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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The World Health Organization disses homeopathy

If there’s one form of pseudoscientific health care (if you can call it that) that rests on the most risibly implausible tenets, I’d have to say that it’s homeopathy. Either that, or homeopathy and various “energy medicine” modalities would have to fight it out in a no woo barred cage match to the death for […]

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History Hitler Zombie Holocaust Medicine Politics

Another correct response to Obama/Hitler and health care reform/Nazi analogies

Sorry, but I guess I was incorrect when I pointed to Barney Frank’s blistering putdown of a woman with a picture of President Obama decorated with a Hitler mustache who likened health care reform to Nazi policies as being the “only? correct response to such vile and obvious guilt by association gambits. Here’s another, from […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Still more evidence that infectious disease returns when vaccination rates fall

This time, the evidence comes from New Zealand: Notified measles cases so far this year are already seven times higher than the total number of measles cases last year. The reason? The third-lowest immunisation rate in the OECD, despite the fact immunisation is free and widely and readily available. Our immunisation rate is about 83 […]

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History Hitler Zombie Medicine Politics

The only correct response to Obama/Hitler and health care reform/Nazi analogies

I don’t normally like Barney Frank. At times, I’ve thought him to be a blithering idiot. However, this time around, he gets it exactly right in dealing with a woman who was carrying around a picture of President Obama with a Hitler mustache and comparing his health care reform initiative to Nazi policies. Best quotes: […]

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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Religion Science Surgery

Francis Collins’ “Five Themes” for the NIH

One of the advantages of hanging out around home on the proverbial staycation is that, instead of actually paying more attention to the news, I’ve paid less attention to the news. That’s why I didn’t notice some stories from earlier this week about what the new director of the NIH, Francis Collins, plans to do. […]