Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery

Naturopath Paul Theriault challenges Orac. It does not go well..for Not-a-Doctor Theriault

In the days before Orac left the blog in order to rest and recharge his Tarial cell, he got into a little…”discussion”… on Twitter with a naturopath named Paul Theriault. It did not go well…for Not-a-Doctor Theriault. Be careful what you wish for, naturopaths, when you encounter Orac. You might get it.

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center shows us how to write a press release on integrative oncology

Last week, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center issued a press releast touting its integrative oncology program. It’s a perfect example to demonstrate the formulaic nature of such press releases and the distortions behind them used to sell the “integration” of quackery into medicine.

Categories
Cancer Integrative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

The Integrative Oncology Scholars Program: Indoctrinating oncology professionals into pseudoscience

“Integrative oncology” involves “integrating” pseudoscience, mysticism, and quackery with science-based oncology and co-opting science-based lifestyle modalities as “alternative” in order to provide cover for the quackery. Unfortunately, my alma mater, funded by the National Cancer Institute, is running a course to indoctrinate 100 health care professionals in the ways of “integrative oncology.” The Trojan horse of “lifestyle interventions” and “nonpharmacologic treatments for pain” is at the gates. The quackery will leap out as soon as it’s in the fortress.

Categories
Medicine Politics Quackery

HB 4710: Acupuncturists are trying again to license their quackery—and more

Last month, HB 4710, a bill to license acupuncturists, was considered by the Michigan House of Representatives Health Policy Committee. If passed into law, HB 4710 would do far more than license the quackery that is acupuncture. It would also expand the scope of practice of acupuncturists to include homeopathy, “health coaching”, and dietary advice, and is yet another example of what practitioners of pseudoscientific medicine crave: State-granted legitimacy.

Categories
Cancer Computers and social media Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

How online crowdfunding supports cancer quacks (part 2)

A new study by Jeremy Snyder and Tim Caulfield shows how much money is raised by GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sources to support quackery. It’s a lot of money, which is unsurprising to Orac, given that he’s been writing about how crowdfunding is “baked into” the business model of cancer quacks since he discovered Stanislaw Burzynski a decade ago.