A Conservative MP has claimed that the NHS should treat patients with astrology to “help take the huge pressure of doctors”.
Despite astrology falling out of favour during the enlightenment, David Tredinnick appears to have missed the last 200 years of scientific development.
In an interview with the Astrological Journal, the Bosworth MP, who depressingly sits on the Health Select Committee and the Science and Technology Select Committee, said:
“There would be a huge row over resources.
“However, I do believe that astrology and complementary medicine would help take the huge pressure off doctors.
“Ninety per cent of pregnant French women use homeopathy.
“Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart.
“And, yes, I have helped fellow MPs. I do foresee that one day astrology will have a role to play in healthcare.”
He went on to argue that those that dismiss astrology’s supposed benefits are “bullies” and criticised the BBC for promoting science over the pseudoscience. He continued:
“The opposition (to astrology) is based on what I call the SIP formula – superstition, ignorance, and prejudice.
“It tends to be based on superstition, with scientists reacting emotionally, which is always a great irony.
“They are also ignorant, because they never study the subject and just say that it is all to do with what appears in the newspapers, which it is not, and they are deeply prejudiced, and racially prejudiced, which is troubling.”
Tredinnick’s failure to appreciate the basic tenets of scientific belief has resulted in widespread derision online: