An April 15, 2007 article by Paul Tosto quoted ACSH Advisor Stephen Barrett and ACSH's Todd Seavey reacting to Minneapolis Community and Technical College courses on shamanism:
Critics call the plan nothing more than specious medical training dressed up as cultural studies.
"This is no more valid than a degree in astrology," said Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist who operates the Web site Quackwatch.org. "Do you want to be known as the school that gives diplomas in astrology?"...
Asked to review the shamanic studies documents, Barrett concluded, "They're going to be teaching nonsense." Of the "Introduction to Energy Medicine" course title, Barrett said, "Energy medicine is a fraud. If they're not going to teach that energy medicine is a delusion, [the class] is a fraud."
The proposal talks about respecting all people and traditions, he said, but "there are a lot of people that don't respect the idea that supernatural forces can be used to alter health outcomes."
Todd Seavey, an editor at the American Council on Science and Health, said most people "tend to think all this stuff is harmless as long as it's kept pleasingly vague, but it's worth asking what price we quietly pay in the form of people who don't seek proper medical care because they think shamanic rituals, or psychics, or quartz crystals, or what have you, can cure their ills."
The council runs HealthFactsAndFears.com, which casts a skeptical eye on many medical claims.
See also: Seavey on "Alternative Medicine: The Healers, the Hopeful, and the Dingbats."
