Author profile
H.C. George Wong, MD, FRCPC
Many people consider complementary and alternative medicine to be safe and to have no side effects. A recent visit to a pharmacy in Hong Kong revealed the sale of such a preparation—Kam’s Antirheumatic, a combination of... Read More
Health Canada intermittently issues advisories with a warning or stop-sale order on harmful complementary and alternative medicines. Homeopathic medicine is supposed to be safe to use because of its extreme dilution.... Read More
The well-written case report on ephedra-exacerbated psychosis by Drs Bates and MacEwan [BCMJ 2012;54:465-467] provides another example of an adverse reaction to ephedra/ephedrine. On 4 June 1997 the US Food and... Read More
I am pleased that Dr Malthouse took interest in my letter on homeopathic medicine. The safety of homeopathic medicines should be expected because of their extreme dilutions. In regard to aconite tincture, homeopathic... Read More
The pharmacies in London, UK, and Singapore carry homeopathic medicine including arsenic and aconite. Each preparation has a statement of “A homeopathic medical product without approved therapeutic indications.” In... Read More
Several years ago, BCMJ published an interesting article entitled “Snake oil revisited: For doctors’ eyes only.”[1] It resulted in several responses including one from the executives of the... Read More
In December 2008, the BC government announced its intention to increase the scopes of practice of naturopaths and some other health professions. In 2009, it legislated the inclusion of prescribing privileges of... Read More
Last year, CTV News reported, “Health Canada says an unauthorized health product called West Pharm Therma Lean Fat Burma Engergizer has been found on the Canadian market that contains both ephedrine and caffeine, which... Read More
I agree with the concern about antibiotic use in our livestock expressed in Dr Bill Mackie’s COHP column [BCMJ 2010;52:309]. In addition to the problem of antibiotic-resistant organisms, there is a potential of... Read More
I agree with the concern about antibiotic use in our livestock expressed in Dr Bill Mackie’s COHP column [BCMJ 2010;52:309]. In addition to the problem of antibiotic-resistant organisms, there is a potential of... Read More