Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The new strategy of the antivaccination movement: Autism is a “misdiagnosis” for mitochondrial disease

I should have seen this one coming a mile away in light of the concession of vaccine injury in the case of one child that led to the incredibly shrinking causation claim when it comes to vaccines and autism. Having had it conclusively demonstrated through several large studies in multiple countries that mercury in vaccines […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Computers and social media Medicine Quackery

Woo for cancer: Say it ain’t so, Steve!

Yesterday was a rather long day, starting with a long commute in the morning, followed by a long day in the office mainly doing grant paperwork, and capped off by getting home late. Even so, I couldn’t ignore this particular story for two reasons. First, it’s about so-called “alternative” medicine. Second, it’s about Steve Jobs, […]

Categories
Bioethics Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Some placebos are more equal than others

Perusing the news early this morning, I noticed an article on ABC News about placebos. One thing I found interesting about it was that it was a story about a research letter to JAMA, not a full study. Heck, there isn’t even an abstract. Even so, the study was rather interesting and described thusly: The […]

Categories
History World War II

Using Hitler’s belief in the paranormal against him: Good idea, bad execution

File this one under: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” It’s a story that I couldn’t resist because it combines my interest in skepticism with my interest in World War II history. Too bad there wasn’t a way to throw some medicine in there as well; otherwise I could have had a […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The scammers responsible for Airborne are forced to cough up $23.3 million

I saw this and was going to write about it, but it turns out that Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata beat me to it. Basically, the makers of Airborne have been slapped down bigtime for false advertising: