Beim World Skeptics Congress im Mai in Berlin hatte Professor Edzard Ernst schon angekündigt, demnächst in den Unruhestand zu treten:

Jetzt ist es soweit – und sogleich hat der CAM-Kritiker einen eigenen (englischsprachigen) Blog aufgemacht.

Gegen das Übermaß des Unsinns ist jeder Streiter notwendig“,

begrüßen Psiram/Esowatch und Der Nesselsetzer den emeritierten Hochschullehrer für Alternativmedizin in der Blogosphäre.

Er selbst schreibt in seinem ersten Beitrag „A new Blog on Alternative Medicine. Why?“ unter anderem:

My blog is not going to provide just another critique of alternative medicine; it is going to be different, I hope. The reasons for this are fairly obvious: I have researched alternative medicine for two decades. My team and I have conducted about 40 clinical trials and published more than 100 systematic reviews of alternative medicine. We were by far the most productive research unit in this area. For 14 years, we hosted an annual international conference for researchers in this field. I know many of the leading investigators personally, and I understand their way of thinking. I have rehearsed every possible argument for or against alternative medicine dozens of times.

In a nutshell, I am not someone who judges alternative medicine from the outside; I come from within the field. Arguably, I am the only researcher in this area who is willing [or capable?] to state publicly what is wrong with alternative medicine. This is perhaps one of the advantages of being an emeritus professor!

People who have criticised this or that alternative therapy without first-hand experience of it have always been dismissed by believers as ill-informed; the argument usually is “this guy does not know what he is talking about”. Thus criticism from the outside was hardly ever taken seriously by those who needed it most. Yet it would be difficult to dismiss my arguments on such grounds: I can demonstrate that I have first-hand experience and know what I am talking about. I am clearly not an outsider.“

Zum Weiterlesen:

• A New Blog On Alternative Medicine: Why?, EdzardErnst.com am 14. Oktober 2012
• Gegen das Übermaß das Unsinns ist jeder Streiter notwendig, Der Nesselsetzer am 18. Oktober 2012
• Öffentlichkeitsarbeit? Pfui! naklar.at am 11. Juli 2012
• Steht im Internet nur Unsinn? Und wenn ja, was kann man dagegen tun? Astrodicticum simplex am 15. Oktober 2012
• Riesenhunde und „missing links“: Wissenschaftsjournalismus vor 70 Jahren, Hier wohnen Drachen am 20. Oktober 2012
• Zwei Jahre „Evidenz-basierte Ansichten“, Evidenz-basierte Ansichten am 12. Oktober 2012
• Wissenschaftskommunikation kommunizieren, mal wieder, Erklär Fix am 19. Oktober 2012