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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Homeopathy at UC-Irvine: The administration can run but it can’t hide from its history of embracing quackery

Last week, UC-Irvine announced a $200 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to create a new integrative medicine center. Since then, UC-Irvine has tried to scrub any evidence of homeopathy use on its website. It didn’t work. Unfortunately, thanks to the Samuelis, homeopathy and other pseudoscience are deeply embedded in UC-Irvine, which has become the new epitome of quackademic medicine.

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Bioethics Medicine Politics Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

Right-to-try: A bait and switch intended to weaken the FDA

On Wednesday, President Trump signed a federal right-to-try bill into law with great fanfare, making extravagant claims for it. It’s time to reiterate one last time that right-to-try will not help terminally ill patients but it will strip important protections from them. It’s pure snake oil.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

Make measles great again? Our Michigan legislature is doing its best to bring back epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases.

The depths of stupidity to which the Michigan state legislature will stoop never cease to amaze me. This time, legislators are doing their damnedest to make measles great again.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics

Should vaccines be compulsory?

As long as there have been vaccinations, there has been an antivaccine movement, and as long as there has been an antivaccine movement, there have been parents who refuse to vaccinate. In a past that encompasses the childhood of my parents, polio was paralyzing and killing children in large numbers in yearly epidemics, the fear […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Popular culture

Rob Schneider cries “FREEDOM!” to refuse vaccination

This weekend was the 4th of July, Independence Day. It’s the most patriotic holiday of all, at least for Americans. We celebrated it in the usual way, with parades, fireworks, the odd lost digit or two, and barbecues. Unfortunately, there’s another thing that the 4th of July inevitably brings on as well, and that’s the […]