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EDIT

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© 2009 The Authors

Australian Veterinary Journal

Volume 87, No 6, June 2009 Journal compilation © 2009 Australian Veterinary Association

Given the overwhelming body of sound scientific evidencepresented in these and other such works, one wonders how long itwill be before the AVA will be drawn to admit that the Emperorindeed has no clothes.

In the meantime, by its continued association with these groups, Ibelieve that the AVA gives out the message that it does not valuescience and is prepared to support practices that unquestionablycompromise the welfare of animals.

1. Faragher T. Book review and commentary: Singh S, Ernst E. Alternatives toVeterinary Science.

Aust Vet J

2009;87:119–120.2. Shapiro R. Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. HarvillSecker, London, 2008.3. Bausell RB. Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary andAlternative Medicine. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007.4. Ramey D, Rollin BE. Complementary and Alternative Veterinary MedicineConsidered. Iowa State Press, Iowa, 2004.

Tanya Stephens

Haberfield, NSW

doi: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2009.00441.x

XXXOriginal Article

editorialeditorial

LETTERS TO THE EDITIOR

Re: Trick or treatment

The

Australian Veterinary Journal

recently published a Book Reviewand Commentary which points out that ‘... the matter of alternativetherapies is very alive among [AVA] members.’

1

The same journalalso quotes that a newly appointed AVA Board Member hasincorporated acupuncture into her practice since 1991

2

and that afounding member of the AVA Acupuncture Special Interest Grouphas been appointed to the Board of Directors or theInternational Veterinary Acupuncture Society.

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The reviewer mentioned that ‘... there is insufficient pub-lished evidence to assess efficacy [of alternative therapies inveterinary medicine].’ Further work is ongoing in this area.Readers will be interested in the results from a small, rigorouslydesigned, research study at the University of Bristol’s Departmentof Clinical Veterinary Science.

4

The results indicate the need fora large randomised controlled trial of homeopathy in canineatopic dermatitis.

Details of over 50 randomised controlled trials demonstrating thathomeopathy has a positive effect can be found via the Faculty ofHomeopathy.

5

1. Faragher T. Book review and commentary: Singh S, Ernst E. Alternatives toveterinary science?

Aust Vet J

2009;87:119–120.2. Nominations for the AVA Board.

Aust Vet J

2009;87(4):N12.3. Horton E. Ulricke Wurth appointed to the Board of the International VeterinaryAcupuncture Society.

Aust Vet J

2009;87(4):N22.

4. Hill PB, Hoare J, Lau-Gillard P, Rybnicek J, Mathie RT. Pilot study of the effect ofindividualised homeopathy on the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis indogs.

Vet Rec

2009;164:364–370.5. Faculty of Homeopathy. http://www.facultyofhomeopathy.org/research/index.html. Accessed April 2009.

Douglas Wilson

Lismore Heights, NSW

doi: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2009.00442.x

XXXOriginal Article

editorialeditorial

LETTERS TO THE EDITIOR

Editor’s comment

The AVJ invites reviews on interesting or topical books that arerecently published, especially if they are written by Australian authors.The purpose is for the reviewer to offer informed criticism of thecontent, for colleagues who want to know what is in the book.

For clarification, PubMed is a biomedical search engine thatindexes all manner of journals and its purpose is not just to be avehicle for consensus of scientific opinion. Many of the articlesvehemently disagree with one another, and systematic reviewsand meta-analyses were developed specifically to address thislack of consensus. From his online CV, one of the authors of

Trickor treat: Alternative medicine on trial

(Ernst) says that he went tothe University of Exeter in 1993 to establish a world first Chair inComplementary Medicine, where he decided to test the claims ofcomplementary medicine using the tools of science.

Ernst lists his achievements as several dozen clinical trials andover 100 systematic reviews, and that the purpose of his book wasto make science accessible to the general public. He has in factpublished a systematic review on acupuncture (that can be foundindexed on PubMed) that includes 14 randomised and 17 nonran-domised controlled trials.

1

They report that these were of variable,but generally low, quality. This review concludes, ‘there is nocompelling evidence to recommend or reject acupuncture for anycondition in domestic animals.’ I look forward to anyone submit-ting to the AVJ a well designed clinical trial on acupuncture thatwill add further to the science of this story.

I think that the quality of writing and credibility of a book’s authoris the overriding factor, and that limiting our discussion of books tothose published in the so-called scientific literature misses thepoint. I make no apology for inviting and including a review of abook that is interesting to read, or that such a review will generatescientific discussion. That is what the AVJ is for.

1. Habacher G, Pittler MH, Ernst E. Effectiveness of acupuncture in veterinarymedicine: systematic review.

J Vet Intern Med

2006;20:480–488.

Anne

Jackson

Editor in Chief

doi: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2009.00453.x

References

References

Reference

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