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Bad science Integrative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

UC-Irvine update: Quackademic medicine continues its takeover

Over two years ago, UC-Irvine announced a massive $200 million donation from Susan and Henry Samueli, to be used to “integrate” quackery into its entire structure. The fruits of that donation are now apparent.

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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.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Politics

NCCIH strategic plan 2021-25: Same ol’, same ol’, with a devious twist

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health recently released its latest 5 year strategic plan. It’s basically the same as the last strategic plan, but with one new addition. It’s not really a new addition, but it signals a resurrection of an old trope about “integrating” quackery with science-based medicine.

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Cancer Medicine Naturopathy

Pediatric naturopathic oncology: A horrifying concept

“Naturopathic oncology” is a specialty made up by naturopaths in order to justify using their quackery to treat cancer patients. A new survey takes it a step further and looks at using naturopathy to treat children with cancer, including the use of homeopathy, reiki, and restrictive diets.

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Medicine Politics Quackery Television

America’s Quack Dr. Oz and the failure of medical academia, revisited

It’s Election Day. Worse, it’s quite possible that America’s Quack Dr. Mehmet Oz could be Senator-Elect Oz by tomorrow. He was helped by a profound failure of medical academia in general and Columbia University in particular.