Last week, President Trump proposed using internal light to treat COVID-19. Partisans defended him by pointing to Healight, an experimental device to do just that. It didn’t help.
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
Last week, President Trump proposed using internal light to treat COVID-19. Partisans defended him by pointing to Healight, an experimental device to do just that. It didn’t help.
Last night, President Trump remarked about somehow getting disinfectants or light “inside” the body could kill coronavirus. Hilarity ensued, but his inadvertent promotion of COVID-19 quackery is deadly serious.
Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV, the virus causing AIDS, went further down the rabbit hole of pseudoscience, embracing the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, was made in a lab.
For some reason, Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil have decided to bolster Fox News’ COVID-19 denial and disinformation by adding to its whataboutism and false dilemmas. Oprah Winfrey has a lot to answer for.
Didier Raoult is the French “brave maverick doctor” who’s been promoting hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat COVID-19. Like all true cranks, he’s now lashing out at critics as the science trends towards the conclusion that his treatment doesn’t work.