an end to this nonsense. We can play the race discrimination card if we get this right. Please bear with me whilst I explain. "

Please bear with me while I explain that this is apparently not a joke.

"If we can find some British Indians/ Pakistanis or Bangladeshi's [sic] they can complain to the ASA explaining that homeopathy is a prefered [sic] system of medicine in their countries of origin, used to treat a wide range of illnesses. The current wave of complaints against homeopaths would therefore seem to be an attack on their culture and beliefs and therefore discriminatory. (I know homeopathy is not a belief system but many think it is, so why not use that to our advantage). If we can get figures for the numbers of people using homeopathy as their primary healthcare in India and the rest of the sub-continent, even better!

They can also claim that it is akin to Christians claiming that Hindus and Muslims cannot call their beliefs a religion because it is not Christianity.

If they go on to suggest that the current wave of complaints may have been instigated by someone who has an agenda that is perhaps something other than scientific (just make a suggestion and leave it to them to work out what that agenda might be).

We would need to get a smart lawyer to draft the letter/s but if we could get the ASA to look at this as potential discrimination that may well decide to back off. If we can find someone on the ASA's complaint list who's [sic] family hail from the Indian sub-continent to complain they are being discrtiminated [sic] against, even better .... and if the ASA find in their favour but still go for those of us of European descent we can then go for a different race discrimination angle.

Got to be worth a try..... you know how twitchy we are here in the UK at the slightest sniff of racism or other discrimination!

I am not sure how to co-ordinate this so have forwarded to a couple of homeopath groups and see what people think.

Time for homeopathy to stand up for itself! with love and peace - Sue"

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Well, there's nothing I can say in response to that, except - ASA complaint follows!

"The website makes a number of testimonial health claims which I suspect are misleading.

1. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/index.htm )

""As a therapist I'd strongly recommend you, you've cured my stress and panic attacks. Most importantly for me I'd been suffering with my shoulder for 7 months or more, not able to hardly move it, struggling to put clothes on. I couldn't raise my arm above shoulder level because of the pain. Now I'm plastering and painting ceilings, rendering walls above head height with no trouble at all. 100%. No pains. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant."

A Buckingham, Oxfordshire"

2. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/index.htm )

""My daughter suffered from the age of 8 months with a severe horse allergy. I took her to see Sue when she was 6 years old and the lifelong allergy teamed with eczema and asthma all improved. It has made her life so different. She is able to enjoy her riding, rarely needs her inhaler and became a lot calmer as well"
C Norton, Oxfordshire"

3. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/services.htm )

""My son was three when he was diagnosed with glue ear. He had suffered ear infections for nearly two years before it was decided to fit grommets. The grommets were inserted and for a few weeks it was great but then he got an ear infecton around his right grommet. The infection was so bad he had puss running down his face! I was at my wits end. Our GP wanted to put him on antibiotics for at least twelve months to try and clear it up. So I took him to Sue Trotter. Sue sat with him and took a long history and then prescribed for him. Within two days the infection was well and truly healing and within a week there was no trace at all. Sue cleared up in one week a problem he had had for years! From then on she has seen nearly all my family and cured us all from small things to major surgery. I can't recommend Sue highly enough."
R Robins, Gloucestershire."

4. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/services.htm )

""I used to have very bad problems with my back. I couldn't touch my toes or put on my socks. My chiropractor told me to give up my job because every few weeks I was going there messed up. It went on for 7 or 8 years. Pain makes you feel down and depressed. After the first time I'd seen you the chiropractor said whatever you've been doing this month carry on, you're the best you've been. It's certainly changed my life. I can do things. I've no pain, I'm happy in myself and if something major happens it's alright, I'm very calm now. Nothing really bothers me. It has changed my life, I feel so much more confident, better in myself. You've certainly made me better."

M Bufton, Oxfordshire"

5. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/services.htm )

"J came to see me because he was having terrible nightmares and struggling at school. After homeopathic treatment his mother wrote "his behaviour greatly improved, getting good reports from school, doing well in exams, sleeps better with no nightmares and eating better.""

I'd like to challenge whether the testimonial claims in the five testimonials above are misleading, whether they are irresponsible, and whether the claims regarding serious medical conditions may discourage essential treatment.

6. ( http://www.optimumbeing.co.uk/services.htm )

"Homeopathy works by encouraging the body's own natural healing response. If prescribed correctly, homeopathy has the ability to help a wide range of conditions, both physical and emotional. It is a very safe form of medicine that can be used during pregnancy, for babies, and alongside other treatments and medicines."

I challenge whether the claims "Homeopathy works by encouraging the body's own natural healing response" and "If prescribed correctly, homeopathy has the ability to help a wide range of conditions" are misleading.

I've made some screenshots of the relevant pages, which are available at:
http://leicester.skepticsinthepub.org/FishBarrel/ci.aspx?id=6HERLvSHCE
http://leicester.skepticsinthepub.org/FishBarrel/ci.aspx?id=4kVH6yWyUK

I can confirm that I have no connections with the advertiser or with the alternative medicine industry in general."