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Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

“Dr.” Tad Sztykowski: One reason why acupuncture should not be licensed

Tad Sztykowski is an acupuncturist who lost his acupuncture license for misrepresenting himself as a physician. His case is a good illustration of why licensing quack specialties like acupuncture is bad policy.

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Autism Bad science Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine

Pay-to-play stem cell clinical trials: Abuse of the clinical trial process

Stem cell therapies show great promise, but as yet the vast majority of that promise has not been validated in rigorous clinical trials. Unfortunately, for-profit stem cell clinics are running clinical trials that require patients to pay to be part of them (“pay-to-play”). These trials are not rigorous. Even more unfortunately, it appears that some universities are also running “pay-to-play” clinical trials that bear an uncomfortable resemblance to those run by for-profit clinics.

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Antivaccine nonsense Friday Woo Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

ITNJ “Commissioner”: A woo-full “honor” bestowed upon Del Bigtree and Robert O. Young

The International Tribunal for Natural Justice has named antivaxer Del Bigtree and “pH Miracle Living” quack Robert O. Young as “Commissioners for the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Weaponisation of the Biosphere.” What the heck is ITNJ, and why is it naming quacks to its Commission?

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Announcements Blog housekeeping

Off to NECSS

There will be no new material today and probably not Monday either. I’m in New York attending the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS). I’ll be giving a talk this afternoon, “Cancer Quackery and Fake News: Targeting the Most Vulnerable.” I’ll be back Tuesday or Wednesday.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Quackery

Why did the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities elect antivaccine quack Yehuda Shoenfeld to its ranks?

Last month, the Israeli Academy of Science and Humanities elected antivax quack Yehuda Shoenfeld to its ranks? Why and how could this have happened?