Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Quoth Dr. Suzanne Humphries: Vaccines are “disease matter”

Every so often, someone will take a great deal of umbrage at my use of the term “antivaccine.” The assumption behind criticism directed at me (and others) when we use such terms is that we throw the term about without a care, using it as a weapon unjustly and incorrectly to smear parents who are […]

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Dr. Burzynski and the cult of personality of the “brave maverick cancer doctor”

I thought I’d be leaving the topic of Dr. Stanislaw Burzysnki and his combination of Personalized Cancer Therapy for Dummies-level “personalized, gene-targeted cancer therapy” coupled with his “cancer-curing” antineoplastons, which have morphed into an orphan HDAC inhibitor used off-label as part of his pricey everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” combination of targeted therapies and old-fashioned chemotherapy. After all I […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Now I’ve seen it all: An anti-vaccine children’s book

You read that right. Antivaxxers have produced a pro-measles book for children, to encourage them to be infected and get “natural immunity.”

Categories
Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

NCCAM in the news: Why does it still exist?

I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Trine Tsouderos. Whether it be her investigations into the rank quackery of prominent members of the mercury militia wing of the anti-vaccine lunatic fringe, Mark and David Geier, who seem to think that chemical castration is a perfectly fine and dandy treatment for autism because testosterone binds […]

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science

What Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski doesn’t want you to know about antineoplastons

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time (and, characteristically, verbiage) analyzing the phenomenon known as Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, his “cancer cure” known as antineoplastons, and his incompetent version of “personalized gene-targeted cancer therapy.” In this third and final part, I want to come back to antineoplastons, because it has […]