Anthroposophic medicine
Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts, including massage, exercise, counselling, and administration of substances.
[3] In certain European countries, people with cancer are sometimes prescribed remedies made from specially harvested mistletoe, although no evidence of clinical benefit exists.
Wegman lectured widely, visiting the Netherlands and England particularly frequently, and an increasing number of doctors began to include the anthroposophic approach in their practices.
The press described the appointment as a "death sentence" and the perception that pseudoscience was being taught damaged the university's reputation, bringing it close to financial collapse.
It was ultimately saved by a cash injection from Software AG, a technology corporation with a history of funding anthroposophic projects.
[3] Ernst has said that anthroposophical medicine "includes some of the least plausible theories one could possibly imagine",[23] categorized it as "pure quackery",[12] and said that it "has no basis in science".
[13] According to Quackwatch, anthroposophical medicine practitioners regard illness as a "rite of passage" necessary to purge spiritual impurities carried over from past lives, according to the precepts of "karmic destiny".
This means that, while they are completely harmless in themselves, using them in place of conventional medicine to treat serious illness carries a risk of severe adverse consequences.
Willow, for example, is considered to have an unusual character: ... plants that grow near water are usually heavy, with big, dark green leaves that wilt and break easily.
[8][28] Anthroposophic medicine claims the flow of blood of the circulatory system is, as Marinelli put it, "propelled with its own biological momentum, as can be seen in the embryo, and boosts itself with induced momenta from the heart".
[30] According to Dan Dugan, Steiner was challenged established science in the following ways: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Steiner hospitals in Germany became notorious amongst healthcare authorities for forcing quack remedies on sedated hospital patients, some of whom were critically ill.[33] Remedies used included ginger poultices and homeopathic pellets claimed to contain the dust of shooting stars.
Stefan Kluge, the director of intensive care medicine at Hamburg's University Medical Centre, said the claims of anthroposophic providers during the pandemic were "highly unprofessional" and that they "risk[ed] causing uncertainty among patients".
[5][35] Most of the clinical research claiming that mistletoe therapy is effective is published in Germany, and it is generally considered unreliable because of major lapses in quality.
[2] The American Cancer Society says that "available evidence from well-designed clinical trials does not support claims that mistletoe can improve length or quality of life".
[36] In 2002, nearly half a million prescriptions were paid for by German health insurance, and in 2006 there were reportedly around 30 types of mistletoe extract on the market.
[38] A 2013 article on mistletoe in Lancet Oncology invoked Ben Goldacre's observation that a geographical preference for certain therapies was a hallmark of quackery, and proposed that the continuing use of this "apparently ineffectual therapy" in a small cluster of countries was based on sociological rather than medical reasons, indicating a need for a more informed consent from patients.
"[39] Paul Offit wrote that Steiner believed vaccination "interferes with karmic development and the cycles of reincarnation", and that adherence to this belief led to a 2008 pertussis outbreak in a Californian Waldorf school, causing its temporary closure.
