Samuel Hahnemann
Founder of homeopathy

The Globe and Mail took a bit of flak last week for a “Health Advisor” blog post by a homeopath on “Eight easy, natural ways to keep the flu at bay.”

Today, the Globe‘s public editor Sylvia Stead issued a mea culpa of sorts. In her article, she noted that the blog post had “garnered criticism”  in six of the eight comments posted to it and on social media. The criticisms were that the recommendations of Bruce Wylde, the blogger in question — including raw onion juice, honey, garlic, probiotics and an “immune-boosting” soup containing astragalus root, shiitake mushrooms, onions and tumeric — lacked evidence.

“I think there should be a bias toward medical professionals writing about medicine and, while there is room for some coverage on alternative or homeopathic treatments, care should be taken to always balance such coverage with a doctor’s or other medical professional’s experience and expertise,” Stead wrote in the column titled “Homeopath’s advice needs to be balanced.” Continue reading →