Categories
Cancer Medicine Politics

The smoke thickens, along with something else that smells even worse

A couple of weeks ago, inspired by a somewhat drunken encounter two weeks prior, against my better judgment, I waded into the evidence supporting the contention that secondhand smoke is harmful to health, increasing the risk of heart disease and lung cancer in workers chronically exposed to it. In response to a list of quotes […]

Categories
Friday Woo Paranormal Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: Five years

Time is important. Our life is measured in it, and there’s no way to reverse it. How we use our allotted time on this planet is, of course, the most important question that anyone ever faces. But how to measure time? It all seems so obvious, doesn’t it? You have years, which are divided into […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

More on legalized quackery in Arizona

Yesterday, when I wrote about a death in Arizona caused by a homeopath doing liposuction, what amazed me the most was that homeopaths are licensed in Arizona. Although I alluded to it only briefly in yesterday’s post, I was truly astounded at what homeopaths are allowed to do in Arizona. It piqued my curiosity–and horror. […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Surgery

Death by homeopathic surgery

Normally, when I hear such a term as “homeopathic surgery” or of homeopaths doing surgery, I get the irresistable urge to make jokes about it, such as wondering if homeopathic surgery is surgery diluted down to the point where not a single cell in the body is injured or whether homeopathic surgeons make ultra-tiny incisions. […]

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Politics

Smoking and Parkinson’s disease

After the invasion of the smoking cranks last week into the comments of the three posts I somehow ended up doing on the topic of secondhand smoke (SHS), the health dangers it poses, and some of the deceptive quote mining used in the service of trying to discredit studies demonstrating a moderate but real risk […]