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Autism Bad science Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

Florida: A paradise for dubious stem cell clinics

Many are the stem cell clinics that hype their product as basically a magical cure for whatever ails you like so many used car salesmen deploying the hard sell. Florida seems to be the paradise where these poorly regulated clinics ply their unethical trade.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Movies Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Religion

The Pathological Optimist: When “not taking sides” over Andrew Wakefield means taking a side

The Pathological Optimist is a recently released documentary by Miranda Bailey about Andrew Wakefield that I got a chance to see. In interviews and in the film’s promotional materials, Bailey takes great pains to emphasize that she “doesn’t take a side” about Wakefield. Unfortunately, her film demonstrates that, when it comes to pseudoscience, “not taking a side” is taking a side, and that a film’s bias is often more evident in what is not shown and told than in what is.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Did a gadolinium contrast agent used for MRIs “poison” Chuck Norris’ wife Gena?

Earlier this month, Chuck Norris and his wife Gena filed a lawsuit against manufacturers of MRI contrast agents, claiming that the gadolinium in them had “poisoned” Gena. But did it? The evidence linking gadolinium with the symptoms Gena Norris suffered is, even under the most generous interpretation, quite shaky, and there is no doubt that she has been victimized by quacks.

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Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

The FDA cracks down on quack stem cell clinics…or does it?

Last week, the FDA released final regulatory guidance regarding freestanding stem cell clinics. The new regulatory framework appears custom-made to allow the FDA to crack down on quack stem cell clinics. But will it?

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Medicine Physics Quackery

Charlie Goldsmith: A new celebrity quack arises, enabled by TLC

Two years ago, I took note of an “energy healer” named Charlie Goldsmith and an incredibly poor “clinical trial” being touted as evidence of his healing abilities. It now turns out that Goldsmith is following a trail blazed by celebrity psychic Tyler Henry and has his own TV show on TLC. His claims are no more plausible or supported by evidence now than they were then.