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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Politics

Dallas Buyers Club-inspired “right to try” laws: Good movies don’t make good policy

One of my favorite shows right now is True Detective, an HBO show in which two cops pursue a serial killer over the course of over 16 years. Starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, it’s an amazingly creepy show, and McConaughey is amazing at playing his character, Rustin Cohle. I’m sad that the show will […]

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Cancer Medicine Politics

The Texas Medical Board goes after abortion providers, but Stanislaw Burzynski practices untouched for decades

Regular readers know my frustration with the Texas Medical Board. Why is it, I’ve often wondered, that Stanislaw Burzynski can keep peddling his unproven cancer treatment with seeming impunity for nearly four decades, with every attempt of the TMB over the last four decades seemingly being utterly ineffective? It’s not as though Burzynski is alone. […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Music Politics Popular culture

Stanislaw Burzynski and the cynical use of cancer patients as shields and weapons against the FDA, this time with rock stars

I don’t know if it’s a sign that I’ve arrived as being a bit more influential than just a blogger or just dumb luck when reporters start sending me things, but I’ll take it. It’s like blog fodder being served to me on the proverbial silver platter. Unfortunately, as a result of receiving a press […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Politics Quackery

Can Alternative and Conventional Medicine Get Along? No.

If there’s one thing that I write that I don’t feel I repeat too much (although some might disagree), it’s that, unlike other centers and institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there is not, and never was, a compelling scientific justification for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to exist […]

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Biology Medicine Politics Popular culture Science Skepticism/critical thinking

How cute. Orac has been targeted by his first Change.org petition.

I had originally planned on writing about a different topic today, but, as is so often the case in blogging, something came up that caught my attention, much as the errant thought of a squirrel distracts Dug the Dog. Well, actually, I had to go to an evening meeting for work last night and by […]