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Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Music Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Poppa was a Rolling Stone…who likes homeopathy?

Old fart that I am, I’ve been a fan of The Rolling Stones since the mid-1970s, when I was in junior high school. Over the years, I’ve accumulated pretty close to all of their studio albums—and even bought multiple remastered versions of classics like Exile on Main Street and Beggar’s Banquet—and got access to the […]

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

In Memoriam: Wallace Sampson, MD

I have some sad news for my readers today. It’s even sadder given that it’s only been two and a half weeks since I last had to mourn the passing of one of our own, a champion of science-based medicine, a regular commenter of five years, lilady. Unfortunately, this time around, it is my sad […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Laetrile: Everything old is new again, or at least Eric Merola hopes so

Remember our old buddy Eric Merola? He’s the guy who made two—count ’em—two crappy, conspiracy-laden, misinformation-ridden, astonishingly bad bits of “great man” propaganda disguised as documentaries about a Houston cancer doctor peddling unproven cancer treatments and charging his patients tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for the privilege of being under his care […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Religion

Alternative medicine as religion

Over the years, I’ve often likened non-science-based medical belief systems to religion. It’s not a hard argument to make. Religion involves believing in things that can’t be proven scientifically; indeed, religion makes a virtue out of ignoring the evidence and accepting various beliefs on faith alone. Similarly, alternative medicine frequently tells you that you have […]