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Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution History Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Paleo and woo: Bad company until the day they die

There are many fallacies that undergird alternative medicine, which evolved into “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), and for which the preferred term among its advocates is now “integrative medicine,” meant to imply the “best of both worlds.” If I had to pick one fallacy that rules above all among proponents of CAM/IM, it would have […]

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Autism Clinical trials

Is a trial of stem cell therapy in autism scientifically and ethically justified?

Houston, we have a problem. Oh, wait. I’m not talking about Stanislaw Burzynski this time. But we do still have a problem, and it’s a problem that resembles the Burzynski problem I recently discussed. Specifically, it’s a problem of unethical clinical trials somehow winning approval from institutional review boards (IRBs). In academia, IRBs are basically […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science

What Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski doesn’t want you to know about antineoplastons

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time (and, characteristically, verbiage) analyzing the phenomenon known as Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, his “cancer cure” known as antineoplastons, and his incompetent version of “personalized gene-targeted cancer therapy.” In this third and final part, I want to come back to antineoplastons, because it has […]

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Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Marc Stephens issues more threats on behalf of the Burzynski Clinic

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I was simultaneously alarmed and amused at how someone named Marc Stephens, who claims (although presents no evidence for his claim) that he represents the rogue physician and “researcher” Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, had taken to threatening skeptical bloggers who criticize Dr. Burzynski’s highly dubious cancer therapy, a therapy Burzynski dubbed […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

The Burzynski Clinic disavows Marc Stephens but not the legal intimidation of bloggers who criticize its therapy

Remember yesterday how I said I would be following the “rule of three” in blogging about the Burzynski Clinic, its questionable practices in charging patients huge sums of money for dubious therapies, the even more dubious science behind his “antineoplaston therapy,” and his shill Marc Stephens threatening bloggers with legal action in hilariously crude ways? […]