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Biology Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Supplements: Not mystical anticancer magic

It’s no secret that over the years I’ve been very critical of a law passed nearly 20 years ago, commonly referred to as the DSHEA of 1994. The abbreviation DSHEA stands for about as Orwellian a name for a law as I can imagine: the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Of course, as we’ve […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

JAMA actually gets it right regarding supplements

I just saw something I don’t see every day. Or every week. Or every month. Or even every year. I frequently complain about supplements on this blog. Well, not supplements per se but rather the double standard we have in this country when it comes to supplements. Basically, supplements are about as close to unregulated […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Orrin Hatch: The supplement industry’s lapdog

Dietary supplements are minimally regulated in the U.S. Indeed, I’m continually amazed at how much supplement manufacturers can get away with and for how long. For example, one of the most recent atrocities against science occurred when Boyd Haley, disgraced chemistry professor at the University of Kentucky and prominent member of the mercury militia wing […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

“Big supplement” lashes out, and John McCain caves in

If there’s one law that (most) supporters of science-based medicine detest and would love to see repealed, it’s the Dietary Supplement and Health Act of 1994 (DSHEA). The reason is that this law, arguably more than almost anything else, allowed for the proliferation of supplements and claims made for these supplements that aren’t based in […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Science

Will the government ever regulate dietary supplements?

Advocates of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) frequently make the claim that they are the victims of a “double standard,” in which (or so they claim) they are subjected to harsher standards than what they often refer to as “conventional” or “orthodox” medicine, usually because, don’t you know, big pharma controls everything and rigs […]