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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Thanks for the measles yet again, Andy

Yet another population is learning why you shouldn’t trust Andrew Wakefield. There is a large Somali immigrant population in Minnesota, and unfortunately they’ve been targeted by antivaxers. As a result, their MMR uptake has plummeted, and now they’re in the midst of another measles outbreak. Andrew Wakefield screws yet another group.

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

The FDA cracks down on bogus cancer “cures.” Will this be the last time this happens until after Trump?

This week, the FDA sent warning letters to 14 companies making unsupported claims that their products can treat cancer. Given the new administration’s determination to deregulate almost everything, but especially the FDA, is this the last time in the foreseeable future that such a crackdown will occur?

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

The failure of the Texas Medical Board: Houston cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski is back in business

Last month, the Texas Medical Board fined Houston cancer quack Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and placed his practice under supervision. It did not strip him of his medical license, as he deserves. The result is that families of children with terminal cancer are once again raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to follow his siren song of false hope.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

What makes a physician become an antivaxer?

Even though they should know better based on their training, too many physicians embrace the dark side and become antivaccine. How does this happen? What personality traits common among physicians can facilitate a descent into pseudoscience?

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

Quoth an antivaxer: Vaccines are making dogs autistic!

To antivaxers, it’s always the vaccines. Now they’re claiming vaccines cause autism in dogs. The problem, of course, is that vaccines don’t cause autism in humans, and labeling dog behavior as “autistic” is problematic in the extreme.