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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

CAM and low flu vaccine uptake: Fitting together hand in glove

There’s a class of studies that I sometimes refer to as “Well, duh!” studies because their conclusions are so mind-numbingly obvious that one wonders why anyone did the study in the first place. Sometimes that name is meant sarcastically, as in, “Why did these investigators waste the time, effort, and resources to do this study? […]

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Biology Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Stemedica Cell Technologies: More stem cell hard sell, courtesy of the people who brought you Penta Water woo

I first became more interested in dubious stem cell clinics nearly two years ago, when I learned that hockey legend Gordie Howe was undergoing stem cell therapy in Mexico to treat his stroke. Being from Detroit, I imbibed the hockey madness of this town growing up, and know that Detroiters hold Gordie Howe in incredibly […]

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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Science Skepticism/critical thinking

A victory and a more substantial defeat for the cruel sham known as “right to try”

I’ve referred to so-called “right to try” laws as a cruel sham.on more than one occasion. Since 2014, these laws, all based on a template provided by the libertarian Goldwater Institute, have been proliferating at the state level with the help of lobbying by the aforementioned Goldwater Institute and a concept that makes it pitifully […]

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Bioethics Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

With a little help from its friends, NCCIH funds Son of TACT to study chelation quackery again

One of the things that first led me to understand the dangers of quackademic medicine was a trial known as the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy, or TACT. Chelation therapy, as you might recall, is the infusion of a chelating agent, or a chemical that binds heavy metals and makes it easier for the kidney […]

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Biology Complementary and alternative medicine Humor Intelligent design/creationism Medicine News of the Weird Paranormal Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Deepak Chopra castigates Donald Trump for not being reality-based. Another irony meter explodes.

I’m sure that most of you watched the Presidential debate on Monday night, just as I did. Over the years, these debates have always always painful for me to watch, given the candidates’ tendency to answer the question they want to answer rather than the question actually answered; to find ways to spew prepackaged talking […]