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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Get out the popcorn! Leslie Manookian attacks fellow antivaxer James Lyons-Weiler

I always love a good crank fight, and we seem to be witnessing an entertaining one, as Leslie Manookian attacks fellow antivaxer James Lyons-Weiler for not being antivaccine enough. Get out the popcorn!

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Cancer Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

True believers and scammers in alternative medicine

In the online echo chamber promoting alternative medicine, there are varying degrees of deception. There are true believers (who are often victims), entrepreneurs (who are often true believers who found a profitable business), and scammers. The categories are not mutually exclusive.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaccine activists rally around “Dr. Bob” Sears. Hilarity ensues.

As regular readers know, last Friday I was quite happy to relay the news that the Medical Board of California had finally acted against a rock star among the antivaccine movement, namely pediatrician “Dr. Bob” Sears. Dr. Sears (or Dr. Bob, as he likes to be called) rocketed to prominence among the vaccine-averse and downright […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Homeopathy at UC-Irvine: The administration can run but it can’t hide from its history of embracing quackery

Last week, UC-Irvine announced a $200 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to create a new integrative medicine center. Since then, UC-Irvine has tried to scrub any evidence of homeopathy use on its website. It didn’t work. Unfortunately, thanks to the Samuelis, homeopathy and other pseudoscience are deeply embedded in UC-Irvine, which has become the new epitome of quackademic medicine.

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Bioethics Medicine Politics Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

Right-to-try: A bait and switch intended to weaken the FDA

On Wednesday, President Trump signed a federal right-to-try bill into law with great fanfare, making extravagant claims for it. It’s time to reiterate one last time that right-to-try will not help terminally ill patients but it will strip important protections from them. It’s pure snake oil.