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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Science Skepticism/critical thinking

What if, rather than being too stringent about drug approval, the FDA is not being stringent enough?

All of the candidates being considered by President Trump for FDA Commissioner believe that the FDA is too strict in its standards for approving new drugs. In a commentary in Nature last week, two bioethicists argued that, at least in terms of preclinical data, the standard of evidence is actually too low. Which is correct?

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Alternative medicine for premature ejaculation? Surprise, surprise! It doesn’t work.

I must admit that the last couple of weeks have been rather grim here on the old blog. Betweemn Donald Trump’s White House spewing , an unfortunate patient embracing quackery, pseudoscience at the VA, and more. So it is that I feel as though it might not be a bad idea to step back for […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Quackery at the VA: Our veterans deserve real medicine, not fake medicine

A reader recounts his tale of being referred for fake medicine at a VA facility. Unfortunately, the VA seems to be papering over its lack of resources in the same way that Chairman Mao did in the 1950s, by “integrating” fake medicine with real medicine.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

First China, next the world: The Chinese government gives a big boost to traditional Chinese medicine, just like Chairman Mao did

Everything old is new again in China. Just as Chairman Mao promoted the “integration” of traditional Chinese medicine with “Western” medicine 65 years ago, the Chinese government today is doing the same thing for the same reasons.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Cleveland Clinic doubles down on its support for quackademic medicine disguised as “wellness”

I’ve been pretty hard on The Cleveland Clinic over the years, but justifiably so. After all, The Cleveland Clinic is one of the leading centers of quackademic medicine in the US; i.e., an academic medical center that studies and uses quackery as though it were legitimate medicine. Of course, this is a problem that is […]