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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Andrew Wakefield dives into even more disrepute

It has now been nearly two months since Andrew Wakefield was forced to resign from Thoughtful House in the wake of his being found guilty of research misconduct by the British General Medical Council (GMC), the withdrawal of Wakefield’s infamous 1998 Lancet paper, and the withdrawal of Wakefield’s last grab at scientific credibility, his infamous […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The annals of quackademic medicine: Testing chiropractic in pregnancy

Is chiropractic woo? I’m often asked that question, and my answer has usually been something along the lines of, “It depends on what it is used for.” Of course, there’s no doubt that the “theory” behind chiropractic, namely that so-called “subluxations” of the spine are the source of nearly all disease, is a load of […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

Eat your fruit and veggies?

Eat your fruits and vegetables. Hasn’t that been a constant refrain over the years from public health authorities? Certainly, I have. The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables have been widely touted, and seemingly with good reason. A diet high in fruits and vegetables, it is said, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Someone didn’t nail the coffin shut: Andrew Wakefield returns to the public eye

He’s baa-aack. You knew he couldn’t stay gone for long, I’m sure. He’s just like the zombie who rises again just as the hero turns his back, thinking the zombie dead, or the blond terrorist in Die Hard who appeared to have met his end hanging from a chain only to appear later in the […]

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Bioethics Medicine Quackery

Stem cell therapy for “locked-in” syndrome?

About four months ago, the skeptical blogosphere was abuzz about a tragic story. The story was that of a Belgian man named Rom Houben, who had been unfortunate enough to have been in a motor vehicle collision and suffered serious brain injury. That brain injury left him in a comatose state, which had been diagnosed […]