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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

The wonderfully Orwellian Free Speech About Science Act of 2011 (H.R. 1364)

“Health freedom.” It’s a battle cry frequently used by supporters of “alternative” medicine against what they perceive to be persecution by the medical and scientific establishment that uses the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and other federal agencies charged with regulating pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and medical devices in order to protect the […]

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Medicine Politics Surgery

Dr. Lazar Greenfield digs himself in deeper

I should have popped up some popcorn. I had a feeling this was coming, but who knew it would be so entertaining when it finally happened? On Tuesday, I wrote about how famed vascular surgeon Dr. Lazar Greenfield had written a bizarre, sexist attempt at Valentines Day humor in which he implied that evolutionary biology […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

University of Maryland School of Medicine = Hogwarts?

Steve Salzberg is a man after my own heart. You’ll see why in a minute. I’ve frequently written about the pseudoscientific nonsense that goes on at the University of Maryland. Indeed, the University of Maryland School of Medicine is a hotbed of quackademic medicine, including the use of reiki at its world-renowned trauma center along […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Religion

The anti-vaccine movement as a religion with Andrew Wakefield as its prophet?

Several of you have been sending me this; so I would be remiss not to note that there is a rather lengthy profile of Generation Rescue’s favorite “martyred” anti-vaccine hero, disgraced and discredited British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine entitled The Crash and Burn of an Autism Guru. By and […]

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Medicine Religion Surgery

Prayer, surgery, and separating doctoring from dogma

Over the years, I’ve learned that a lot of surgeons are very religious. Actually, a lot of doctors are quite religious. Indeed, long ago in the history of this blog, back when I used to write about evolution a lot more than I do these days, I’ve pointed out that at least as many physicians […]