Magic Mushroom Medicine — Our very own herbology Professor spruiks TCM

Eating out in Hong Kong’s current lockdown. It’s welfare theatre
There’s no benefit from dividers; it’s probably better to have none

Chinese medicine had its advantages in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of Covid-19 patients, with the government to distribute about 1 million boxes of such items to residents. [From here] ~ Pomona Sprout – Hogwarts Herbology professor and Head of Hufflepuff House

Actually, no, it’s not Pomona Sprout saying that. It’s our very own Sophia Chan Siu-chee, and she’s not our minister of magic mushrooms, but our Secretary for Food and Health . Rather sounding like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Herbology professor, though, don’t you think?

 Note the huge claim: not just that TCM will help rehabilitate those sick with the disease (where we can expect a strong placebo effect), but that TCM is also good for prevention and treatment! That’s what Pfizer, Moderna et al, just spent billions on, with their vaccines. Who knew? That you could have just taken some Chinese herbs instead?!

I note that she’s a super “patriot”, thinks it’s just dandy that we supressed the pro-democracy movement, had the National Security Law foisted on us, so that only “patriots” can work for the government, and is ever ready with a sycophantic word for the mainland. She’s such a “patriot” that she follows the lead of our dear leader, Xi Jinping, who also promotes TCM. Like Mao before him, though, he promotes herbal medicine, but doesn’t actually use it himself. Good for thee but not for me.

I’d thought Chan was multi-crededentialled, but not really, most of her quals are pretty low-scale. No props there either. 

Here’s a summary of some of the issues in TCM. In short: there’s no science to it. 

The effectiveness of Chinese medicine remains poorly researched and supported, and most of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action.^[2][39]A Nature editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience".^[2] According to standards of science-based medicine, there is no scientific basis for traditional Chinese concepts such as qi, meridians, and acupuncture points.^[a] TCM theory and practice have no basis in modern science, and there is disagreement among TCM practitioners on what diagnosis and treatments should be used for any given person.^[8] Read on....

But really. Imagine! Our Secretary of Food and Health, is promoting this. Promoting quackery. Rather like South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki promoting herbal remedies for AIDS, isn’t it?

I’d love it if TCM worked. But it doesn’t. That’s the overwhelming consensus of Science. Q: what do you call Traditional Chinese Medicine that’s been purified and tested? A: Medicine.

But that science is not in the mind of our patriotic, magic-believing Secretary of Health!