Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of
Religion and Medicine

by Dr. Richard P. Sloan, PhD
Blockbuster New Book tackling the thorny issues about religion, prayer and medicine. If you've been told that you have an incurable illness, and that prayer will help --- think again.

This book will open your eyes. Dr. Sloan is a professor at the Columbia University School of Medicine and he introduces us to the major players in this new area of Christian evangelism. The studies purporting to show any health benefits from going to church or "being religious" are all so flawed as to render them useless. Using his epidemiological knowledge, Sloan carefully shows the reader how one should analyze claims from the media and claims in journals that purport to show a connection between religious behavior and improved health.

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  • Holistic health and regulated health professionals - A BAD MIX

    Renew You
    Holistic Medicine Scams

    Renew You Holistic Medicine - Ancaster, Ontario The Dundas Star News has allowed an advertisement to run in its local newspaper since June 2004 for a holistic health clinic in Ancaster, Ontario. The ad that we saw ran on August 20, 2004. Did anyone at the newspaper check on the actual credentials of the owners of the clinic? Had they checked they may have discovered some holes in their credibility. But, newspapers are not supposed to be consumer watchdogs, they are there to make money and provide for the good of the community.

    So what good is it to have this type of holistic clinic in their town?

    Renew You claims on their web site that two kinds of regulated health professions work at their facility, i.e. massage therapy and physiotherapy. According to the regulations of the physiotherapists and massage therapists they can not be associated with or perform certain kinds of treatments or they could be taken before the disciplinary committee of their respective Colleges. So what would make someone who has the public's trust given to them by law associate with people who have no credentials recognized by law?

    One of the worst examples of health quackery today is the use of electronic equipment to diagnose, evaluate and treat serious medical conditions. This clinic uses one of the worst examples of medical quackery I have ever seen. Quack QXCI device It's called QXCI. We've done extensive reporting of these devices before.

    The site is run by someone that claims to have a PhD, and a DSc in Holistic Health. Unfortunately there is no documentation anywhere on their site as to where those bogus degrees were obtained. As well, there is no listing for who the registered health professionals are, and where they went to school.

    We've been able to determine however that there is at least one registered physiotherapist, Milena Szpakowski, who is registered by the College of Physiotherapists with the same address. Our sources also tell us that the company admits that they also have five registered massage therapists who work different shifts. They would not reveal their names when called, but they implied that they were all RMTs.

    Besides the wacko QXCI machine, "Dr." Honda also seems to be responsible for using the totally bogus method called iridology to treat patients.


    Renew You - Ancaster, Ontario - Adv. in Dundas Star News - August 20, 2004 Text of the advertisment
    HOLISTIC MEDICINE
    
    Address Your Issues Without Side Effects
    
    * Holistic Medicine
    * Clinical Nutrition
    * Iridology
    * Master Herbalist
    
    Michelle Honda PhD. D. Sc.
    Doctor of Holistic Health
    
    Michelle helps clients with menopause, weight
    loss, arthritis, osteoporosis,irritable bowel, ADD,
    bladder infections, cancer, diabetes, heart,
    circulation, G.I. & skin issues-and much more.
    
    Renew You
    905-304-0111 * www.renewyou.ca
    1100 Golflinks Rd, Ancaster Meadowlands
    (In the Golftown & Covers Plaza)
    

    Text of the Health and Wellness Showcase article.
    All typos are theirs not mine

    RENEW YOU

    Are you stressed out? Have chronic pain? Seeking solutions to a challenging health issue? Renew You has 5 practitioners offerning multiple services to help you regain your health & vitality. Michelle Honda Ph.D. (Dr. of Holistic Health) has an advanced nutrition background, is a master herbalist & an IIPA certified iriologist. While she can help with a wide range of issues from menopause to diabetes, she specializes in GI issues like Crohn's, colitis, diverticulitis & IBS. Also many times massage therapy is COVERED by EXTENDED HEALTH plans. So if you a plan that covers medical, dental or prescriptions, usually that plan covers massage therapy as well. For more information please visit www.renewyou.ca
    Renew You copy in Dundas Star

    The most objectionable thing about the ads is how she tries to imply that she is a Dr. of Holistic Health. Folks, there is no such thing. In the Province of Ontario it is ethically and morally wrong to pretend to be a health provider of any kind without obtaining those credentials from approved schools of secondary education. To use a fake degree and/or designation is fraud.

    Unfortunately, it's a basic fact that not one of the regulated health professions gives a damn about things like this. If the quack doesn't pretend to be a medical doctor, a nurse, a dentist, or any other profession the regulators (colleges) could care less.

    Renew You Windows

    Click on the images below for details.
    Window Window Window Window

    Related Regulated Health Professions in Ontario

    The following bodies will respond to complaints from anyone who suspects that one of their members is involved in unethical professional or business practices. In the case of the New You facility, they claim to provide both physiotherapy and massage therapy.

    Physiotherapy

    College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
    230 Richmond St. W,
    10th Floor,
    Toronto, ON M5V 1V6
    416-591-3828, 1-800-583-5885
    General email: info@collegept.org
    Web: www.collegept.org
    
    Standards of Practice - .pdf file
    Code of Ethics - .pdf file
    
    Important Online Contacts
    
    For information about the complaints process:
    nchilds@collegept.org
    
    

    Massage therapy

    College of Massage Therapists of Ontario
    1867 Yonge Street, Suite 810
    Toronto,Ontario
    M4S 1Y5
    Telephone 416-489-2626
    Toll-free in Ontario : 1-800-465-1933
    Fax: 416-489-2625
    E-mail: cmto@cmto.com
    
    Deborah Worrad (Registrar): deborah.worrad@cmto.com
    Pauline Walters (Complaints)pauline.walters.@cmto.com Policies and Position Statements Complementary Modalities Schedule A Modalities Outside the Scope of Practice
    Schedule of Modalities Considered Outside the Scope of Practice of Massage Therapy
    The ones in red in the table below may be part of the treatments offered at the New You facility. But their web site does not say if the massage therapist does them.
    Aboriginal Healing 
    Allergy Testing 
    Ayurvedic Medicine 
    Bach Flower Therapy 
    Biodynamics 
    Biofeedback 
    Chakra Balancing 
    Colour Therapy 
    Crystal/Gem therapy 
    Herbology 
    Homeopathy 
    Iridology 
    
    Metaphysical Healing 
    Nutrition Counselling 
    Orthotics 
    Osteopathy 
    Personal Training 
    Polarity 
    Psychotherapy 
    Raindrop therapy 
    Religious/Spiritual Healing 
    Sound Therapy 
    Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine 
    Watsu 
    Zero Balancing 
    

    Who runs Renew You?

    Michelle's site is run by Ron Honda, who I presume is her spouse. In case you wondered a bit more about his other efforts try this one:

    Here is their useless disclaimer [emphasis mine]:

    The QXCI system is to be used as a Biofeedback Multimedia System. It is designed for stress detection and stress reduction. The device does not diagnose anyone. Only a Licensed Practitioner can diagnose a patient. This system is calibrated to measure the fine and subtle electrical and subspace reactions to a group of biological and medical substances. The sensitivity is set so fine as to pick up the earliest sign of disease and distress. Thus the results might (may) be below the client recognition. The readings should be evaluated by trained staff. No claims are made of the system or results.

    There is no such thing as a "Licensed Practitioner" who can "diagnose" a patient. Health professionals are regulated under Provincial legislation. No one is given a "license" in Ontario to provide health care to humans or animals. Holistic Health "doctors" are not regulated by anyone in Ontario. There are hundreds of people in Ontario parading around as if they have a PhD, when they do not. It's basically a very large and lucrative scam. The people who run New You are certainly not alone.

    The claims that QXCI can measure anything related to medical substances and measure disease is nothing but baloney. The baloney meter is pinned at the very thought that the QXCI can do anything except one thing. IT MAKES MONEY for the owners of the machine, and it has the potential to drag regulated health professionals before the disciplinary committee of their respective colleges.

    Healthwatcher.net has previously covered QXCI in our story about MSB Holistics. Note that those folks also use fake PhDs, too.

    Michelle Honda claims to use iridolgy, which is another fraudulent medical scam. We've reported on iridology many times.

    Who is Michelle Honda, and where did she get her fake credentials? This quack claims that her degree is just like a degree in naturopathy. Yeah right. I am sure that the naturopathic board in Ontario will love this one.

    If she actually rents space to registered massage therapists or physiotherapists their respective colleges will be notified.

    Who is Ron Honda? This is a listing from the qxci.com web site for training in this unapproved and unscientific medical scam.

    Ron Honda BSC
    Renew You
    100 Golf Links Rd.
    Ancaster, ON L9G 3K9
    905-304-0111
    rhonda@sympatico.ca 
    

    You can also go to the qxci.com web site and look for more scammers.

    Try this quote from QXEnergy, a site that is registered to Ron Honda. That site was registered in December 2002.

    The Quantum QXCI scans the patient's body like a virus-scan on a computer, looking for everything from viruses, deficiencies, weaknesses, allergies, abnormalities and food sensitivities. It reports on the biological reactivity and resonance in your body and indicates needs, dysfunctions and vulnerabilities.

    Once it's measured vitamin levels, amino acids, nutrients, food substances, minerals, enzymes, natural sugars, toxins, hormone levels, muscle tone, disease, bacteria moulds, fungi, viruses and the health and balance of internal organs, it then compares these figures against a "norm".

    It shows up anything that is affecting the health. For example, if someone has digestive trouble, the Quantum QXCI may show that they had salmonella as a child, which is still causing them problems.

    Anyone who has visited Renew You and had services from any of the staff please let us know.


    Quacks and Bogus Degree Granting Schools

    • Search Google for bogus degrees holistic health phd
    • David W. Rowland and Canada's Edison Institute by Stephen Barrett, M.D. David W. Rowland, "Ph.D., R.N.C" is one of Canada's leading promoters of nutrition nonsense.. He gives lectures and appears often on radio and television shows and at alternative health fairs and supplement trade shows. Rowland is a frequent and outspoken critic of mainstream medicine. Rowland's "Ph.D. degree" was obtained from Donsbach University, a nonaccredited correspondence school operated by Kurt Donsbach, a chiropractor who has engaged in so many health schemes that nobody -- including himself -- can document all of them with certainty [1]. Among other things, he has: (a) violated state and federal laws against marketing products with unsubstantiated claims; (b) been convicted of practicing medicine without a license by prescribing vitamin products for the treatment of serious disease; (c) operated nonaccredited "nutrition" schools, one of which he used to award himself a "PhD degree"; (d) marketed a computerized "nutrient deficiency test" that was programmed to recommend supplement products for everyone.

    • The Institute of Integrated Medicine Inc. - this Canadian school says that their Canadian students can get a tax credit. How interesting because their school does not appear to be on the list of approved school in Ministry of Education's database.

    • Bernadean University: Mailorder diploma mill

    • Sham Nutritionists and Nutrition Diploma Mills - William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.

    • Questionable Organizations: An Overview Quackwatch

    Have you been scammed?

    If you have a story to tell about a quack doctor or therapist in your area, please let us know.

    Fax your story to 519-725-4953
    E-mail to: Cancer Scams


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