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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Oh, no, there’s protein and salt in my food!

It’s been around four years now since I first wrote a post about what I now like to call the “toxins gambit” favored by anti-vaccine loons. This particular gambit consists of finding scary-sounding chemicals in vaccines, such as formaldehyde, and then trying to stoke fear of vaccines based on their presence. This gambit, whether invoked […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

On the evolution of quackery

Once upon a time, there was quackery. It was the term used to refer to medical practices that were not supported by evidence and were ineffective and potentially harmful. Physicians understood that modalities such as homeopathy, reflexology, and various “energy healing” (i.e., faith healing) methodologies were based either on prescientific vitalism, magical thinking, and/or on […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

A “distinction track” in quackademic medicine is born

The infiltration of quackademic medicine continues apace. I know, I know. I say that a lot, but it’s only because it is, alas, so very, very true and so very, very distressing to supporters of science-based medicine. It’s not as though I haven’t written about it many, many times over the last six and a […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Medicine

More evidence for the effectiveness of vaccines

Yesterday, I wrote about how two anti-vaccine activists, Barbara Loe Fisher and Joe Mercola, were unhappy that bloggers targeted their advertisement that they put on the CBS Times Square JumboTron for a letter-writing campaign to try to persuade CBS Outdoors to do the right thing and stop selling ad time to groups who promote a […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Humor Medicine Quackery

On hitting your head against a brick wall

Sadly, this isn’t too far from the truth when it comes to some of these anti-vaccine doctors: Actually, it’s too generous. My only criticism of this video is that the mother with the child with suspected pertussis wasted more time with this idiot than was wise.