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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The quackery that is "naturopathic oncology"

With a bill to license naturopaths (HB 4531) wending its way through the Michigan legislature supported by supplement manufacturers, its current status being in consideration by the full House of Representatives, periodically I feel the need to provide ammunition to the bill’s opponents, because we need to protect the patients in the state of Michigan […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Andrew Wakefield claims “natural Herd Immunity” is better than anything vaccines can do, never mind all that suffering

Andrew Wakefield, his claims to the contrary, is antivaccine to the core. To be honest, I’m not sure if he was always antivaccine. After all, around 20 years ago when he was doing his “research” into whether the MMR vaccine causes autism, he was being generously funded by a barrister seeking to sue vaccine manufacturers […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Tai Chi for osteoarthritis: How exercise is “rebranded” as complementary and alternative medicine

“Complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more frequently referred to as “integrative medicine” by its proponents, consists of a hodge-podge of largely unrelated treatments that range from seemingly reasonable (e.g., diet and exercise) to pure quackery (e.g., acupuncture, reiki and other “energy medicine”) that CAM proponents are trying furiously to “integrate” as coequals into science-based […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Yet another woman with breast cancer lured into quackery by Ty Bollinger and “holistic” medicine advocates

To say that I, as a cancer surgeon, am not a fan of Ty Bollinger is a massive understatement. He’s not exactly one of my fans, either, but I view the hatred of a man like Bollinger directed at me as a badge of honor. Indeed, if a man like Bollinger didn’t detest me, I […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Gluten-free ≠ healthier

One of the more annoying health crazes going around right now is the gluten-free diet. While it’s a boon to the very small proportion of the population who have real celiac disease and thus truly cannot tolerate gluten, at the same time gluten has become the health demon that is touted as the cause of […]