Article Analysis Assignment
Name:
Student #:
Course Name and #:
Professor’s Name:
Dept. Name and Location: Philosophy, S 448 Ross
Section Letter and Article Title:
Step 1 Main Conclusion and Justification
Conclusion: Sugar pills are not effective in treating communicable diseases.
Justification: The main discussion of the article is about the effectiveness of most drugs consumed as medicines in Canada. The article refutes most of them as lacking credible evidence and endorsing professionals without researching to establish if the medicine is safe for the human body. It is the primary justification because all the focus is centered on the disadvantages of the vaccines and how the public has been made to believe they are safe.
The main focus is that most drugs administered by healthcare professionals in Canada are not effective and cause more effects in the body, especially among lactating mothers and young children. The article concludes that modern anti-vaccines are harmful to the human body and that the general public should consider other alternatives such as the vaccines coordinated by Bill Gates and other organizations.
Step 2 Argument Structure
Paragraph Summary
Most of the remedies used to treat people in Canada are dubious and lack the backing of substantive evidence.
Canada’s department of health is failing in their roles of ensuring that the medicine stocked in pharmacies is tested and authentic.
The most affected population is the communicable disease victims whom homeopaths recommended to take sugar pills that are not safe.
The Canadian homeopaths are risking the lives of members of society because the vice is not corrected in advance.
According to an expose by a consumer affairs show called “CBC Marketplace, “homeopaths were captured on camera misadvising people about the real vaccines and taking advantage of their illiteracy to sell sugar pills.
The alternative remedies were introduced in the market as replicas of herbal medicine, to win the trust of the unsuspecting parents. They are described and natural and gentle, yet they do not contain any medicinal value.
Parents have trust with healthcare providers, so they easily fall prey to their tricks and purchase dubious remedies.
Among other stakeholders in the health sector, the department of health is responsible for the mistakes that happen and the resultant effects such as deaths and poor health among the consumers.
Argument Map
Argument Legend
- Before coming into the conclusion that alternative medicines cause diseases and whether herbalism is an example of alternative medicine, we should determine whether sugar pills are forms of fake medicine.
P1: “Canadian homeopaths are putting the most vulnerable in society at risk by selling sugar pills to consumers while telling them that they are getting protection from communicable diseases.” (P1)
P3: A nosode is defined as a remedy that starts from an element that can infect people such as measles, polio, or smallpox and is diluted with large amounts of water until there is no content left apart from water. After investigations by the CBC, homeopaths were found to be selling these diluted remedies as vaccine substitutes. There were efforts by another lobby group called Bad Science Watch, that also launched investigations and ran a successful campaign against the nosodes.
P4: “But it (Health Canada) realized that homeopathy could never meet conventional scientific standards of evidence.”
P2: “Health Canada was required to collect and evaluate some evidence of effectiveness for each product. It was responsible for regulating.”
P5: Following recommendations by Bad Science Watch, Health Canada introduced regulations requiring manufacturers to indicate in their products, “This product is not intended to be an alternative to vaccination.”
Step 3 Premise Analysis
- a) Glaring Insufficiencies
The findings in the article are factual and reliable. All the investigations done by lobby groups were aimed at establishing the fact about the effectiveness of sugar pills and other alternatives remedies as medicines for curing communicable diseases. The author is determined to prove wrong homeopaths who secretly misguide parents and divert their attention from real medicines to diluted nosodes. In as much as the nosodes can cure, they are not prepared well since the health practitioners are concerned about making profits. The article has concluded the dangers of nosodes as possible causes of diseases, that should never be used as a treatment, and that all homeopaths are liars.
- b) Glaring Irrelevancies
The argument formed in quoting the years, statistics, and numbers are empirical and reliable. The article uses statistics to show facts because one can go and do the fact-finding. For instance, the author says that Health Canada has approved 82 homeopathic nosodes for sale over the years. Anyone interested in conforming to the truth can check in the Canadian archives to see if the nosodes were approved for sale. The important message is that sugar pills and nosodes are fake and ineffective. The campaign against the dubious vaccine substitutes is objective and not targeting one individual or organization. Instead, all medicines should be tested before coming to the market.
- c) Premise Acceptability
P1: “Canadian homeopaths are putting the most vulnerable in society at risk by selling sugar pills to consumers while telling them that they are getting protection from communicable diseases.” (P1) Homeopaths are taking advantage of people who lack enough knowledge about vaccines and prescribe ineffective forms of medicine.
P3: A nosode is defined as a remedy that starts from an element that can infect people such as measles, polio, or smallpox and is diluted with large amounts of water until there is no content left apart from water. After investigations by the CBC, homeopaths were found to be selling these diluted remedies as vaccine substitutes. There were efforts by another lobby group called Bad Science Watch, that also launched investigations and ran a successful campaign against the nosodes.
P4: “But it (Health Canada) realized that homeopathy could never meet conventional scientific standards of evidence.” The remaining solution was to abolish homeopathy to allow nurses, physicians, and pharmacists to lead healthcare activities.
P2: “Health Canada was required to collect and evaluate some sort of evidence of effectiveness for each product. It was responsible for regulating.” The silence of Health Canada gives homeopaths a chance to grow the greed and operate without fear of regulations. The body needed to come with strategies that help every person get treated well.
P5: Following recommendations by Bad Science Watch, Health Canada introduced regulations requiring manufacturers to indicate in their products, “This product is not intended to be an alternative to vaccination.” The mark will be a warning to every consumer that they do not consume it as a vaccination.
Step 4 Fallacies
There are two types of fallacies in the article;
The fallacy of Hypostatization, which states that “Anti-vaccine sentiments are ugly, and it even uglier when there is a profit motive behind it.” The author introduces the word “ugly” to add a human feature to the statement and bring in a sense of ambiguity.
The fallacy of equivocation, where the author used the word “dilute” in two different contexts. He referred the regulators as diluting the standards the same way the homeopaths diluted their dubious remedies.
Step 5 Main Conceptual Questions
There are three main conceptual questions in the article;
- Does the vaccine substitutes cause diseases?
The conceptual question is relevant to the article because the author has led us to conclude that the single most essential reasons vaccines are dropping are the introduction of vaccine substitutes. Therefore, I am interested in finding whether medicine’s alternatives are the source of diseases and which other factors contribute to the infections.
- Is the use of sugar pills a form of dubious medication?
The answer, Yes. Since the question is relevant to the article and close to the main arguments in the paper, the author’s main argument is that homeopaths are using sugar pills to lie, unsuspecting parents, that it will protect their children against communicable diseases. Despite the lack of scientific medicine, most people have used pills to heal their children. Thus, my main conceptual question is, “is sugar pills a fake medicine?”
- Is herbalism a fake medicine?
The article discusses a few details about herbalists. They have been treating people over the years successfully before the advent of laboratory medicine. They are even being relied on to date. Thus, my question about whether they are fake is real because the article compares their medicine with the dubious alternatives by homeopaths but does not associate them with the spread of fake medicines.
Step 6 Brief Conceptual Analysis
One a) Model Case
David is a 20-yeah old adolescent boy in college. He loves reading and watching movies. He had been struggling with eye problems for a while. He decided to visit the eye clinic for check-up and treatment. He informed his parents that he was accompanied by his girlfriend when he was going to collect the results. Unfortunately, he did not find his favorite doctor in the clinic; all he was new faces. Students on internship had replaced some doctors who were on leave-break. He was given some drugs which he used for three months. As time went by, the condition of his eyes was worsening. When he wants to complain back in the clinic, he was told that he had been using the wrong medicine and had caused permanent damage to his eyes. He lost hope, but his sight was never the same again.
Two a) Contrary case.
Samuel grew up with dreams of becoming a doctor. Unfortunately, he died when he was ten leaving him under his mother, who had low income. Things were hard for him because he thought that he could not make it. Due to his exemplary performance, he was a scholarship to India to study hos favorite course. He took medicine, and he is one of the most renowned doctors in the country.
Three a)
Diana wanted to become a nurse because she suffered under the hand of other nurses. While growing up, she was taken to hospital but encountered lazy and rude nurses who left her at the sickbay for four hours. She was so upset that she vowed to change the story about how she will treat other people in the future. Her desire to bring change led hear to fulfilling a dream she never thought before.
4 a) RC and RCQ
RC: Religion
RCQ: Can religion be used to cure or prevent communicable diseases?
Five a)
Imagine living in a world where a person heals according to their faith in religion. For example, when a child contracts a communicable disease, the parents do not have to take them to the hospital and maybe get the wrong medication. Instead, they take the victims to televangelists and church leaders for spiritual nourishment and healing.
Six a)
In some cases, it depends on the state of mind. Before the investigations, people used to believe in the vaccine substitutes, and the effects are not so high. A significant number of people healed from the belief that what homeopaths gave them was the correct medicine. Sometimes people need to believe that all diseases are curable; otherwise, they end up feeling sick when they have perceived fears.
Seven a) Diseases can be caused by emotional feelings such as stress or depression. Depressed people experience many thoughts until they end up feeling lonely and desperate. In that state, they can lose interest in the things around them and even doubt God. They end up experiencing disease symptoms.
Eight a) Movies: There is a need to have more documentaries and movies portraying the dangers of consuming fake medicine. People derive lessons from what they can see, and thus movies would be better for them. The society would learn the risks associated with consuming every available medication without questioning the effectiveness and evidence.
9 b) The media should investigate and report more cases of homeopaths suspected of advancing fake medicines to endanger people’s lives. The suspected cases should be published to raise awareness of the general public and scare aspiring homeopaths.
Step 7 Key Concept List
Evidence:
Disease
Nosode
Step 8 Key Concept Analysis
- Evidence:
The author uses the term in a different context to portray different meanings. He does not, however, establish his farm stand on the matter. For instance, the author talks about the importance of evidence, however, de-credits some by saying Health Canada “… allows citations about homeopathy from texts that date back to the 1800s as evidence.” He wanted to show how the department relies on old information, which maybe is not up to date.
- Vaccines
The term vaccine in the article only refers to vaccines that are mandatory by the government or recommended by them. The author focuses on the modern forms of medicine that are being manufactured by greedy people. They do not give vaccines a negative outlook, which some fall in the category. “Vaccines are one of the most remarkable health interventions ever developed.”
Nosode: This word is clearly defined for the readers because the definition is explicitly given in the piece. “A “nosode” is a remedy that starts with infectious material, like polio, measles, or smallpox, and then it is diluted sequentially until mathematically, there is nothing left but water.”
Step 9 Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Main conclusion
- Argument structure
- Key concepts
- Glaring insufficiencies
- Glaring irrelevancies
- Premise acceptability
- Fallacies
- Conclusion
Essay
I am analyzing an article written by Scott Gavura, titled “Unrepentant Homeopaths.” In the article, the author reveals the evils committed by homeopaths in Canada while administering drugs to patients of communicable diseases. The state of health care in Canada is worse than in other countries because the people entrusted by the public to treat them have decided to engage in profit business while risking the lives of the people. The consumers of vaccines have been led to believe that sugar pills treat communicable diseases. Due to the many complaints about the crooked practice of most homeopaths, some provinces were resorting to terminate them from practicing as health professionals like nurses and physicians.
The article blames homeopaths for not disclosing the facts about the alternative medicines they have introduced in the market, to continue taking advantage of a lack of information among the parents. When are patient visits the health care provider, they are discouraged from using the recommended vaccines? They are put in the state of dilemma before the homeopaths pitch about their dubious substitutes that are mostly meant after diluting an infectious material to get nothing more or less of pure water. The homeopaths then lie to the public to use the alternatives when they know the effects. They are driven by the desire to gain profit rather than service delivery. The suspicion about the operations of the homeopaths and other manufacturers who have stocked medicines without scientific evidence led to investigations by health stakeholders and advocacy groups.
Health Canada allowed medical samples in the market without testing their effectiveness, yet they declared them safe and effective. Most people ended up purchasing sugar pills because they believed that the regulator had certified them. These have led to more treatments in the country that are not supported by scientific evidence. Health Canada relies on outdated information from books that date back to 1800. The old books used as evidence do not contain sufficient information, although they have facts that can help with basic knowledge. However, the author refers to the books as old to portray them as outdated and lacking facts that can guide research. These old texts are used as reference materials for most of the researches that are done today. The debate about the vaccines has had severe effects on the population that is meant to benefit from immunization. Some parents responded by ignoring the calls by health Canada to immunize all children; thus, around forty percent of school children are not vaccinated. Campaigns have been initiated to investigate the homeopaths and expel them from practicing as health professionals in Canada. They are doing more harm than good in society.
The author portrays a lack of credibility and objectiveness when he blames only the homeopaths for the declining rate of the vaccine rates. He leads readers to the premature conclusion that public health advocates and health professionals should be prepared to recognize and solve the perceived antagonism against vaccines that are spread by homeopaths. The writer did not explore more options such as allergies as well as vaccines, causing health issues. The article further violates equivocation. The author uses terms that can have more than one meaning, primarily when representing objects. In the article, these terms are used in other contexts to add ambiguity, such as the words “ugly” and “diluted.” The fallacy of ascent in “fake vaccines” adds an unclear tone. There is no clear meaning of what the author meant by fake vaccines because he could have used alternatives such as unapproved vaccine substitutes. The article concludes that the unapproved vaccine substitutes are harmful, and the public should be aware of the effects. Health Canada should ban its use in the country.