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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

NCCAM: Your tax dollars hard at work funding woo

I used to be somewhat of a supporter of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). I really did. This was back when I was more naïve and idealistic. Indeed, when I first read Wally Sampson’s article Why NCCAM should be defunded, I thought it a bit too strident and even rather close-minded. […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Time to update the Academic Woo Aggregator

My post from Monday finally goaded me to do it. Yes, it’s time to update the Academic Woo Aggregator. I’ve been far too remiss in doing so, and at least a couple of new candidates have come to my attention as I continue to keep my eye out for more. First, from the U.S. News […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

The writer of the U.S. News & World Report study on the infiltration of CAM into academia argues from ignorance

I’m a little late on this, but Avery Comarow, the reporter who wrote the big story three weeks ago in U.S. News & World Report about the infiltration of woo into academic medicine, has responded to criticisms of his column in his blog. His response, I’m afraid, is underwhelming. First, he starts out with the […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

The infiltration of woo into mainstream academic medicine: The media notices

Along with Dr. R.W. and few others, I’ve made a bit of a name for myself in the medical blogosphere by bemoaning the infiltration of non-science- and non-evidence-based medicine into academia. It’s not a particularly popular viewpoint. The prevailing attitude seems to be: Why be so negative? It’s all good. Moreover, with a credulous media […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Back to the future: When men were men, quacks were quacks, and the FDA was the FDA

Perusing the skeptical medical blogosphere, I came across some rather amusing, but nonetheless informative, videos from the 1950s about medical quackery. There are a number of aspects of these videos that are a bit unsettling to modern viewers, such as the “doctor knows best” paternalism, naïve faith in the AMA and other medical organizations, the […]