Edzard Ernst

Edzard Ernst

Professor Ernst at the European Skeptics Congress 2015.
Born (1948-01-30) 30 January 1948
Wiesbaden, Germany
Alma mater Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Known for Scientific study of alternative medicine
Website
edzardernst.com

Edzard Ernst's voice
recorded September 2015

Edzard Ernst (born 30 January 1948) is an academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was formerly Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the first such academic position in the world.

Ernst served as chairman of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at the University of Vienna, but left this position in 1993 to set up the department of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter in England. He became director of complementary medicine of the Peninsula Medical School (PMS) in 2002. Ernst was the first occupant of the Laing chair in Complementary Medicine, retiring in 2011. He was born and trained in Germany, where he began his medical career at a homeopathic hospital in Munich,[1] and since 1999 has been a British citizen.

Ernst is the founder of two medical journals: Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies (of which he is currently editor-in-chief) and Perfusion.[2] Ernst's writing appeared in a regular column in The Guardian, where he reviewed news stories about complementary medicine from an evidence-based medicine perspective.[3] Since his research began on alternative modalities, Ernst has been seen as "the scourge of alternative medicine" for publishing critical research that exposes methods that lack documentation of efficacy.[4] In 2015 he was awarded the John Maddox Prize, sponsored jointly by Sense About Science and Nature, for courage in standing up for science.[5]

Early life

Ernst was born in Germany in 1948. As a child, his family doctor was a homeopath, and at the time he saw it as part of medicine.[6] His father and grandfather were both doctors, and his mother was a laboratory assistant. Ernst originally wanted to be a musician, but his mother persuaded him that medicine might be a good "sideline" career for him to pursue.[7]

Training and early career

Ernst qualified as a doctor in Germany in 1978 where he also completed his M.D. and Ph.D. theses. He has received training in acupuncture, autogenic training, herbalism, homoeopathy, massage therapy and spinal manipulation.[8] He learned homeopathy, acupuncture and other things[9] whilst at a homeopathic hospital in Munich, when he began his medical career.[1] In 1988, he became Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School and in 1990 Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna.

Work in complementary medicine

The world's first professor of complementary medicine,[4] Ernst researches complementary medicine with an emphasis on efficacy and safety. His research mainly surveys systematic reviews and meta-analyses of clinical trials; the institute has not performed a clinical trial for some time due to budget constraints.[4] He has over 700 papers published in scientific journals.[1] He has said that about five percent of alternative medicine is backed by evidence,[10] with the remainder being either insufficiently studied or backed by evidence showing lack of efficacy.

Ernst's department at Exeter defined complementary medicine as "diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention which complements mainstream medicine by contributing to a common whole, by satisfying a demand not met by orthodoxy or by diversifying the conceptual frameworks of medicine."[11]

Ernst asserts that, in Germany and Austria, complementary techniques are mostly practiced by qualified physicians, whereas in the UK they are mainly practiced by others. He also argues that the term "Complementary and Alternative Medicine" ("CAM") is an almost nonsensical umbrella term, and that distinctions between its modalities must be made.[12]

Since his research began on alternative modalities, Ernst has been seen as "the scourge of alternative medicine" for publishing critical research.[4] In a 2008 publication in the British Journal of General Practice, his listed treatments that "demonstrably generate more good than harm" was limited to acupuncture for nausea and osteoarthritis; aromatherapy as a palliative treatment for cancer; hypnosis for labour pain; massage, music therapy, relaxation therapy for anxiety and insomnia; and some plant extracts such as St John's wort for depression; hawthorn for congestive heart failure; guar gum for diabetes.[4]

Smallwood Report

Main article: Smallwood Report

In 2005, a report by economist Christopher Smallwood, personally commissioned by Prince Charles, claimed that CAM was cost-effective and should be available in the National Health Service (NHS). Ernst was initially enlisted as a collaborator on the report, but asked for his name to be removed after a sight of the draft report convinced him that Smallwood had "written the conclusions before looking at the evidence".[13] The report did not address whether CAM treatments were actually effective and Ernst described it as "complete misleading rubbish".[13]

Ernst was, in turn, criticised by The Lancet editor Richard Horton for disclosing contents of the report while it was still in draft form. In a 29 August 2005 letter to The Times Horton wrote: "Professor Ernst seems to have broken every professional code of scientific behaviour by disclosing correspondence referring to a document that is in the process of being reviewed and revised prior to publication. This breach of confidence is to be deplored."[14]

Prince Charles' private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, also filed a complaint regarding breached confidentiality with Exeter University. Although he was "cleared of wrongdoing",[15] Ernst has said[13] that circumstances surrounding the ensuing university investigation led to his retirement.

In the 1 January 2006 edition of the British Journal of General Practice, Ernst gave a detailed criticism of the report.[16]

Trick or Treatment

Ernst lecturing about Trick or Treatment in 2012.

In 2008, Ernst and Simon Singh published Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial. The authors challenged the Prince of Wales, to whom the book is (ironically) dedicated, and The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health on alleged misrepresentation of "scientific evidence about therapies such as homoeopathy, acupuncture and reflexology".[17] They asserted that Britain spent £500 million each year on unproven or disproven alternative therapies.[18] In a review of Trick or Treatment in the New England Journal of Medicine, Donald Marcus described Ernst as "one of the best qualified people to summarize the evidence on this topic."[19]

In 2008, Ernst sent an open letter urging the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to crack down on high street chemists that sell homeopathic remedies without warning that the remedies lack evidence for claimed biological effects.[20] According to him, this disinformation would be a violation of their ethical code:

My plea is simply for honesty. Let people buy what they want, but tell them the truth about what they are buying. These treatments are biologically implausible and the clinical tests have shown they don't do anything at all in human beings. The argument that this information is not relevant or important for customers is quite simply ridiculous.[20]

In a 2008 interview with Media Life Magazine, when he and Simon Singh were asked this question—"What do you think the future is for alternative medicine?"—they replied:

For us, there is no such thing as alternative medicine. There is either medicine that is effective or not, medicine that is safe or not. So-called alternative therapies need to be assessed and then classified as good medicines or bogus medicines. Hopefully, in the future, the good medicines will be embraced within conventional medicine and the bogus medicines will be abandoned.[21]

In an article entitled "Should We Maintain an Open Mind about Homeopathy?"[22] published in the American Journal of Medicine, Michael Baum and Edzard Ernst—writing to other physicians—wrote some strong criticisms of homeopathy:

Homeopathy is among the worst examples of faith-based medicine... These axioms [of homeopathy] are not only out of line with scientific facts but also directly opposed to them. If homeopathy is correct, much of physics, chemistry, and pharmacology must be incorrect.... To have an open mind about homeopathy or similarly implausible forms of alternative medicine (e.g., Bach flower remedies, spiritual healing, crystal therapy) is therefore not an option. We think that a belief in homeopathy exceeds the tolerance of an open mind. We should start from the premise that homeopathy cannot work and that positive evidence reflects publication bias or design flaws until proved otherwise... We wonder whether any kind of evidence would persuade homeopathic physicians of their self-delusion and challenge them to design a methodologically sound trial, which if negative would finally persuade them to shut up shop... Homeopathy is based on an absurd concept that denies progress in physics and chemistry. Some 160 years after Homeopathy and Its Kindred Delusions, an essay by Oliver Wendell Holmes, we are still debating whether homeopathy is a placebo or not... Homeopathic principles are bold conjectures. There has been no spectacular corroboration of any of its founding principles... After more than 200 years, we are still waiting for homeopathy "heretics" to be proved right, during which time the advances in our understanding of disease, progress in therapeutics and surgery, and prolongation of the length and quality of life by so-called allopaths have been breathtaking. The true skeptic therefore takes pride in closed mindedness when presented with absurd assertions that contravene the laws of thermodynamics or deny progress in all branches of physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine.[22]

Early retirement from Exeter

Ernst was accused by Prince Charles' private secretary of having breached a confidentiality agreement regarding the 2005 Smallwood report. After being subjected to a "very unpleasant" investigation by the University of Exeter, in which he was "treated as guilty until proven innocent", the university accepted his innocence but continued, in his view, to treat him as "persona non grata". All fundraising for his unit ceased, forcing him to use up its core funding and allow its 15 staff to drift away.[13] He retired in 2011, two years ahead of his official retirement.[9][23] In July 2011, a Reuters article described his "long-running dispute with the Prince about the merits of alternative therapies" and stated that he "accused Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and other backers of alternative therapies on Monday of being 'snake-oil salesmen' who promote products with no scientific basis", and that the dispute "had cost him his job - a claim Prince Charles's office denied".[24]

Other work

In a May 1995 Annals of Internal Medicine publication, Ernst detailed the Nazi "cleansing" of the University of Vienna medical faculty that allowed the "medical atrocities" of Nazi human experimentation.[25]

Other significant posts

In 2001, Ernst sat on the Scientific Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products of the Irish Medicines Board.[26] In 2005, he was a member of the Medicines Commission of the British Medicines Control Agency (now part of the MHRA) which determines which substances may be introduced and promoted as medicine.[27] In 2008, he was an external examiner for several university medical schools in several countries.[28] He is a Founding Member and on the Board of the Institute for Science in Medicine, formed in 2009.[2]

In February 2011, Ernst was elected as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[29] He is editor-in-chief of the journal Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies which he founded in 1995.[30]

Books

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boseley, Sarah (2003-09-25). "Interview: Edzard Ernst". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  2. 1 2 Institute for Science in Medicine.
  3. ↑ Edzard Ernst profile from The Guardian
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Complementary therapies: The big con? – The Independent". London. 2008-04-22. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  5. ↑ "Edzard Ernst awarded John Maddox Prize for science". Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Pintér, András G (Feb 17, 2016). "Episode #10 feat. Prof. Edzard Ernst". the ESP - The European Skeptics Podcast. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  7. ↑ Davis, Nicola (19 October 2014). "Edzard Ernst: outspoken professor of complementary medicine". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "About Edzard Ernst". Retrieved 2014-10-16.
  9. 1 2 Cressey, D. (2011). "A legacy of scepticism". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2011.322.
  10. ↑ Interview: The complementary medicine detective - Michael Bond, New Scientist, 26 April 2008 Magazine issue 2653.
  11. ↑ Ernst et al. British General Practitioner 1995; 45:506
  12. ↑ http://www.harcourt-international.com/ernst/interview.cfm Interview: Harcourt International
  13. 1 2 3 4 Paul Jump (23 June 2011). "Alternative outcomes". Times Higher Education.
  14. ↑ The Times, Monday 29 August 2005
  15. ↑ Jo Revill, health editor. "'Meddling' Prince nearly cost health don his job", The Observer, 10 March 2007
  16. ↑ "The ‘Smallwood Report’: method or madness?", British Journal of General Practice, 1 January 2006; 56(522): 64–65. PMCID: PMC1821425
  17. ↑ Henderson, Mark (2008-04-17). "Prince of Wales's guide to alternative medicine 'inaccurate' - Times Online". The Times. London. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  18. ↑ Thompson, Damian (2008-04-26). "The last rites for alternative medicine? - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  19. ↑ Donald M. Marcus (November 2008). "Book review: Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine". N. Engl. J. Med. 359 (19): 2076–2077. doi:10.1056/NEJMbkrev0805020.
  20. 1 2 Ian Sample (2008-07-21). "Pharmacists urged to 'tell the truth' about homeopathic remedies". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  21. ↑ Heidi Dawley. Note to Prince Charles: 'You're wrong'. Book raises new doubts about alternative medicine. Media Life Magazine Apr 21, 2008
  22. 1 2 Baum M, Ernst E (November 2009). "Should we maintain an open mind about homeopathy?". Am. J. Med. 122 (11): 973–4. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.03.038. PMID 19854319.
  23. ↑ "Prof Edzard Ernst retires". The Nightingale Collaboration. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  24. ↑ Kate Kelland. Professor calls Prince Charles, others "snake-oil salesmen". Reuters, 25 July 2011
  25. ↑ Ernst E (May 1995). "A leading medical school seriously damaged: Vienna 1938". Ann. Intern. Med. 122 (10): 789–92. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-122-10-199505150-00009. PMID 7717602.
  26. ↑ IMB newsletter, Issue No. 8, (pdf). Irish Nedicine Board. October 2000 – March 2001. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  27. ↑ Members : MHRA – Members of the Medicines Commission with effect from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2005. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  28. ↑ See publisher's details for Oxford Handbook of Complementary Medicine
  29. ↑ "CSI announces new Fellows". Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  30. ↑ Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies Wiley Online Library

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