10^th European Skeptics Congress
____________________________________________________________





ABSTRACTS
&
PROGRAMME




Praha, Czech Republic
September 7 - 9, 2001




the Congress of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) organised by the Czech Skeptics Club SISYFOS
under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic



Published by

ICARIS Ltd.
Conference Management
Nám. Dr. Holého 8, 180 00 Praha 8
Czech Republic

Phone: +420.2. 684 4304, Fax: +420.2. 6631 2113, E-mail: icaris@icaris.cz



CONTENTS

Welcome Address of the Honorary President of

the Czech Academy of Sciences R.Zahradník......... 1

Reflections on CSICOP at 25^th Anniversary
B.Karr........................................................................ 3

I. Paranormal Scene in Europe ................................ 5

II. Alternative Medicine......................................... 17

III. Miscellanea........................................................ 39

Programme .............................................................. 55

Author Index ............................................................ 57

I. PARANORMAL SCENE IN EUROPE

Friday, 7^th Septemer, 2001
14:30 - 17:00



Oral presentations:

De Jager C. - Delightful Delusions;The Wisdom of Folly
Kruglyakov E. P. - Pseudoscience in Russia Yesterday and Today
Kutuzova N. A. - The New Paranormal Situation in Belarus
Mornstein V. - Czech "Researchers of Paranormal" before and after 1989
Sarma A. - Dealing with Paranormal Claims – 15 Years of Skeptical
Experience

II. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Saturday, 8^th September 2001
10:00 - 12:30
14:00 - 17:30


Oral presentations:

Betz W. - Quality Assurance in Medicine: How To Circumvent the Rules
Beyerstein B. - Why Do Bogus Medical Therapies Seem To Work?
Burkhard B. - Alternative Medicine in Germany. Trends, Facts and Health
Policy
Drenth P. J. D. - Para-science and pseudo-science in psychology (summary)
Gunther J. - A high-tech Dowsing Device as Alternative Medicine Tool
Heřt J. - Sisyfos and Alternative Medicine
Inam A. - How is Philosopho-therapy Possible?
Lemež P. - Big Boom of Healing Practices in Oncology in Czech Republic
during Last Decade
Natchev C. - Growth of alternative medicine in Eastern Europe - why now?
Renckens C. N. M. - Theory and Practice of Quackbusting: the Dutch
Experince

III. MISCELLANEA

Sunday, 9^th Septemer, 2001
9:30 - 15:00


Oral presentations:

Beck M. - Bad Science and Parasciences are Social Constructions
De Jager C. - Myths and Facts about the Origin of the Universe
Grygar J. - The UFO Phenomenon
Karr B. - Reflections on SCICOP at 25 Anniversary
Nienhuys J.W. - Morfogenesis and Crystals
Singer F. - Global Warming and Other Myths
Trachet T. - Historical Enigmas
Weber G.-R. - Possible Causes of Climate Warming in Europe during the
Last Decades
Zahradil J - Arrogance of Blind Faith

Poster presentation:

P. Vachtl - Irrationality and Misinformation in Contemporary Electronic
Media  (czech version)