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Clinical trials Integrative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

More on the funding of acupuncture quackery by Medicaid

A few weeks ago, I described how acupuncture advocates appeared to have successfully snookered the Ohio Medicaid program into funding the quackery that is acupuncture for Medicaid recipients. Now, they’re poised to go beyond Ohio

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery Television

Stephen Colbert sells out to Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop

Almost alone among celebrities, Stephen Colbert used to ruthlessly (and justifiably) mock Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So eyebrows were raised (at least mine were) when it was learned that Paltrow would be a guest on The Late Show. During a bout of insomnia last night I saw the episode and had time to write about it. Her appearance was worse than I expected, a veritable puff piece promoting her her quackiest In Goop Health, where a featured speaker is a rabidly antivaccine doctor named Kelly Brogan.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

In which my state senator Patrick Colbeck goes pretty much full antivaccine

In Michigan, we have succeeded in decreasing the rate of nonmedical exemptions by requiring parents requesting them to attend an educational session before they can claim such exemptions. Unfortunately, my state senator, Patrick Colbeck, thinks this is a bad idea and has revealed himself to be, if not antivaccine, antivaccine-sympathetic.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Naturopathy Quackery

Henele E’ale: A new antivaccine naturopathic quack (but I repeat myself)

Antivaccine quacks like to argue that a healthy immune system will protect you from infectious disease, rendering vaccines unnecessary. It’s a ridiculous claim, well-refuted by the history of medicine. A naturopath whom I had somehow never heard of before, Henele E’ale, is now spewing that very same lie.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Did Gardasil kill Colton Berrett? The answer is almost certainly no.

Colton Barrett was a 17 year old boy who developed acute transverse myelitis at age 13, which left him partially paralyzed and dependent on a portable ventilator. Tragically, he died less than two weeks ago. His mother blames Gardasil, which he received two weeks before his first symptoms appeared, for his neurologic illness and death. However, Gardasil almost certainly had nothing to do with Colton’s illness.