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Cancer Medicine Popular culture Quackery

Yet another clickbait testimonial manipulates emotions to make cancer quackery appear effective

Cancer quackery, particularly the false hope it engenders in cancer patients, infuriates me. Earlier this week The Sun published an article suggesting that a form of quackery called the Berkson protocol allowed a mother with metastatic pancreatic cancer to survive unexpectedly long enough to see her daughter married. It almost certainly did nothing of the sort.

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Antivaccine nonsense Blogging Holocaust Holocaust denial Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Legal thuggery: A favored technique by disinformation merchants to silence critics

What do Didier Raoult, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Portuguese quacks have in common? They’re using legal thuggery to silence criticism.

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Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

“Masks make you sicker”: The unkillable COVID-19 conspiracy theory

Masks work to slow the spread of COVID-19, but the “masks make you sicker” narrative, like antivax nonsense, has proven to be unkillable and to be a killer.

Categories
Bad science Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Duke University’s stem cell program for autism: The dark(er) side of quackademic medicine

Despite a lack of evidence Duke University is all-in on stem cells for autism, thanks to a billionaire benefactor and a Panama stem cell clinic. This is the dark(er) side of quackademic medicine.

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Surgery

Suzanne Somers “grew a new breast” with stem cells plus fat transfer? Not so fast…

Suzanne Somers is back in the news, claiming that she “grew a new breast” with stem cells and fat transfer. But did she? Did she really? A careful look at what’s public about her story suggests nothing other than a bit of self-promotion during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.