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Cancer Medicine

NBC News and false balance on whole body MRIs

A week ago, NBC News aired a story on whole body MRI scans. Although it did include the usual cautions about false positives and the harm they cause, the caution was diluted by the story’s focus a rare case of a woman who had a brain tumor detected. Overall, it was false balance that reminded me of vaccine/autism stories 20 years ago.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

Antivax quacks: It’s always (also) about the grifter and grift

When it comes to the behavior of antivax quacks, I like to say: Come for the quackery and ideology, stay for the grift. A Washington Post story this week confirms this characterization.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience

Cureus shockingly does the right thing and retracts an antivax review about COVID-19 vaccines

A misinformation-laden review article in Cureus by prominent antivax activists that called for a moratorium on COVID vaccination has been retracted. What took so long, and how could such a paper been published in the peer-reviewed literature in the first place?

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Physicians are their own worst enemies with respect to misinformation

A recent study found that physicians and scientists who are perceived as “experts” are prevalent within the antivax community and more influential because of their status as physicians and scientists. Why do physicians continue to tolerate antivax quacks within our ranks?

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Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Medicine Quackery

Are ivermectin and fenbendazole the new laetrile? (Part two: ivermectin)

Last week, I noticed fenbendazole being “repurposed” to treat cancer. Now it’s ivermectin. Truly, in the age of COVID-19 these two drugs are the new laetrile.