Dana Ullman

Dana Ullman
Born	Gregory Dana Ullman December 22, 1951(1951-12-22) Hollywood, California, USA
Nationality	United States of America
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Citizenship	United States of America
Education	MPH, University of California, Berkeley
Alma mater	University of California at Berkeley
Occupation	Instructor
Known for	Promotion of homeopathy and integrative medicine, alternative medicine
Website
http://www.homeopathic.com

Gregory Dana Ullman (born December 22, 1951) is an American author, publisher, journalist, and proponent in the field of homeopathy.

Ullman received his MPH from the University of California at Berkeley, and has since taught homeopathy and integrative health care.^[1] Ullman served as an instructor in homeopathy at the University of California at San Francisco, and as member of the Advisory Council of the Alternative Medicine Center at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.^[2] In previous years he has been the chairperson for the National Center for Homeopathy's Annual Conference,^[3] and has been consulted by Harvard Medical School's Center to Assess Alternative Therapy for Chronic Illness.^[4] He is also a regular speaker at universities, medical schools, pharmacy schools, and hospitals.^[4]

Journalist John Stossel of ABC News described Ullman as "homeopathy's foremost spokesman."^[5] Anastasia Toufexis of Time Magazine described him as a "leading proselytizer of homeopathy".^[6]

Views and controversies

See also: Water memory

Ullman was interviewed on the American Broadcasting Company program 20/20 in a segment about homeopathy (January 30, 2004).^[5] He claimed that homeopathic preparations of extremely high dilution, i.e. those likely to contain zero molecules of the original substance, are effective because, he said, "the water gets impregnated with the information or memory of the original substance."^[5] When asked to suggest a laboratory experiment that 20/20 could independently conduct as a way to test the legitimacy of homeopathy, Ullman recommended the Ennis experiment, a study that seemed to show that ultra-dilute solutions of histamine, diluted to the levels used in homeopathic remedies, could affect cells just as the controls did.^[7][8][9] The result of 20/20's experiment was negative; the homeopathic dilution failed to produce a measurable effect when compared to plain water.^[5] Ullman has claimed the test was flawed as it was not a direct replication of Ennis' work.^[10][11] However, this experiment and one run by the BBC were ruled to be valid by independent experts commissioned by the BBC.^[12]

In an editorial in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology,^[13] editor-in-chief Gerald Weissmann criticized the scientific basis of homeopathy and included Dana Ullman in his criticism. Weissmann criticized Ullman for recommending, during the 2001 anthrax attacks in the USA, the use of the homeopathic preparation called Anthracinum to prevent infection.^[14] Ullman said he recommended Anthracinium for people who are at high risk of infection and who decline ciprofloxacin because of concerns over its side effects. While Ullman expressed concern about vendors "taking advantage of people wrapped up in the fear of the situation", he said "It would be irresponsible for us not to provide something that might be helpful."^{[14][dead link]} There is no evidence for the efficacy of Anthracinum, which is derived from nosodes gathered from infected pigs, and then diluted to "a point where no molecules of the disease product remain."^{[14][dead link][13]} In a right-of-reply letter, Ullman depicted Weissmann's editorial as an "unscientific critique" of homeopathy and cited five peer-reviewed studies.^[15] Weissmann responded: "Mr. Ullman is clearly a devotee of his art, and I respect his opinions. I’m afraid that I view Mr. Ullman’s references to the efficacy of homeopathy as modern versions of those Dr Holmes distrusted," and went on to quote from a well-known critique of homeopathy by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.: "...such cases deserve very little confidence. Yet they may sound well enough, one at a time, to those who are not fully aware of the fallacies of medical evidence."^[16][17]

Criticism of medical doctors

Regarding the treatment of children with pharmaceutical drugs and homeopathic remedies, Ullman has accused doctors of "medical" child abuse, saying:

"It deeply saddens me that so many parents and doctors give powerful drugs to infants and children. They unknowingly are committing what I call 'medical child abuse.' Although these may be harsh words today, I believe that history will show them to be accurate."^[18]

Ullman published an article on a similar theme on his website, in which he says:

"The care that conventional physicians offer is often valuable, but powerful and multiple drugs are dispensed far too frequently by too many doctors without an effort to try safer, more natural therapies. This over-prescribing is a type of "medical child abuse" that is a sad state of affairs, especially since the average doctor doesn't even recognize it as a problem. It seems prudent to save the "bigger guns" of pharmacology for the more serious conditions that warrant their use. ... This kind of overprescribing is sometimes the result of inadequate knowledge of recent research. It also sometimes occurs because a doctor feels compelled to prescribe something for a sick child. Doctors often assume that the medicine, even if not certain to be effective, will at least have a beneficial placebo effect. However, considering the potential side effects from nearly every drug, it seems more prudent to consider more mild placebos or safer medicines, such as homeopathic remedies."^[19]

Bibliography

• Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines (with Stephen Cummings, MD), 1984, 2004. ISBN 0-87477-843-3.
• Discovering Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century, 1991. ISBN 1-55643-108-2
• Homeopathic Medicines for Children and Infants, 1992. ISBN 0-87477-692-9
• The Consumer's Guide to Homeopathy, 1995. ISBN 0-87477-813-1
• The Steps to Healing: Wisdom from the Sages, the Rosemarys, & the Times, 1999. ISBN 1-56170-657-4.
• Essential Homeopathy, 2002. ISBN 1-57731-206-6
• The One-Minute (or so) Healer, 2004. ISBN 1-55643-494-4
• The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, October, 2007. ISBN 1-55643-671-0

Other writings

Ullman's letters and writings have appeared in The Western Journal of Medicine, Social Policy, Utne Reader, The Futurist, The Arthritis Foundation's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Atlanta: Arthritis Foundation, (J. Horstman) 1999 and The Reader's Digest Family Guide to Natural Medicine.^[3]

References

1. ^ California Alumni Association (1999-02). "Q&A with Dana Ullman". Alumni Magazine. University of California Berkeley's California Alumni Association. http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/Alumni/Cal_Monthly/February_1999/QA_with_Dana_Ullman.asp. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
2. ^ "Dana Ullman, - Healthworld Online - HealthWorld Online, HealthWorld Online - Natural health and Alternative medicine information, products and services.". http://www.healthy.net/scr/bio.asp?Id=55. Retrieved 2008-01-25. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Homeopathic Educational Services - Dana Ullman, M.P.H.". http://www.homeopathic.com/main/bio_dana.jsp. Retrieved 2008-01-26. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Penguin Group USA. "About Dana Ullman". http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000040566,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-24. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Stossel, John (2008). "Homeopathic Remedies - Can Water Really Remember?". 20/20 (ABC News). http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=124309. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
6. ^ Toufexis, Anastasia (1995-09-25). "Is Homeopathy Good Medicine?". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983466,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
7. ^ "13 Things That Do Not Make Sense". New Scientist (2491): 30. 2005-03-19. http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg18524911.600-13-things-that-do-not-make-sense.html. Retrieved 2007-03-04. "4. Belfast Homeopathy Results" 
8. ^ ""We are unable to explain our findings and are reporting them to encourage others to investigate this phenomenon." Brown, VG; Ennis, M. (2001). "Flow-cytometric analysis of basophil activation: inhibition by histamine at convential and homeopathic concentrations". Inflammation Research (50): 47–48. 
9. ^ Belon, M.; Cumps J, Ennis M, Mannaioni PF, Sainte-Laudy J, Roberfroid M, Wiegant FAC. (1999). "Inhibition of human basophil degranulation by successive histamine dilutions: results of a European multi-centre trial". Inflammation Research 48 (48): s17–s18. doi:10.1007/s000110050376. PMID 10350142. 
10. ^ Homeopathic Educational Services - John Stossel and 20/20's Program on Homeopathy: Junk Science Creates Junk Journalism When TV Science Creates Science Fiction
11. ^ Homeopathic Educational Services - Articles - Media reports
12. ^ Williams, Nathan (2003-11-26). "Homeopathy: The test". http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathytrans.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "Homeopathy is back where it started without any credible scientific explanation. That won't stop millions of people putting their faith in it, but science is confident. Homeopathy is impossible." 
13. ^ ^{a b} Weissmann, Gerald (2006). "Homeopathy: Holmes, Hogwarts, and the Prince of Wales". The FASEB Journal. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/reprint/20/11/1755. Retrieved 2008-05-21. 
14. ^ ^{a b c} Garsombke, Kate (2001-10-29). "Alternative Remedies for Anthrax". AlterNet. http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/11814. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
15. ^ Ullman, Dana (2006). "Let’s have a serious discussion of nanopharmacology and homeopathy". The FASEB Journal. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/20/14/2661. 
16. ^ Weissmann, Gerald (2006). "Response to: Let’s have a serious discussion of nanopharmacology and homeopathy". The FASEB Journal. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/fasebj;20/14/2662. 
17. ^ Holmes, O. H. (1892) "Homeopathy and Its Kindred Delusions." at Quackwatch. retrieved 2008-02-07.
18. ^ Lewis, Elaine (2005-04). "An Interview with DANA ULLMAN, MPH: Treating Children with Homeopathic Medicines". http://www.hpathy.com/interviews/danaullman2.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-04. "It deeply saddens me that so many parents and doctors give powerful drugs to infants and children. They unknowingly are committing what I call 'medical child abuse.' Although these may be harsh words today, I believe that history will show them to be accurate." 
19. ^ Ullman, Dana (2005). "Homeopathic Medicines for Children: Small Wonders for Our Small Wonders". http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/view,83. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 

External links

• Dana Ullman's Web site

Persondata
Name	Ullman, Dana
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1951-12-22
Place of birth	Hollywood, California, USA
Date of death
Place of death