Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The problem with homeopathy, according to naturopaths

I’ve lost track of how many times over the last 7 years I’ve mentioned that naturopathy is not science-based. The evidence is overwhelming. All you have to do is to took at the wide variety of quackery that fits comfortably into naturopathic practice to realize that most of naturopathy is quackery. Traditional Chinese medicine? Check. […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Quoth Vox Day: Vaccines are killing babies! Retorts Orac: Vox’s arguments are killing neurons!

Theodore Beale, a.k.a. Vox Day, thinks he’s discovered that vaccines increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. They do not, and his arguments are so painful that your neurons may apoptose just hearing it.

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery

A homeopathic counterattack

Homeopaths are funny. Really, that’s the best description of them that I can think of right now. And I don’t mean “funny ha-ha,” either. An example of this popped up over the weekend in an attack on Dr. Joe Schwarcz of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society. “Dr. Joe,” as he likes to be […]

Categories
Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Science Surgery Television

I’d rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy

I’ve pointed out before that pover the last couple of years I’ve become a bit of a fan of old time radio, having discovered Radio Classics on Sirius XM Radio. I don’t remember how I discovered it, but I rapidly became hooked on shows like Suspense, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, The Whistler, Gunsmoke, Dragnet, The […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

PAPupuncture? On the rebranding of regional anesthesia as acupuncture

Acupuncture has been a frequent topic on this blog because, of all the “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) modalities out there, it’s arguably the one that most people accept as potentially having some validity. The rationale behind acupuncture is, as we have explained many times before, little different than the rationale behind any “energy healing” […]