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Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

“Dr.” Tad Sztykowski: One reason why acupuncture should not be licensed

Tad Sztykowski is an acupuncturist who lost his acupuncture license for misrepresenting himself as a physician. His case is a good illustration of why licensing quack specialties like acupuncture is bad policy.

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

A bait-and-switch study of acupuncture in stable chronic angina

This week, JAMA Internal Medicine published a clinical trial purporting to find that acupuncture helps stable angina. Here’s a hint: It doesn’t. It’s a bait-and-switch study that used “electroacupuncture” instead of acupuncture with poor blinding and lack of consideration of prior plausibility.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Politics Popular culture

Sherri Tenpenny: A quack’s medical license bites the dust, but for the wrong reasons

Earlier this month, the Ohio State Medical Board suspended the medical license of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a longtime antivax quack. The only question is: What took them so long, and why did it take the pandemic for them to act? Also, is there less to this action than meets the eye?

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Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

COVID-19 Light Therapy: Old quackery repurposed

Quacks love light therapy for everything, whether there’s good evidence or not that it works for the condition treated. COVID-19 is no exception.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Mikki Willis has expanded from Plandemic to ivermectin conspiracy theories

Mikki Willis of “Plandemic” fame is back, and this time he’s flogging conspiracy theories about ivermectin as a “suppressed” cure for COVID-19.