Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Joe Mercola and raw milk faddism invade HuffPo

Since its very inception five years ago, The Huffington Post has been, to steal a phrase from Star Wars, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, at least when it comes to anything resembling medicine. Of course, that’s the problem. Very little, if anything, published in HuffPo resembles actual science-based medicine. The vast majority of […]

Categories
Anti-Semitism History Holocaust Holocaust denial Politics Religion

Elie Wiesel: Carve out an exception to free speech for Holocaust denial

It occurs to me that I haven’t written about this topic in quite a while, but a recent event makes me think that maybe now’s the time to revisit this topic. I’m referring to Holocaust denial. Newer readers may not know that part of what got me involved in online discussions back in the late […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine

Andrew Wakefield: Another one bites the dust…

First, it was anti-vaccine “martyr” Andrew Wakefield’s infamous 1998 Lancet paper. Then it was his equally incompetent 2009 NeuroToxicology paper. Now it’s Wakefield’s 2000 American Journal of Gastroenterology paper: Errata, Corrigenda and Retractions Am J Gastroenterol 2010; 105:1214; doi:10.1038/ajg.2010.149 Retraction: Enterocolitis in Children With Developmental Disorders A J Wakefield, A Anthony, S H Murch, M […]

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Medicine Science Surgery

The physician-scientist: An endangered species?

After diving into a heapin’ helpin’ of sheer craziness over the last week or two (well, except for yesterday, when I deconstructed an acupuncture study, which, while not crazy, certainly was misguided), I think it’s time for a bit of self-absorbed navel gazing. After all, isn’t that what bloggin’s all about? Oh, wait, that’s what […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Age of Autism and vaccination against meningococcus: What’s that again about not being “anti-vaccine”?

A couple of weeks ago I made what I thought to be a rather obvious observation, namely that the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism is anti-vaccine, not, as it claims, pro-safe vaccine. One bit of the copious evidence that belies the claim is the obsessive focus of that blog on Gardasil. Even if science […]