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Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

I fought the woo, and the woo won? Or: Gotta have more woo in my medical school, revisited

Over the last couple of days, I’ve discussed “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) in terms of a meme upon which evolutionary forces are acting to select certain forms of woo over others in academia. Although, in my usual inimitable fashion, I probably carried the concept one step too far, in the end I concluded that […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Sid Schwab joins the party

I was always wondering when he’d finally weigh in on alternative medicine, and now Sid has. It’s a slapdown worthy of Orac, Dr. R.W., or Panda Bear MD. Go forth and read it. Not quite as snarky as Orac (but, then, Sid’s a classy guy), but every bit as outraged.

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Biology Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Evolution Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking Television

Judgment day on intelligent design

Today’s the day, everyone. I haven’t mentioned this before, but the documentary on the trial over the teaching of “intelligent design” creationism in the classroom in Dover, Pennsylvania two years ago is set to premiere on your local PBS station tonight at 8 PM. The Nova documentary, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, already has […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Medicine Quackery Science

Applying evolutionary principles to alternative medicine again

Yesterday, inspired by a post by fellow ScienceBlogger Martin, I had a little fun discussing the evolution of “alternative” medicine (a.k.a. “complementary and alternative medicine” or CAM), specifically speculating about the possible selective pressures, positive and negative, that have influenced the course that its evolution took. Essentially, the discussion centered around whether, by its very […]

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Cancer Medicine Politics

Medicare to lymphoma patients: Go screw yourselves

Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata has the full story. In brief, Medicare has slashed reimbursement for two radioimmunotherapy drugs Bexxar (131I-tositumomab) and Zevalin (90Y-ibritumomab) to below acquisition cost. This is not some experimental therapy that’s being denied, but rather a therapy with a established clinical efficacy. Naturally, this is likely to lead to most centers […]