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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Humor Medicine Politics

S2173: NJ antivaxxers show up too early and refuse to leave a meeting about NJ Transit. There’s a metaphor there somewhere

Antivaxxers flooded the New Jersey statehouse Thursday to protest S2173, a bill to end nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates. Unfortunately for them, they initially went to the meeting room way too early and wouldn’t leave when informed it was a meeting about NJ Transit. There’s definitely a metaphor there.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Homeopathy Medicine Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

Whole Foods: Still a haven for quackery and antivaccine nonsense under Amazon

Whole Foods was purchased by Amazon in 2017. If you thought that would make a difference in the selling of quackery by Whole Foods, you thought wrong. Homeopathy and antivaccine quackery still rule there.

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Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine

Libella Gene Therapeutics: Charging $1 million to participate in a phase 1 trial of anti-aging gene therapy

Libella Gene Therapeutics, LLC made the news last week for announcing a “pay-to-play” trial of its telomerase-based anti-aging gene therapy. What was shocking about the announcement was not that it was a “pay-to-play” trial, given that such trials have become all too common, but rather the price of enrollment: $1 million. Worse, the trial is being conducted in Colombia; the therapy doesn’t have the greatest preclinical justification; and it’s a phase 1 trial, which means it is only trial of safety, not efficacy. How can unethical and scientifically dubious trials like this be stopped?

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Jami Hepworth (a.k.a. Skeptical Doctor’s Wife): The latest antivaccine activist on the block

Jami Hepworth is a doctor’s wife. Having dubbed herself the “Skeptical Doctor’s Wife,” she has become an antivaccine activist. Unfortunately, doctor’s wife or not, medicine and science are clearly not her forte. She also doesn’t like laughing emojis directed at her.

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Quackery

Clínica 0-19 and IDOI: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey, part 5, IDOI-1

Drs. Alberto Siller and Alberto Garcia are at it again at Clínica 0-19, peddling a dubious case series touting their DIPG treatment. Let’s just say that it does not demonstrate that their treatment is better than existing treatments; i.e., not very good.