A bad take from Alan Freestone though not his first - undercover reporting and Trading Standards on homeopathy and autism claims

Summary: in addition to writing nonsense on Twitter about incels Alan Freestone has been investigated by Trading Standards for claiming to cure autism with homeopathy and CEASE therapy. The post below includes links to articles in The Times and The Telegraph about his claims, and to his listing on a page of people referred for their persistent misleading claims to Trading Standards by the Advertising Standards Authority.

I've added a bit at the end about homeopathy societies in the UK. Two have since publicly distanced themselves from his statements.

Update: his awful tweet was taken down on 14 August between 22:56 and 23:14pm. I can be that accurate as I sent a tweet when I got home bemoaning that it was still up then it disappeared, so I sent another. I've added a copy below.

See also, this thread
https://twitter.com/robertsproggit/status/1426501423718617089

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

This post is for the benefit of people following up on Alan Freestone's particularly bad tweet from Friday 13 August 2021, in response to the horrendous incident in Plymouth. He muted me (and presumably others) several years ago after I / we challenged him on his claims to treat / cure autism using CEASE therapy and homeopathy. 

Pic 1. Tweet from Alan Freestone sent on 7 June 2018 (still live at time of writing) which says "Jo, your endless attempts to try & stifle positive homeopathy stories are very telling. You attempt to use social media to suppress views you disagree with. That's not an ethical past time. You should reflect on that. P.S. I have cured autism. I'll continue to cure autism."

 

This tweet is still up. Quite surprised. He's added a few more in similar vein, some bleating about how badly received his intended nuance-ing was. pic.twitter.com/Gk67lBLGzt

— Jo Brodie (@JoBrodie) August 14, 2021

Pic 2., Pic 3. w are screenshots which were taken 11 hours apart, Pic 4. (embedded Tweet) was taken at 23:56 on 14 August. These are all copies of the same tweet (sent on 13 August 2021 and still live at time of writing) which says said "I hope the women of Plymouth collectively take some responsibility for this. Misandry & the anti-man rhetoric from teachers causes incels. Young men without hope, without a path, without anything meaninfgul to strive for become dangerous to the societies around them." The earlier screenshot shows 1.5k replies, 890 retweets ( and 15 likes, the later one has 3.1k replies, 1.8, retweets and 49 likes. At time of writing his tweet has 28 retweets and 1,865 quote tweets.

Not surprisingly he's received a remarkable amount of pushback in the replies to the tweet which you can find indirectly here (until he wisely deletes it, but screenshots will remain).

In early 2019 the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) took compliance action on at least three homeopaths claiming to treat autism with homeopathy / CEASE therapy and referred them to Trading Standards (TS) in November, one (Paula Lattimer) has now made their marketing material compliant but Alan Freestone and Carolyn Stevens are still on the list. The ASA wrote a post in March 2019 outlining their position on CEASE "Why so-called CEASE Therapy claims to 'cure' autism really have to stop".

Here is the list of Trading Standards Referrals (you'll need to scroll down and click 'see more' to see everyone that the ASA has referred to TS). I don't know if Trading Standards are still investigating him or if the pandemic has made that harder.

Pic 5. shows the list of homeopaths who've been referred to Trading Standards, two are still making misleading claims.

In April 2019 Alan Freestone was the sole subject of an article in The Times about his wild claims to treat autistic children with homeopathy "Homeopaths ‘treat’ autistic children with rabid dog saliva". 

"...claims to have treated 1,185 autistic patients with remedies such as carcinosinum, made from cancerous breast tissue; lyssin, made with rabid dog saliva; and medorrhinum, made from the discharge of a man with gonorrhoea." Note that you can buy these products (which are HEAVILY diluted you'll be relieved to hear!) from Helios UK, see the links.

In November that year he, along with another homeopath, were caught by an undercover reporter for The Telegraph (see video below) offering advice to a parent (reporter) about how to evade vaccination and what to do about schools requiring children to be vaccinated (fib, basically): "Homeopaths warning mothers not to have children vaccinated, investigation reveals". The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) expressed concern that consumers were buying dangerous unauthorised treatments from him but I don't know if any further investigation was made.

Additional info on homeopathic societies in the UK
Several people on the thread created from Alan's tweet have CCed in the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) or asked if he's a member. Alan is not a member of the SoH and to the best of my knowledge I don't think he has ever been. I also don't think he's a member of Homeopathy UK (formerly known as the British Homeopathic Association, BHA) but I think he used to be a member of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH) but I don't think he is now. 'Homeopath' is not a protected term in the UK so anyone can call themselves that and can "practise" without being registered. There is a fourth society, the Faculty of Homeopathy, which is reserved for qualified healthcare professionals (hcp) who have also trained in homeopathy. As he's not a doctor or allied hcp he wouldn't be able to join that one anyway. 

But this isn't the Society of Homeopaths' fault. Since I'm often the first to criticise them, and celebrated their accreditation with the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) being withdrawn* earlier this year, I think it's only fair to point out that they have nothing to do with the nonsensical pronouncements by Alan Freestone, being more than capable of emitting their own nonsensical pronouncements.

Update 1: The Society of Homeopaths (he's not a member) have distanced themselves from Freestone's statements, the same also appears on their Facebook page.

Update 2: Freestone is a member of Homeopathy International (HINT) and they have distanced themselves more vaguely (website statement).

Update 3: (Fri 24 Sep 2021) - I've just noticed that HINT's Steering Committee met to discuss the matter on 17 August and decided that as the tweet was made in a 'personal capacity' that was the end of the matter. 

HINT previously published (April 2019) a guide for its members advising them not to worry to much about letters from the ASA (May 2018, made public March 2019) which told them to "make no direct or implied efficacy claims for CEASE therapy".

Further reading
* The Society of Homeopaths, and the issues with regulating healthcare in the UK (6 August 2021) By Michael Marshall (project director of The Good Thinking Society, writing in The Skeptic - the PSA suspended the SoH's accreditation in January 2021 and, presumably unable to address the problems (and citing cost), the SoH later withdrew from the accredited register scheme in July 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open letter to Autism Directory about having CEASE Therapy offering homeopaths in their listings

I sent this text on 7 July 2019 via Twitlonger (a third party app which will send out a tweet for you containing a link to where the text is stored). Authorise the app, write your text and it will do the rest. If you begin the text with an @ it will send it as a reply (in which case don't fill in the title bit as that'll ruin the reply format).

As of 18 July 2019 the listings remain.


https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1squjpj

@AutismDirectory @GWT82 Re: https://www.theautismdirectory.com/listing/homeopathy-cease-therapy

Please remove listings* for CEASE Therapy from your directory as the treatment cannot help people with autism and is exploitative. The acronym stands for "Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression" (itself a misleading statement).

The treatment involves supplements and vitamins, at much higher doses than recommended by the NHS, and can result in diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Tinus Smits (the inventor of CEASE) celebrated diarrhoea as being some sort of 'evidence' of detoxifixation of vaccines https://twitter.com/UKHomeopathyReg/status/1109070117223235585

There have been various efforts to stop misleading claims made by people offering CEASE (and in some non-UK cases to stop CEASE practice) as this treatment does not work and is effectively a form of medical neglect with potential harms to autistic kids.

1. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA, UK) has sent Enforcement Notice to 150 homeopaths offering CEASE treatment to remind them of permitted and non-permitted marketing claims https://www.asa.org.uk/news/cease-therapy-claims-must-stop.html. Some of these homeopaths who have failed to comply have been referred to Trading Standards.

2. The Federation of Holistic Therapists (UK) will not accept onto its register any homeopath offering CEASE therapy (or homeoprophylaxis - which means offering homeopathic remedies as a [non-functional] alternative to vaccination) - see Section 3.4 in this PDF https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/docs/default-source/accredited-registers/panel-decisions/annual-review-panel-decision-fht.pdf and general "not endorsed" info on their page https://www.fht.org.uk/therapies/homeopathy. Their register has been accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA, who report to Parliament).

3. The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) still permits CEASE-offering homeopaths onto their register though the PSA has been working with them over the last two years to try and reduce the risk to the public from this https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/27/more-than-120-homeopaths-trying-to-cure-autism-in-uk. They were re-accredited in 2018/2018 with some restrictions then, controversially, the PSA (re)re-accredited their register in 2018/2019 https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/docs/default-source/accredited-registers/panel-decisions/society-of-homeopaths-annual-review-2018.pdf

4. Last week The Good Thinking Society submitted a request for a Judicial Review of the PSA's decision (to re-accredit the SoH) "to keep autistic children safe from homeopaths who offer harmful CEASE therapy" https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/gts-cease-psa/ (also https://goodthinkingsociety.org/good-thinking-files-judicial-review-over-psa-reaccreditation-of-society-of-homeopaths/)

5. Many CEASE practitioners have a listing on an official CEASE website which the Dutch equivalent of the ASA has found to be in breach of advertising standards http://ukhomeopathyregulation.blogspot.com/2017/10/more-on-cease-therapy.html

6. Naturopaths in British Columbia, Canada are not allowed to advertise or offer CEASE therapy, nor are they allowed to offer anti-vaccination materials or advice, nor claim that vaccination can cause autism https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/naturopath-college-outlaws-therapy-promising-complete-elimination-of-autism-1.4682714

7. Homeopaths are working with vulnerable children without having a DBS check and those who are not members of a Society (registered or otherwise) have no particular oversight for safeguarding. This is effectively a feral treatment (the treatment and advice are often offered via Skype).

In response to the many, many concerns about CEASE and about the regulatory changes some homeopaths are using alternative names (eg EASE for "Easing Autistic Spectrum Expression") or the more general "homeopathic detox" - but cynically the underlying 'treatment' is the same. Please watch out for this.

CEASE Therapy has been around for a while but has only recently become prominent in the last couple of years and as such it wasn't included in the UK's Westminster Commission on Autism publication about Harmful Interventions for Autism https://westminsterautismcommission.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/a-spectrum-of-harmful-interventions-web-version.pdf

Please do not promote this pointless but harmful treatment to people with autism or parents of autistic children.

*These are the homeopaths listed on your page who offer CEASE, please remove these listings.

• Acorn to Oak Health
• Liesje Cochrane
• Paula Lattimer
• Gill Marshall Homeopathy
• Roberta Young
• Jak Measure
• Dr.Joshi's Center for Autism
• Miranda Parson's Homeopathy
• Alison Roberts Homeopathy

Thank you
Jo

The Professional Standards Authority has re-accredited the Society of Homeopaths - CEASE therapy for autism

Reaccreditation document (PDF)

This one is a little surprising. A number of us have been expressing concern to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) about the response by the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) to those of their members who are offering "CEASE" therapy for autism.

The SoH keeps a register of its 997 members (at Sep 2018, all of whom are allowed to use the term RSHom in their marketing material) and the PSA accredits a variety of society registers, including SoH's. SoH therefore runs an Accredited Register (AR) of homeopaths, though accreditation isn't meant to imply that homeopathy works.

Last year the PSA re-accredited the SoH with some provisos that the society would need to satisfy some additional monitoring requirements about those of their members offering CEASE.

Yestesrday the PSA published the latest accreditation and I've not read it all yet but wanted to add something here about it as I've written several times on this topic.

The 21 page PDF from the PSA is here - Society of Homeopaths Annual Review 2018

What surprised me is that the PSA highlighted a problem with members of an AR offering any treatment (whether real or bogus) that claims to treat a protected characteristic such as autism. The SoH still has members offering this, with a range of claims.

Thanks to @UKHomeopathyReg for alerting me.

Also of interest and relevance is that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has referred five homeopaths (I don't know if any of them are SoH members, no reasons to assume that any are) to Trading Standards for further investigation. Last year the ASA sent an Enforcement Notice to 150 UK homeopaths who were making misleading claims to treat or cure autism. Homeopaths should not write CEASE out in full (it stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression) as the full name is an implied health claim, which is misleading.

Why so-called CEASE Therapy claims to 'cure' autism really have to stop - Guy Parker, CEO ASA

CEASE Therapy for autism in the UK news today - it doesn't treat or cure autism

1. Listen
The BBC will run a piece* early this afternoon on Radio 4's You and Yours about a bogus treatment for autism, called CEASE Therapy aka 'Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression'.

Listen to it on BBC Radio 4 from 12.15pm today Friday 22 March 2019, or catch up later
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003d81

Read You and Yours' post about the story "Advertising watchdog rules fake autism 'cure' adverts must stop" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47666939

CEASE rests on the false idea that vaccination causes autism and uses homeopathy and supplements to try and "detox" children from the imagined negative effects of the vaccines. Not only is it nonsense it's also harmful and medically neglectful (encourages diarrhoea as a process to eliminate toxins),  a safeguarding concern (vulnerable children and families involved) and offensive (implying that autism should be eliminated). There is no need for it, and it's great that awareness is being raised.

2. Watch
The BBC also referenced CEASE on their Breakfast television show. You can watch it again on iPlayer (you may need to register) until tomorrow (Saturday, at 9.15am), from 19 minutes into the programme (6.18am on the programme itself).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0003fvb/breakfast-22032019

3. ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority's CEO Guy Parker published a blog post today about the action the ASA has been taking against homeopaths who are offering CEASE therapy and who are referencing it in relation to autism. Last year the ASA sent out an Enforcement Notice to 150 CEASE homeopaths pointing out the problems with offering the therapy, this notice has also been published today. Five homeopaths have been referred to Trading Standards but not yet added to their Referrals page.

Why so-called CEASE Therapy claims to 'cure' autism really have to stop
https://www.asa.org.uk/news/cease-therapy-claims-must-stop.html

Metro have also picked up the story.
Guardian too.

The ASA have previously adjudicated against two practitioners offering CEASE therapy - Teddington Homeopathy
and Elle Fox (trading as Bubbling Life).

4. SoH / PSA
The Society of Homeopaths is one of several membership societies for homeopaths but is the only one regulated by the Professional Standards Authority. SoH members are already required to adhere to ASA's guidelines but last year the PSA had to step in and address problems with some members' claims about CEASE.

The response by the SoH to the ASA's action has been described as "staggeringly inadequate" because there have been "discussions taking place on how the therapy might be renamed" instead of addressing the underlying nonsense. This merely "(e)ncourages CEASE quacks to continue as before, while hiding from ASA." 

Today (and over the weekend) Oxford University's Lady Margaret Hall is hosting the SoH's AGM and conference (on fertility and pregnancy).

5. See also
• CEASE Therapy on Wikipedia
• Westminster Autism Commission (PDF) on other harmful interventions on autism (CEASE not included)

*"We report on what's being done to stop a bogus treatment which claims to cure autism in children. The Advertising Standards Authority has told You & Yours it’s served enforcement notices on 150 homeopaths who offer so-called CEASE therapy. The treatment claims to purge heavy metals, vaccines and antibiotics from a child’s system. The National Autistic Society says there's no cure for autism and it's wrong to claim it can be cured. We speak to a mother who tried the treatment for several months and now regrets it. The Society of Homeopaths say there are discussions taking place on how the therapy might be renamed to make claims aren't made that can't then be substantiated."

Some encouraging regulatory news on CEASE therapy for autism - #homeopathy

Summary: the PSA has already taken on board skeptics' concerns about some of the Society of Homeopaths' members who use homeopathy and CEASE therapy in treating (and claiming to treat) autistic children. In January 2019 the PSA added an additional point to consider, which is that the treatment "seeks to ‘eliminate’ a characteristic that not everyone would think necessary or desirable to eliminate" and is a safeguarding concern.

CEASE therapy is a bogus treatment for autism. It stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression and consultations are regularly offered by homeopaths via Skype, widening the pool of possible patients to anyone around the world. CEASE relies on the incorrect idea that it's possible to detox from vaccinations by using high dose vitamins, other supplements and homeopathic remedies.

The Society of Homeopaths is aware that some of their members offer CEASE and that the marketing of the intervention is often deemed problematic. There have been adjudications by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against homeopaths who've made misleading claims about the treatment and it's generally considered that writing CEASE out in full itself makes a marketing claim.

For the last couple of years the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) have had their register of members accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Skeptic bloggers (including me) have been regularly in touch with the PSA to express concerns about the problems that promoting CEASE therapy entails. The PSA has taken some promising action.

In February 2018 the PSA re-accredited the SoH but with provisos attached that they monitor CEASE-offering members' advertising material, put a position statement on their website about the treatment and what can't be claimed for it and review the risks of the treatment.
• More detail on this can be found here Better monitoring of homeopaths advertising CEASE therapy for autism in the UK - hooray (28 Feb 2018)

A fellow skeptic has just alerted me to the recently published outcome from a Board Meeting the PSA had on 16 January 2019. It covers all of their accreditation processes but specific mention is made of the PSA's own concerns about CEASE therapy / homeopathy, raising a new issue that I confess hadn't occurred to me (Equality Act, see first para in the quote below).
• More at Update on Accredited Registers (19 Jan 2019), a 6-pg PDF.

Point 6.12 on page 5 of 6 says (emphasis added by me)

"...In the light of our experience with considering the issues involved in CEASE therapy we would highlight one additional point. Whilst we addressed this primarily from a safety perspective, it also raised an ethical issue under the Equality Act in so far as the therapy seeks to ‘eliminate’ a characteristic that not everyone would think necessary or desirable to eliminate. Since we already consider observance with the Equality Act within our assessment process we do not think we need to amend the principles.

We consider the safeguarding legislative gap to present an ongoing risk to the public and we will continue to raise this matter with the DHSC and Ministers. This year we will focus our assessment activity on accredited registers risk management procedures, which will include reviewing their safeguarding arrangements and if this continues to highlight a problem, we will present our findings to DHSC to strengthen our call for action."
From Update on Accredited Registers (19 Jan 2019)DHSC = Department for Health and Social Care

Encouragingly the Society of Homeopaths has already appointed their first safeguarding officer (Sep 2018) which is a positive move, but there are still a number of their members whose websites make claims about autism that shouldn't be made. More on that in the next couple of months or so.

As for the SoH's current accreditation? Along with a couple of other members' registers their status is "Annual review under assessment"...


Further reading

• Hoping for advertising compliance from autism-'treating' homeopaths in 2019 (30 Dec 2019) - this blog
• Non-compliant Society of Homeopaths members (14 Dec 2018) - UK Homeopathy Regulation blog
• Letter to UK politicians (5 Dec 2018) - UK Homeopathy Regulation blog
• Possible Amendments to UK Legislation to control Quackery (15 Nov 2018) - UK Homeopathy Regulation blog
• A new Wikipedia page on CEASE therapy (15 Jul 2018) - this blog
• More than 120 homeopaths trying to ‘cure’ autism in UK (27 Apr 2018) - The Guardian
• Homeopathic Treatment of Autism - Evidence #2 (5 Apr 2018) - UK Homeopathy Regulation blog
• The Society of Homeopaths agrees that it's unethical to claim to cure autism with CEASE (28 May 2018) - this blog
• Homeopathic Treatment of Autism - Evidence #1 (26 Mar 2018) - UK Homeopathy Regulation blog
• I have written to the Society of Homeopaths about their members who are promoting CEASE therapy (9 Dec 2017) - this blog

Pic credit: Schüssler tablets homeopathy

Hoping for advertising compliance from autism-'treating' homeopaths in 2019

Homeopaths claim to treat pretty much every known human and animal complaint or disease - you can easily find a long list of named conditions on their websites. Lots of other naturopaths and other quacks also claim to treat a range of health problems, but this particular piece of activism focuses solely on homeopaths treating autism using CEASE therapy.

In 2019 I'm hoping that several UK homeopaths will be a bit more compliant with the advertising regulations when it comes to the information they share on their websites or via tweets about treating autism with CEASE therapy.

A small gang of plucky skeptic bloggers have separately and jointly asked individual homeopaths, the homeopathic society(ies), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) and Trading Standards (TS) to take action on these misleading claims. It's an uphill struggle, but the gears are now engaged and we have traction. The regulators have taken note but can they persuade homeopaths to fall in line?

An example of misleading claims can be found in this ASA adjudication against Teddington Homeopathy for making claims about CEASE and autism. Teddington Homeopathy appear to have been reluctant to make the required changes to the text on their website so they now find themselves on the ASA's non-compliant online advertisers list as of 27 August 2015.

By the end of 2018 (tomorrow!) several homeopaths who are members of the Society of Homeopaths and who offer CEASE therapy are required to bring their marketing material into compliance with (i) the SoH's code of ethics, (ii) with the ASA's guidelines (embedded within the SoH's code) and (iii) with additional requirements from the PSA. In mid-January 2019 those of us who originally raised CEASE as a problem will be looking to see if compliance has improved.

 
Pic credit: https://pixabay.com/en/steam-engine-governor-centrifugal-645588/

However it's entirely possible though that even if they are compliant I/we still won't be satisfied as I think that no-one should ever be permitted to claim that they can treat anything with homeopathy. That'll be tough luck for me as this appears to be something that marketers can work their way around. I really don't think anyone should be permitted to claim that homeopathy can treat autism.

In an ideal world this is what I'd like to see (or not see) on the websites of people who've been offering CEASE treatment or homeopathic detox for autism or autistic spectrum conditions. [If you are a parent thinking about paying for this please don't].

1. There should be no mention of the acronym CEASE or its written-in-full form
CEASE stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression which is a problematic thing to write on your marketing material as it is making a claim that is unsupported by evidence (as well as being potentially harmful). The word 'CEASE' by itself is not much better given that it means 'stop' and will be on a page with references to autism.

2. There should be no mention of autism on homeopathy websites
Autism isn't something you can cure. Autism isn't something that you can treat with homeopathy. There is no need for homeopaths to mention autism as it is not relevant to them. I'd quite like homepaths to stop mentioning any other health condition (they can't treat, cure or otherwise alter the course of those either) but the advertising regulations have not been successful in getting them to stop mentioning named conditions.

3. There should be no link to the official CEASE therapy website
The 'treatment's official site (I shan't link) contains lots of information about what is involved and also provides a hub for homeopaths who've been 'trained' in it to list themselves. The site is outside the UK's jurisdiction so homeopaths can get around restrictions by being reasonably compliant on their own UK website and then link to their individual page on the official site where they can carry on making all sorts of claims. Sneaky. This also seems a ridiculous state of affairs.

4. There should be no reference to homeopathic detox therapy (HDT)
I'd not be surprised if the term CEASE will soon be considered problematic by homeopaths as it attracts attention from skeptics and regulators. HDT is likely to be one replacement term and I'm sure there will be others. It promotes the idea that some conditions arise because of 'toxins' from vaccination and that giving a homeopathic version of the vaccine can reverse this. Twaddle. Also the concept of detox is largely twaddle too

5. There should be no offering high dose vitamins and other supplements
These may cause gastric irritation and diarrhoea, but this is not evidence of toxins being expelled. One of the restrictions on SoH members is to ensure that their advice on supplements does not differ from that advised by the NHS.

6. Better safeguarding for children
If homeopaths are still permitted to get away with the shocking untruth that they can help kids with autism then at least can there be some proper oversight? At the moment it seems anyone can offer to treat children with autism and there is no requirement for them to be DBS-checked first.

7. Skype should not be used in homeopathic consultations
This is a cheap - no need for expensive clinic overheads - way of getting customers. As it's online homeopaths can 'treat' customers from other countries (US popular) as well as within the UK. Presumably no CEASE-offering homeopath is attempting to diagnose any children with autism (I'd think this would be challenging unless done face to face over a period of time) and they are merely attempting to insert themselves into the process in order to charge a fee and 'treat' them. The relevant medical personnel who see kids with autism might want to forewarn parents about this nonsense.

Pic credit: https://pixabay.com/en/dublin-trinity-college-library-2344423/

Background information
CEASE 'treatment' is offered by homeopaths who've undergone additional training and it uses a mixture of homeopathy and supplements (it is not pure homeopathy). It's currently estimated that there are more than 120 homeopaths in the UK flogging this treatment to parents of children with autism - there is no evidence that it helps anyone with autism. It promotes the harmful idea that autism is caused by vaccination and there may be a risk of side-effects of the high doses of supplements that practitioners recommend. In short, it's bad news.

I've written several blog posts already on efforts to try and get regulators to take action (this has been reasonably successful, though I can't personally take any credit) and on individual (un-named) homeopaths whose websites I've been monitoring.

While I'd like all homeopaths to stop claiming they can treat autism the focus is largely on those who are members of the Society of Homeopaths (SoH). This is because the SoH has its register of members accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This doesn't really mean that much in practical terms (as far as I can tell) but it does have the advantage that accreditation can be rescinded if the SoH members don't comply with the SoH's code of practice. We're not sure how miffed the SoH or its members would be if accreditation were removed - no idea if this is much of a sanction.


You can read the PSA's Accreditation Panel's Decision for the Society of Homeopaths (meeting in Jan 2018, published Feb 2018) which outlines the

The Panel provided the following Condition to be implemented by the timeframes specified:

1. The Society [of Homeopaths] must:
a. Develop and submit to the Panel for review its position statement on the use of CEASE therapy by registrants, including advertising this. This must be submitted to the Panel for review and published within three months
b. Develop mechanisms to ensure that registrants who use and advertise CEASE therapy follow the Society’s position and do not breach its Code of Ethics and Practice. An action plan outlining how this will be achieved must be submitted to the Panel within one month
c. Review risks related to CEASE and other therapies additional to registrants’ regular scope of practice, as part of its ongoing risk assessments. This must be incorporated into the Society’s risk matrix within three months.

The Panel provided the following Instructions to be implemented by the timeframe stated or by annual review of accreditation as specified below:

1. The Society is to publish its exceptional circumstances policy regarding registrants who are not displayed on the public register, within six months.
2. The Society is to submit the outcomes of its website audits, including websites checked and all actions taken.
3. The Society is to provide clearer information to complainants on the actions it takes in relation to concerns raised when these are resolved outside of the formal complaints process.
4. The Society is to develop and publish its persistent or vexatious complaints policy to make clear where it considers contact from people or organisations to be unreasonably persistent or vexatious and the approach it will take.

The Panel provided the following Learning Points to be verified at the next annual review of accreditation:

1. The Society should consider making improvements to its openness and transparency by, for example, publishing its Board meeting minutes and other information previously available to the public on its website as soon as possible.
2. The Society should consider submitting its web page on ‘The evidence base for homeopathy’ to the Advertising Standards Authority’s Copy Advice team for independent review.

Further reading
UK Homeopathy Regulation's blog has several posts on CEASE - they have been instrumental behind the scenes in effecting a lot of the changes mentioned. Homeopaths in particular are advised to pay particular attention to their posts and tweets.

A new Wikipedia page on CEASE therapy

Summary: I've created (with help from other Wikipedians) a new page on Wikipedia for CEASE therapy giving a brief overview of what the therapy involves and the regulatory action that's taken place against the misleading claims made for it. (Page last updated - 29 July 2018)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEASE_therapy

For some time I and others have been trying, not all that successfully, to get UK homeopaths / naturopaths to stop making misleading claims about curing or treating autism. The information accompanying their treatment promotes the idea that vaccines cause autism (which is a harmful idea to be promoting anyway) and the treatment itself involves the notion of 'vaccine detox' through large doses of vitamin C alongside a buffet selection of supplements, dietary restrictions and homeopathy. CEASE therapy (Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression - the name itself is problematic) is promoted to parents of children with autism and no evidence has been provided of it being of use to anyone. A related 'treatment' is Homeopathic Detox Therapy or HDT.

In 2015 Teddington Homeopathy was reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading CEASE-related claims and the ASA adjudicated against them and subsequently added them to their non-compliant online advertisers list. [I submitted a complaint myself but the ASA had already begun to take action based on someone else's prior complaint].

More recently we have asked the Society of Homeopaths to rein in their own members. There are several homeopathic societies in the UK and the SoH has its members' register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) so I suppose this offers a potential source of leverage. Happily the PSA listened to our* complaints and imposed conditions on the SoH when reaccrediting their register. The SoH published a position statement advising their members to take care about misleading claims relating to the treatment.

In my own complaint, to the SoH, I reported five of their members who had been making misleading claims, then I periodically monitored the five websites for any changes. Sadly the changes were fairly minimal - hence the 'not all that successfully' reference above. Most significantly one member has cancelled their SoH membership (so they are no longer required to follow the SoH's guidelines on marketing etc) but very little of the text has changed.

In July 2018 the ASA adjudicated against another CEASE therapist who offered CEASE among several other things, so it wasn't the main focus. I also discovered that they'd written to several homeopaths in May and June enclosing an Enforcement Note on CEASE therapy and asking them to ensure that their marketing material did not make misleading claims.

Hopefully the ASA might take some action on these and other homeopaths - I won't necessarily know about it because they do not need to adjudicate further on any homeopath. After several cases the ASA already knows that there's no good evidence for homeopathy and that it doesn't work so there's no point in revisiting the evidence and adjudicating. Instead each new complaint about homeopathy is handled by the Compliance team who, frustratingly, don't publish their activities. I don't think any of the homeopaths (from my complaint) have been selling homeopathic remedies in breach of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) regulations.

Since getting regulatory bodies to take action on misleading health advertising is a long, slow process I thought I'd try a parallel approach of creating a new Wikipedia page about the therapy. Wikipedia's pages can feature prominently in search engine results so I'm hoping that the page might appear when families are searching for information. No guarantees of course! No sign of the page in search results yet but it's only been 24 hours.

*our - I did put in a complaint however the timeline was such that the PSA had already had its meeting and taken action before I did, so mine's unlikely to have contributed much to the outcome.

After writing about the new Wikipedia page on Twitter I got a fair bit of push back from homeopaths and CEASE therapists who get a bit cross when anyone points out that they're making unsupported claims about an implausible treatment. One of them created a new account with a username that is typical of the lack of insight of some homeopaths I've spoken to (see screenshots below). Of course this certainly seems a bit intimidating and might put people off from writing about their activities on Twitter but it doesn't actually stop people from undertaking those activities (or getting other people to mention them instead).

Is it really like that I wonder ;)

A few more screenshots below.

There's still a lot to be done on CEASE. Getting the ASA and SoH to persuade homeopaths to remove misleading claims is only one small part. They are still attempting to treat children with autism which is beyond their level of competence and a safeguarding issue. The MHRA can block the sale of the 'remedies', local councils can take action around safeguarding and Trading Standards can prosecute.

 

The Society of Homeopaths agrees that it's unethical to claim to cure autism with CEASE

Pic credit: Water, aka Abstract Aqua Background from Pixabay

Several people have complained to the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) about their members (lay homeopaths with no medical training) making claims on their websites to cure or treat autism in children using a form of treatment (CEASE therapy aka Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression). The treatment is likely to cause harm to these vulnerable customers.

After my own complaint to the SoH (Nov 2017) I kept an eye on the five websites I'd reported but when no changes were made to any of them that would have addressed my complaints I raised the matter with the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). The PSA accredits the SoH's members' register (people who are entitled to call themselves RSHom).

For the latest round of reaccreditation the PSA imposed a condition (as well as some suggested recommendations) on the SoH with the risk that their accreditation would be cancelled if the condition wasn't met. This was the condition -

"The PSA panel imposed one condition (p2 of the document linked above) - to improve governance on CEASE therapists and advertising (if this is not met then accreditation may be rescinded). The condition has three parts: (i) a position statement on CEASE therapy and on its advertising by homeopath members, (ii) develop some mechanism to ensure that homeopath members offering CEASE don't breach the Society's Code of Ethics, (iii) review the risks relating to CEASE therapy (and other treatments too)." Source: Better monitoring of homeopaths advertising CEASE therapy for autism in the UK - hooray (my earlier post).

On Friday 25 May the PSA wrote to me to let me know that the SoH had met this condition, and that they had published a position statement on their website making it clear that homeopaths should not claim that they can cure autism and that writing out the full name of CEASE therapy (Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression) is problematic as the name itself implies a cure

"A number of Society members have been trained in CEASE and make reference to it in their marketing. While this is acceptable, members should be aware the title, meaning ‘Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression’ is misleading. RSHoms must not suggest that they are capable of a complete cure of autism as this would be unethical and in breach of the Code of Ethics.

The Society does not endorse any aspects of CEASE therapy contrary to NHS guidance and nor should RSHoms. In particular on vaccination, homeopathic prophylaxis, and the use of dietary supplements. It is beyond standard homeopathic practice to provide advice on the use of supplements and therefore any guidance given should be in line with the NHS Guidelines." SoH's position statement

As far as I can tell ALL aspects of CEASE therapy are contrary to NHS guidance and there is no mention of the fact that homeopaths have no business treating anyone with autism. Hopefully after the Bank Holiday the SoH will communicate this update to the relevant RSHoms.

I'm not sure how long it will take though for the misinformation to be removed from the homeopaths websites though.

I can't actually take any credit for this because the complaint I put in to the PSA was after they were well along in their decision-making on the conditions for the SoH's reaccreditation. Much of the credit goes to @UKHomeopathyReg (blog) who has also kept the media (both in UK and North America) informed of the problem of homeopaths attempting to treat autism. Stopping homeopaths from claiming to cure autism is one (good) thing but raising public awareness that they've never been able to do this goes along way too.

Further reading
More than 120 homeopaths trying to ‘cure’ autism in UK (27 April 2018) The Guardian
Exclusive: the ‘cure’ involves detoxing children of vaccines and antibiotics held responsible for the condition

Complaints levelled at B.C. naturopaths offering 'complete elimination' of autism (24 May 2018) CBC
3 practitioners offering unproven therapy are subjects of complaint to College of Naturopathic Physicians

Further background
The Society of Homeopaths has a register of homeopaths (who may use the title RSHom) and this register is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. Accreditation does not, and is not meant to, imply that homeopathy is a valid system of medicine (it isn't), simply that the people who've signed up to be RSHoms have insurance and have agreed to follow a code of ethics.

Since the general public may not realise what accreditation means (perhaps believing it to be more of an endorsement than it actually is) there have been a lot of raised eyed mutterings over the strangeness of accreditation.

Some RSHoms (and some other non RSHom homeopaths) claim that they can cure autism by using CEASE therapy. The treatment is potentially very harmful to children with autism, requiring them to take dietary supplements (including high doses of Vitamin C) as well as following a restricted diet. The use of homeopathy alongside this is a bit of a red herring, it is just one component but not the main thing.

Children with autism are vulnerable, as are their parents and carers, to harms done by well-meaning people who offer bad advice. There are concerns that these homeopaths are acting well beyond their competency and putting kids' health at risk - this is really a safeguarding issue. I've no idea if the therapists have appropriate training in caring for children with autism or have passed the DBS check.

Better monitoring of homeopaths advertising CEASE therapy for autism in the UK - hooray

There's some more good news for homeopathy skeptics in the UK and for people with autism. @UKHomeopathyReg on Twitter alerted me to this new publication yesterday...

CEASE, which stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression, is a problematic multi-stranded 'therapy' which is marketed as a treatment for autism in the UK.

There appears to be no good evidence that it has any useful effect in people with autism (let alone the rather troubling framing of autism as something to be eliminated) and plenty of possibility that it could do harm. The therapeutic package includes megadoses of Vitamin C (which can lead to diarrhoea until the dose is adjusted) and is promoted to parents as a marvellous thing for their child with autism. The therapy is offered by 'CEASE trained' homeopaths (homeopathy is just one of the strands in the package) who mostly support the idea that autism is the fault of vaccination.

In other words parents have the experience of a treatment being promoted to them which doesn't work, which costs money and time, which blames them for their child having autism while suggesting it is curable, and which may give their child diarrhoea. As a bonus both the name and acronym market the treatment misleadingly. There are additional dietary restrictions, which may cause distress to a child with autism.

A number of skeptics and skeptic organisations have successfully raised concerns about the homeopaths who claim that they have something to offer families with a child with autism.

I'm hoping this image conveys 'hot air' as that's what I think of homeopathy

In terms of previous regulatory action we already had (2015) an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) adjudication against one UK homeopath offering CEASE. Teddington Homeopathy did make some changes to their website after the ASA asked them to, but they also made it onto the ASA's list of non-compliant online advertisers after failing to make all of the required amendments.

Almond Homeopathy in Ireland were also told (in 2017) not to make claims that their treatment could reduce the symptoms of autism (though their treatments didn't relate to CEASE therapy).

While skeptics have had lots of small-level success in getting homeopathy websites amended, to a degree, many homeopaths persist in ignoring requests from the ASA. I'm not aware which homeopaths, if any, are scheduled to be reported to Trading Standards and the ASA may be prioritising other misleading advertisers first. However most homeopaths deal with patients who can at least give informed consent (perhaps less so with younger patients) but CEASE therapy deliberately targets a vulnerable -subpopulation, may cause harm and provides no benefit while costing money. It seems fairly clear that this is problematic so we needed a way of addressing this more directly. [See update to this at the end of this post]

It looks like we might have found another useful leverage point.

There are several professional homeopathic organisations in the UK (see Homeopathy Societies below) and one of them, the Societ of Homeopaths (SoH), managed to get its register of members accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This accreditation doesn't confer any status on homeopathy or homeopaths beyond the presumption that members are conducting themselves professionally, have insurance and that sort of thing - it says nothing about the efficacy of homeopathy. To be fair, there's not much to be said.

Of course I'd assume that the SoH and its members are happy to have this accreditation and most members reference this on their pages.

A number of people skeptical of CEASE expressed concern to the PSA about a subset of SoH members who were making claims about CEASE and autism. These are outlines on pages 8 to 10 in the document below, along with the PSA's considerations. As a result of these complaints the PSA has now imposed a condition on the SoH's re-accreditation (for 2018) and other recommended requirements.

These require the Society of Homeopaths to produce a position statement on the treatment, on how it will be advertised by their members and also produce a document about the risks from CEASE - more details in the 'box' below. This is quite a big deal.

PSA Accreditation Panel's decision on the Society of Homeopaths
2017/2018 accreditation (18 page PDF)

The panel required several things to be addressed by the Society of Homeopaths within a particular timeframe. These fall under Conditions (which must be met to retain accreditation), Instructions (strong recommendations but probably no more than that) and Learning Points (a sort of 'things you might do better').

The PSA panel imposed one condition (p2 of the document linked above) - to improve governance on CEASE therapists and advertising (if this is not met then accreditation may be rescinded). The condition has three parts: (i) a position statement on CEASE therapy and on its advertising by homeopath members, (ii) develop some mechanism to ensure that homeopath members offering CEASE don't breach the Society's Code of Ethics, (iii) review the risks relating to CEASE therapy (and other treatments too).

The panel gave the SoH four instructions (p3), one of which is particular of interest to skeptics - "The Society is to develop and publish its persistent or vexatious complaints policy to make clear where it considers contact from people or organisations to be unreasonably persistent or vexatious and the approach it will take" - skeptic queries and complaints are often automatically treated as vexatious. That hasn't been my own experience (I've only contacted the SoH twice about a particular topic) but I've heard from others who felt they've been given the runaround.

The panel also gave the SoH two learning points (p3) and I think the second one will be of most interest here - "The Society should consider submitting its web page on ‘The evidence base for homeopathy’ to the Advertising Standards Authority’s Copy Advice team for independent review.". Heh.

Incidentally last year's accreditation resulted in no conditions, instructions or learning points.

I think all of us who complained about the SoH member CEASE therapists did so directly to the SoH first (I certainly did). Their response to me was prompt and courteous indicating that they'd take a look at the websites and if there was a problem they'd take action. Sadly the websites didn't change which suggested to me either that (i) the SoH didn't think there was a problem or (ii) they did think there was a problem, and communicated this to their members who then ignored them. As far as I could see the SoH were not effectively monitoring those members making these misleading claims about autism, so I escalated my concerns to the PSA (though, as it happens, after they'd made their decisions based on complaints from other skeptics - so I can't actually take any credit for this helpful outcome!).

This was the thinking behind my complaint (I can't speak for the other people and organisations who made the complaints that actually resulted in this change though). Several homeopaths offer CEASE therapy. Some are members of the SoH, some aren't (and not all SoH members offer CEASE!). But those that are members on SoH's accredited register should abide by the society's terms and conditions (the SoH also provides a support document to help members abide by the ASA's guidelines on advertising!) so it is fairly straightforward to find people who are members, offering CEASE and making misleading claims. I found five, complained and followed up my complaint when nothing happened.

Professional Societies
Society of Homeopaths - the subject of this post
Faculty of Homeopaths - for homeopaths who also have a medical degree
Alliance of Registered Homeopaths
There are probably others.

The Society of Homeopaths will be hosting its Annual General Meeting at UCL's School of Pharmacy in April. To kick things off they'll screen a pro-homeopathy film called Magic Pills.

Update 28 July 2018
Since this post was published in February 2018 skeptics have learned that the ASA / CAP have in fact (as of May / June 2018) been writing to CEASE homeopaths in the UK to remind them of what they may and may not say in their marketing material / websites. This was discovered thanks to two of the homeopaths writing on their websites about their exchanges with the ASA, as well as amending the claims on their websites as requested. According to their information the ASA / CAP sent UK homeopaths an Enforcement Notice relating to CEASE advertising. The enforcement notice isn't currently published on CAP's website. It would also be interesting to know how many homeopaths received a copy, and the compliance rate.

I have written to the Society of Homeopaths about their members who are promoting CEASE therapy

Last updated: 12 September 2018, changelog is at the end

Below is a redacted version of the email I sent on 9 November 2017 to the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) about some of their registered members. These homeopaths are referencing a treatment whose name alone implies that it can treat autism - CEASE stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression. Some of them are making other claims about autism (and other conditions) too.

I am not sure what the SoH can do as it would seem a bit strange for them to ask people to stop using the name of the treatment (but I think it should be renamed), but I hope at least that they'll ask their members not to make other claims about autism at least.

After writing to the SoH I set up a tracker on each of the relevant pages (using https://www.changedetection.com/) which reports back to me if a page has been changed. So far only one page has been in any way amended.

The Society of Homeopaths' Register of homeopaths is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accreditation makes no consideration of the fact that homeopathy doesn't really work - yes it is quite an odd situation. The PSA is "just there to make sure that, if someone's practicing in one of these fields, they're meeting the standards that the body representing that field demands" - I suspect the homeopaths below are not doing that and they're overclaiming how they can help people with autism.

While there are some efforts ongoing to get this inexplicable accreditation rescinded my main interest is just in getting misleading health claims removed.

Please don't go looking up the homeopaths' details from the info below and hassling them. It's not really about individual homeopaths but about problems across the entire sector. There are plenty of people making similar claims, these are just some test cases.

-----------------------
Hello

A number of your members seem to be implying on their websites that they are able to eliminate autism.

The use of the term 'CEASE', or worse, writing it out in full ("Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression") implies that autism can be 'stopped' or 'eliminated' by following the treatment protocol. This would seem to go against #41 and #47 of your 2015 code of ethics "...No promise of cure, either implicit or explicit, should be made of any named disease...". Also concerning is that some of these websites refer unhelpfully to mistaken anxieties about vaccination and autism. They also make claims about other named health conditions.

I hope that you will consider asking the following people to stop making these implied claims, particularly those about eliminating autism, and look forward to your reply.

Thank you

Jo

1. Homeopath One (homepage)

• "I am a professionally trained classical Homoeopath and registered member of The Society of Homoeopaths." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018
• "CEASE THERAPY means COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF AUTISTIC SPECTRUM EXPRESSION." - claim remains in June 2018, July 2018
• "The Second Component is ISOTHERAPY which is the homeopathic version of the specific obstacle to cure..." - claim remains in June 2018, July 2018
• In the section "What can homeopathy be used for?" a shopping list of conditions is given, the most serious of which include asthma, psoriasis and bronchitis - surely these should be under the care of a GP? No mention is made on that page about seeking medical advice. 
  - text remains in June 2018, July 2018

December update: no change has been made
June 2018 update: still no change has been made - still SoH member, still claiming to eliminate autism
July 2018 update: as for June

Homeopath Two (About Me page and another page on CEASE therapy)

• "I am registered with The Society of Homeopaths, which is the largest organisation registering professional homeopaths in Europe. I practise in accordance with The Society’s Code of Ethics and Practice..." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018
• "I am one of the few specially trained and qualified homeopaths to offer CEASE Therapy (Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression) which is a very effective and safe way to treat conditions arising in Autistic spectrum. It combines homeopathy and nutritional supplements alongside a gentle, structured detoxification.  This protocol has been not only been successful in treating people on the Autistic Spectrum but also people suffering from a variety of other chronic conditions. For more information about CEASE click [redacted]." - text no longer has "Complete Elimination..." written out in full in June 2018 // As of July 2018 the new text now reads "I am a qualified CEASE practitioner and as such an specially trained and experienced in the use of protocols devised by the late Dr. Tinus Smits.  It was originally desiged to help children medically diagnosed with Autism but has been found to have a much wider use in practice".

Linked above is [Homeopath 2]'s page about CEASE therapy [redacted link], there are some potentially problematic claims there too [this page was removed on or before June 2018]

• "The treatment of Autism, Autistic Spectrum Diseases and other Modern Diseases with Homeopathy"
• "The CEASE approach to treating autism…."
• "[Tinus Smits - inventor of CEASE]...successfully treated over 300 autistic children, many of whom totally recovered from autism [emphasis added - what is this meant to imply if not that CEASE can help people 'recover from' autism?]. All of those treated saw improvements in their symptoms and consequently their quality of life and that of their families."
• "The CEASE Therapy consists of systematic detoxification and elimination of causative factors that contribute to the illness, which can include vaccinations, medications, environmental toxins." - unhelpfully implying that autism might be linked with vaccinations
• "Follow this link to Tinus Smit’s website to read about some of his successful cases: [Official CEASE Therapy website page on successful cases redacted]" - again it is difficult to see how anything other than a cure is implied by this web address and its framing in the text on this website

December update: no change has been made
June 2018 update: CEASE page has been removed, wording about it changed on About Me - still SoH member, amended claims about treating autism, now treating 'conditions arising IN autis[m]'. Removed text referring to CEASE in full. 
July 2018 update: changes to the text in 'About Me', no return of removed page

Homeopath Three (homepage)

• "I am registered with the Society of Homeopaths..." - text was removed by Dec 2017
• "I am also a qualified CEASE therapist. CEASE stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression and it is a step by step detox program using homeopathic remedies and supplements to remove the autistic qualities. You can read more about it here: [Official CEASE Therapy website redacted]" - other than writing out the term CEASE in full to imply the treatment can 'remove the autistic qualities' this website simply links to a separate website which is much more able to make claims than UK marketers are usually permitted. The linked website repeats the misinformation about links between vaccines and autism.
  - text remains in June 2018, July 2018

December update: the reference to their registration with the Society of Homeopaths has been removed.
June 2018 update: no change since December. Apparently no longer an SoH member (or still a member but no longer announcing that fact), still claiming to 'remove the autistic qualities' with CEASE. 
July 2018 update: I have received confirmation from the Society of Homeopaths that this homeopath is no longer registered with them. Their misleading text remains.

Homeopath Four (Qualifications page)

• "...I am a fully insured member of the society of homeopaths, working to their strict code of ethics and best practice levels." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018
• "I am also qualified as a CEASE therapist. Cease stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression and therapy is an effective a way of treating autism through elimination of causative toxic exposures such as vaccines and regular medication." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018, Sep 2018 (how hard would it be to not imply that CEASE can treat autism?)

Another page on this site [redacted link] says

• "I BELIEVE HOMEOPATHY TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL AND BALANCING FORM OF MEDICINE AVAILABLE. IT GETS TO THE ROOT OF AN ILLNESS TO ENABLE A LASTING CURE." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018
• Below that is a section on "conditions that patients have consulted" the homeopath for which include a number of serious ones such as psoriasis, herpes, thyroid problems and endometriosis. - text remains in June 2018, July 2018

December update: no change has been made
June 2018 update: no change. Still an SoH member, still claiming to 'treat' autism, and linking it to vaccination.
July 2018 update: as June 2018.

Homeopath Five

• "I am registered with the Society of Homeopaths..." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018
• "I am a certified "Cease Therapist" treating children with Autism and Autism Spectrum problems." - text remains in June 2018, July 2018

December update: no change has been made
June 2018 update: no change. Still an SoH member, still claiming to treat children with autism.
July 2018 update: as June 2018.

changelog



Edit: 5 Jan 2018 - while looking up the tweet sent to me by UKHomeopathyReg (see comment below post) I spotted that s/he had just published another post today about the SoH which is pretty interesting: Antipathy Towards the Advertising Standards Authority #3

Regarding the post above, I'm not sure what to do next - hardly any no text has changed seven two months on, people who are members of the SoH are still making these claims about autism.


Edit: 28 Feb 2018 - the Professional Standards Authority, who accredit the Society of Homepaths' register has taken some rather positive action on this matter.

Edit 2 June 2018 - the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) has now published its position statement on its members marketing and use of CEASE therapy. The news item implies that CEASE is a powerful detoxing tool (oh dear) but the actual statement says that members should not claim to treat autism and it looks like they're not allowed to write out the full name of the treatment either. I've also re-checked the website of each homeopath below again and provided an update.

Edit 15 July 2018 - I did another sweep / check before writing back to the SoH. I've also created a new Wikipedia page on CEASE therapy.

I've had it up to here with homeopaths marketing CEASE therapy quackery for autism

CEASE stands for 'Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression' - a name that belies its intention, despite advertising regulations.

— Jo Brodie (@JoBrodie) November 6, 2017

Marketers cannot claim #homeopathy can treat or help w autism but they can link to official websites that do, & write acronyms out in full.

— Jo Brodie (@JoBrodie) November 6, 2017

UK homeopaths are not allowed to make misleading claims about homeopathy (no marketer is allowed to make misleading claims about any product or service). We have a fairly strange situation with the marketing of CEASE therapy in the UK though, which I have written about before, in passing, in October 2016 and July 2015.

CEASE stands for 'Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression' - a name that belies its intention despite advertising regulations. As marketers are allowed to write out acronyms in full they are able to strongly (and wrongly) imply that the treatment can help people (typically children) who have autism.

I shan't link to it but there's an official CEASE therapy website which has recently been strongly criticised by the Dutch equivalent of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). However that website, not being hosted in the UK, is more able to ignore the ASA's requirements for advertising. Homeopaths around the world who have completed the CEASE training can also have a page about them in the practitioners section of the website.

UK homeopaths can therefore bypass advertising regulations while still obliquely promoting CEASE as a treatment for autism by
(i) avoiding making direct claims about homeopathy, CEASE and autism on their websites (some of them instead say that the ASA forbids them from making certain claims, or that the ASA has told them to remove certain claims etc)
(ii) spell out the acronym CEASE in full
(iii) link to the official CEASE page which is currently free-er to make claims. That is, defer the actual marketing to another site
(iv) leave page visitors to draw the hoped-for conclusion

Basically it's "I can't say anything about this treatment (or I'll get in trouble with the ASA) but go and have a look at this website that can say stuff and then come back here and make an appointment." As an added bonus the sites often talk about detoxing from vaccinations, thereby maintaining the background anxiety that autism and vaccinations are linked in some way (they're not).

I would like to see the term 'CEASE' ceased and no longer used in marketing, also no more linking to the 'cease-therapy' website. Ideally the homeopathy professional societies would sanction their members for implying any treatment was useful for autism.

~oOo~    •••    ~oOo~

Teddington Homeopathy (Melissa Wakeling) has been on the ASA's non-compliant list of online advertisers since August 2015 for failing to make all the required corrections to her marketing of CEASE therapy. She did make a few changes, but the website still makes misleading claims.

Interestingly one of the criticisms in the original adjudication was that Teddington Homeopathy linked to two websites which contained problematic phrases in their URLs (web addresses). Here's what the ASA said -

"The page also contained links to external websites containing "homeopathy-for-autism" and "homeopathy-and-autism-faq" in the visible URLS..."

and

"We welcomed Teddington Homeopathy's decision to remove the testimonial and other material from the page, but considered that the information about Tinus Smits and the URLs still implied a benefit for homeopathy and CEASE therapy for autism, and that the intention of CEASE therapy was to treat autism."

Comparing what the page was like on 23 December 2013 and currently (screenshots below) shows that some changes have indeed been made, though the current version is at pains to imply that they haven't.

Teddington Homeopathy's page on CEASE therapy in 2013 before the ASA made them change it.

Teddington Homeopathy's page on CEASE therapy after amendments were made, in line with ASA's requirements. As not all the amendments have been made yet the site has been listed as a non-compliant online advertiser.

The Society of Homeopaths has noted in their 2016 annual report that CEASE therapy was something that a lof of their members were keen to learn about, as part of their continuing professional development... obviously I'd prefer that they take to task their members who are promoting a non-therapy to vulnerable families.