Tuesday Topic, with Christine Rutter

ALTERNATIVE therapies often bring out the sceptic in us.

Medical experts and members of the clergy are wary of individuals who claim to cure sick people or animals by the laying-on of hands.

The reaction to homeopathic remedies is a little more restrained, although they are by no means universally accepted.

But scores of people across East Lancashire claim they or their pets have been cured of ailments where orthodox medicine has failed.

Former teacher Margaret Chadwick is set to stoke the fires of the debate after launching her own active healing ministry.

Most people are desperate when they turn to Margaret for alternative treatment. Orthodox medicine has not worked for them.

She uses homeopathic remedies, complemented with what she describes as psychic healing - the laying-on of hands.

It's a practice which has prompted concern and suspicion from some quarters .

But there are people who swear by Margaret and her methods.

The 54-year-old ex-teacher, of Stables Close, Rawtenstall, said: "I do it as a hobby. I just lay my hands close to the injured place and sometimes tell them to take more magnesium, something like that."

She has carried out over 500 treatments. Some people claim a single session with Margaret can clear their symptoms.

As well as healing humans for a hobby, Margaret claims to have cured animals. These include lame horses, parrots with chest problems, a rabbit with a sore nose, a pony with cancer, a snake who lost his appetite, a calf with diarrhoea.

She claims to eliminate energy blocks which cause ailments. These blocks, she says, are created by an individual's reaction to stress. She claims her herbal remedies and energy emissions through laying on of hands promote health and restore inner harmony.

Even she admits to having been sceptical at first about the laying-on of hands.

"I tried it and felt tingling but nothing else but over a period of time I began to channel my energy and it has worked so many times. One person can pick up energy from another."

A hot, tingling sensation has been reported by her patients.

Margaret claims to invoke a healing spirit to help her treat conditions from cancer to eczema. But such claims of healing powers draw criticism from some quarters.

The Rev Kevin Logan, of Christ Church, Accrington, said: "Healing is a recognised part of the Christian ministry but the spiritual power is attributed to God not the individual. "There is no natural healing power that medicine knows of. There are also frauds in this area and if someone believes in the power of a person, their subconscious will automatically respond in a positive way."

Martin Gabbutt, veterinary surgeon at Abbeydale Veterinary Centre, Preston New Road, Blackburn, said: "I think these treatments are disgusting. A lot of ailments can be diagnosed properly and given proper medical treatment. These treatments are amusing the patients while nature takes its course."

A spokesman for the British Veterinary Homeopathy Association said: "We use homeopathy as an alternative medicine in treating animals and there are 140 vets in the country who use it."

Dr Stephen Morton, of the East Lancashire Health Authority, said he did not know enough about alternative medicine to comment but said that some GPs referred patients to Mosley Hill Hospital, in Liverpool, which has a homeopathy department.

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