Thousands of years of practice...

... can still be bullshit.

Or rather cow dung.

Whenever angry doc reads or hears an argument advocating a health practice based on its antiquity and popularity, he is reminded of the practice of applying cow dung onto the umbilical stumps of newborn babies.

You wouldn't think of doing something like that, but many people do exactly that.

(see here, here, and here)

They might argue that 'millions of women in Africa can't be wrong!', 'they've been doing it for generations - don't you think they would have stopped if it was not working?', 'cow dung is all-natural, how can it be bad?', and 'you western medicine people don't understand the virtues of cow dung'.

Are you convinced by any of those arguments?

Should you be?

It's a big problem. Or rather it was - progress has been made in reducing neonatal tetanus deaths.

The fact is, that just because a practice is old, traditional, is observed by millions of people and has a spiritual aspect to it does not mean that the practice is good, or indeed harmless.

So next time someone tries the same old flawed arguments on you, tell them: cow dung.

Have a good weekend.