Everyone’s favorite quack Joe Mercola is ranting about Google. It’s not surprising, given how Google has apparently deprioritized content from quack websites..
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]
Everyone’s favorite quack Joe Mercola is ranting about Google. It’s not surprising, given how Google has apparently deprioritized content from quack websites..
A fairly frequent topic on Science-Based Medicine is the issue of for-profit stem cell clinics selling unsupported stem cell-based treatments with little or no evidence to support them for huge amounts of money. I make no bones about it. In my estimation, every for-profit stem cell clinic is a quack clinic bilking patients with promises […]
The Washington Post reported that Bernard and Lisa Selz have donated heavily to antivaccine causes. Will naming and shaming stop them? The Daily Beast reported that Albert Dwoskin is distancing himself from his ex-wife’s antivaccine foundation; so there’s hope.
When it comes to pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, quackery, and antivaccine nonsense, remember that, very frequently, it’s all about the grift. Even when it’s not, the grift inevitably takes over.
There is a tension inherent in the drug approval process between the desire to approve new drugs rapidly in order to treat suffering people and the need to be cautious, to make sure that new drugs are safe and effective before they are approved for sale. This weighing of the risks of too-rapid approval of […]