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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics

A canary in the coal mine? Or a bird pining for the fjords?

Why is it that so many bloggable items tend to pop up right before holidays? Whatever the reason, whether my perception that this is the case is accurate or simply the result of confirmation bias on my part, last Friday a little tidbit of popped up that seriously tempted me to blog about it. But […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Surgery

Naturopathy invades the heartland

Many are the times I’ve referred to homeopathy as The One Quackery To Rule Them All. Because homeopathic remedies diluted greater than 12 C (12 serial hundred-fold dilutions) have been diluted more than Avagadro’s number, they are incredibly unlikely to have even a single molecule of starting compound in them. That makes them water. Given […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Autism One: The yearly anti-vaccine quackfest begins

It’s that time of year again! No, I’m not referring to the unofficial start of summer here in the U.S., namely the Memorial Day holiday, although that is fast approaching. In fact, it’s only five days away. No, I’m referring to something that, beginning today, will blight my favorite metro area (Chicago) for the next […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Dr. Andrew Weil versus evidence-based medicine

Let’s face it, Dr. Andrew Weil is a rock star in the “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) and “integrative medicine” (IM) movement. He is one of its founders, at least a founder of the its most modern iteration, and I am hard-pressed to think of anyone who did more in the early days of the […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

More quack ads on ScienceBlogs

I get it. Seriously, I really do. Advertising is a deal with the devil. I understand that and have come to accept it–to a point. For example, I can (sort of) tolerate ads for Cancer Treatment Centers of America showing up on ScienceBlogs; I even understand that outside of those of us who promote science-based […]