Medlab – just a little prick

Messing about on Twitter in between playing games as I waited fruitlessly for DHL to show up with an urgent package, may they rot in a cold rainy Hell with no available sustenance other than soggy supermarket sandwiches and Kia-Ora fruit drinks (9-5 only, closed on Sundays)… Hang on, I got distracted there. So, fuck DHL for wasting my entire day, but at least Twitter came up with some magnificent jiggeryfuckery from some Spawn of Shkreli. This lot, in fact: Now, of all the companies worldwide calling themselves Medlab – and they are legion – this appears to be the only one flogging an “at-home finger prick blood test”. My initial reaction was “live blood analysis scammers”. I was wrong. It’s a completely different kind of scam. You may have seen, at the pharmacy, DIY test kits for anything from pregnancy (fair enough) to hypothyroidism to a few pathologies that … Continue reading →

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(Site info) Merger with WWDDTYDTY

Owing to circumstances beyond our collective control, ranging from illness to too much work via “Oh look, real people who aren’t spouting dangerous nonsense for money all day long. I want to spend more time with them”, the WWDDTYDTY blog has come to an end...

(Site info) Merger with WWDDTYDTY by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

GOOP: when dragons hatch from jade eggs - Plague of Mice

We’ve discussed that simpering idiot Paltrow before. Not intensively, just mocking her moronic advice to hung over rich wastrels. Other people have ripped her and/or her very much for-profit “wellness” site GOOP‘s stupid and sometimes dangerous claims (vaginal steaming, anyone? Colonics?) apart, mocked her for selling vitamins at extortionate prices and so on. There’s a fair sample here, to be waded through at your leisure. If you know someone who seems to be confused or beguiled by the fuckwittery being punted by GOOP, it may provide some useful debunking tools.

Their latest wheeze is punting $60 jade eggs (about the size of golf balls) for exercising the vaginal muscles, promising it would give them orgasms of an intensity they have never before experienced. Because detox, apparently. The post hard-selling this rancid bollocks was titled: Better Sex: Jade Eggs for Your Yoni, “yoni” being simpering idiot for “vagina”.

Here’s a taster of … Continue reading →

Friends of Science in Homeopathy - Plague of Mice

Our old friend Nancy Malik decided to name her blog Science-based Homeopathy, presumably in a fit of childish pique at the existence of Science-Based Medicine, which regularly laughs homeopathy to scorn, and rightly so. Then she realised that there is an Australian-based network called Friends of Science in Medicine, so of course nothing would do unless she had one called Friends of Science in Homeopathy...

Read on: Friends of Science in Homeopathy - Plague of Mice

What is fake news? – Lynne McTaggart, Wakefield fan, explains

This was a blog post committed by the Blessed Lynne (Saint & Martyr)™, of WDDTY infamy, back in May of this year. The only reason I’ve left it so long is that I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to excoriate the fuckwittery within, which basically consists of whining, ego, antivax stupidity and defending arch-arsehole Andrew Wakefield. No beating about the bush with witty preamble for once; let us fire up the trusty WTFometer and see what transpires.

Broadcast journalism has landed many low blows before when it comes to alternative views about medicine. 

On the contrary, it tends to be inadvisably tolerant of unproven and unscientific braindribble.

I was eight months pregnant with our first child when we launched WDDTY, and a few moments before I was due to have a live debate with a media doctor, he leaned over and murmured, sotto voce: ‘Did you know that your obstetrician was … 

Read the full story at: What is fake news? – Lynne McTaggart, Wakefield fan, explains

The Wonderful World of Tong Ren Therapy - Plague of Mice

Tong Ren therapy, or the art of hitting dolls with hammers to magically cure all sorts of Stuff because of the Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things. This started out as a bit of light relief for a hot and muggy day enlivened by a splitting ophthalmic headache. I should have stuck with the headache.

I’ve covered this lunatic therapy before. For those who missed the previous episode and can’t be arsed to go back and read it, here’s a fresh presentation of this most egregious fuckwittery..

Read the full post: The Wonderful World of Tong Ren Therapy - Plague of Mice

Alan Schmukler's Homeopathy Handbook - Plague of Mice

... Anyway, back to Homeopathy: An A-Z Home Handbook, to give it its full title. There is a webshite misnamed healgently-dot-com that punts it to all and sundry, and yes: it makes all the usual false claims for the sugar pills it promotes. I may use up another post to go further into Schmukko’s site, as it’s small, but rich in WTF. Let’s start with the book. As a precautionary measure, please place a pillow in front of you to reduce the risk of concussion from repeated headdesking. You may also need something eminently punchable, like an inflatable Andrew Wakefield doll...

Full post here: Alan Schmukler's Homeopathy Handbook - Plague of Mice

The fact is: your ancestors would have vaccinated

The post The fact is: your ancestors would have vaccinated by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

It’s Friday evening, and a Twitter moron has to go and post this:

fact-I vaccinated my kids. Fact-my son suffered an encephalopathy. Let’s talk facts…

Facts. Oh yes, facts are great. You can use them as bricks to construct whole edifices of knowledge. The trouble with buildings, though, is that they need rather more than bricks to be of use. You have to use the right bricks for the type of construction, where it’s situated, etc. There’s got to be some kind of mortar to bind them together, or your building of unrelated facts will just fall apart at the first puff of wolf’s breath. And you need a roof, and a door etc.

For example, I’ve had a great time this week trying to build up my family tree using an online genealogy database. You input what you know about your family, it goes and looks up records that … Continue reading →

Rose Rosetree, The New Strong and the Old Soft Soap | Plague of Mice

I was happily browsing the ebooks for something to instruct, enlighten and hopefully also amuse me after all the ventilator-driven faeces generated by some 17 million turkeys voting for Christmas last week. Proudly presented as one of the latest publications (it(s dated 27 June 2016) was this alluring œuvre by one Rose Rosetree:

The New Strong

Stop Fixing Yourself-And Actually Accelerate Your Personal Growth! (Rules & Tools for Thriving in the “Age of Awakening”) 

Author: Rose Rosetree 

Publisher: Women’s Intuition Worldwide, LLC 

Collections : Energy HEALING Skills for the Age of Awakening 

Categories : Spirituality & esotericism/ Healing/ Energy(Chi Kung, Reiki, Polarity), Personal development / Self-accomplishment / Inspiration & personal growth 

Ye-e-es. First off, I don’t believe that’s her real name. Too twee and too fitted to her market. It’s her own publishing company and only her books appear in the catalogue (which we will come to later), so “women’s” is misleading, as is …
Continue reading →

Take control!

This post isn’t entirely about the ill-advised and predictably destructive UK referendum. Nor is it entirely about quackery.

It’s about both.

The cringeingly-dubbed Brexit is now over, the “Leave” camp won by a narrow margin (which might well not have existed if all British expats in the EU had been allowed to vote), racist aggression is predictably on the rise, the poor regions who rely on EU subsidies to survive are having major “Oh fuck” moments, both Sterling and the stock markets have plummeted, the UK’s credit rating has fallen, and businesses are already beginning to pull out. That’s a far from exhaustive list…

Continue reading → Take control! on Plague of Mice.

“Lyn” the antivax troll astounds the world

The post “Lyn” the antivax troll astounds the world by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.


OK, this yet another post on antivax dingalings. Before the Paranoid Pragmatophobes start screaming “bullying”, please note:

• the comments refer to a pseudonymous account, and 
• it is representative of the anti-vax lunacy stalking social media and trying to infect all who come into contact with it. 

Today’s Specimen goes by the handle of “Lyn”. “Lyn” is, to put it delicately, a raging fruitcake who was recently spotted yelling at autism advocate Liz Ditz and vaccine advocate Dorit Reiss. Among much other dangerous fuckwittery, she is fond of spouting the tired old lie that vaccines cause autism. A swift glance at her – I assume it’s a her, but you never know with pseudonymous accounts – timeline reveals extreme conspiralunacy: Natural News, Mercola, plus Troofer/Prepper sites like Last Great Stand. It may come as a shock to you, but Natural News and Mercola seem to be the sanest of the three… Continue reading →

How not to defend homeopathy

The story so far: four years ago, I wrote a post entitled Milk in Homeopathy, a Spiritual Perspective which merrily ripped apart the patronising speculations of one Claudia Dias, aka urbanhealing, aka undercover_homeopath, an especially outrageous and mercenary quack. Apart from a few angry screeches from Dias, nobody rushed forward to defend her and even less to defend homeopathy. Until now, that is. Sort of.

This was sent via the site contact form yesterday:

I was a cynic like you, though not angry and arrogant. I took homeopathy to prove it wrong, and it backfired and healed me …

 Continue reading →


The post How not to defend homeopathy by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

Daniel Dereser, CEO of Boiron Canada, lying for Big Sugar

The post Daniel Dereser, CEO of Boiron Canada, lying for Big Sugar by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

I am deeply saddened to have to report to you that not only has Dana Ullman’s circumcised-penis-in-a-shirt look apparently become popular among homeopathy shills, so has his practice of taking the name of scientific studies and meta-analyses in vain. I don’t know why they do it: all this stuff is online and easily verified. Are they really that balls-out brazen that they imagine potential marks are too fucking stupid to look anything up? Probably. Are they themselves so fucking stupid that they think blocking anybody who spots and denounces their shenanigans on social media will silence criticism, and make everything nice and cosy again? Certainly.
Here’s an example: Daniel Dereser, of Boiron Canada. That’s him in the appallingly inept photo on the left. Dereser blocked me for pointing out, quite politely and with evidence, that his claim in the tweet below is incorrect.

2005 Lancet meta-analysis showing strong evidences on … Continue reading →

Renita Herrmann, Homeopath

The post Renita Herrmann, Homeopath by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.
Yes, I know. More fucking homeopathy. Look, it’s not my fault if it’s the most widespread and persistent form of fuckwittery outwith organised religion, ok? I’ve got a new one for you today: Renita Herrmann, aka @sfhomeopath on Twitter.

Renita Herrmann’s idea of making an honest living is telling the good people of San Francisco that she can cure “acid reflux, allergies, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, autism – CEASE Therapy, behavior problems, colds and flu, constipation, depression, diabetes, dietary issues (IBS, Crohn), eczema, headaches, indigestion, menopause, menstrual irregularity, mononucleosis, panic attacks, PMS, psoriasis, PTSD, rheumatism, sleep problems, weight problems.”

Mostly, you will note, self-limiting conditions or chronic diseases subject to flare-ups. However, at least one death has been attributed to treating eczema with homeopathy. Cease therapy, which I have so far been incapable of eviscerating without feeling the perfectly understandable urge to interrogate the local homeopaths with the aid of a … Continue reading →

The money behind the antivaccine movement

The post The money behind the antivaccine movement by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.
This is good. Oh, this is good. A CNN journalist follows the money.

Fib, fib Hurairah, the Black Seed Scammer

The post Fib, fib Hurairah, the Black Seed Scammer by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

It’s often said that, if you’re going to tell a lie, make it a big ‘un. The logic behind this is: the more outrageous it seems, the more likely you are to be believed, or at least get away with it for long enough to make a getaway.

I’ve never bought into that. It certainly doesn’t wash on t’Internet, as it’s far too easy to check the facts. This is something people like “the Black Seed Expert aka Barbi or Barbara Trejo, aka Samantha Davis, aka Maria or Um Hurairah, aka Andrew Huff, and many many more” would do well to remember. Hurairah calls herself the Black Seed Expert and I got very angry over her vicious lies and bullying attitude here: Black seed oil: A Cure For All Disease Except Stupid. It is not a pretty read.

In fact, the situation is far worse. She’s not just a gibbering …

 Continue reading →

Sepsis & Shamelessness with Sandra Hermann-Courtney

The post Sepsis & Shamelessness with Sandra Hermann-Courtney by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

This is  not a “ho-ho-ho, let’s have a good laugh at the expense of some starry-eyed idiots” post. It’s a “these bastards make me really fucking angry” post.

Sepsis is a nasty thing to get, and can very easily become a nasty way to die. A large number of sepsis deaths can be prevented if people know the signs to watch for. If you’ve been following the trends on social media recently, you may have spotted a huge flurry of activity, especially around the #sepsis hashtag on Twitter. Unfortunately, so did the resident homeopathy trolls, notably Sandra Hermann-Courtney. We’ve already encountered the despicable SHC in such gems as:

• The homeopath who cried “Block and report” 
• Fighting for Fuckwittery: Enemies of Homeopathy 
• WTF Special: How to choose a homeopath 
• Hermann-Courtney: Help! Help! We’re being oppressed by people asking for evidence! 

… to list but a few. Up to now, she had … Continue reading →

Can we go back and change the past? asks Lynne McTaggart

The post Can we go back and change the past? asks Lynne McTaggart by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

The Egregious Lynne, Saint and Martyr, is at it again. There are times when you wonder if the woman isn’t knowingly pushing bullshit for profit, à la Food Babe, then she brainfarts out something as dumbfuck Stoopid as this:

Can we go back and change the past?
One of the most basic assumptions about intention is that it operates according to a generally accepted sense of cause and effect: if A causes B, then A must have happened first. This assumption reflects one of our deepest beliefs, that time is a one-way, forward-moving arrow. What we do today cannot affect what happened yesterday. 

However, a sizeable body of the scientific evidence about intention violates these basic assumptions about causation. Research has demonstrated clear instances of time-reversed effects, where effect precedes cause. Indeed, some of the largest effects occur when intention is sent out of strict time sequence… 

There’s loads more … Continue reading →

Homeopathic A&E? They would if they could

The post Homeopathic A&E? They would if they could by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.
In the outer reaches of the whackosphere, you can always be sure of finding a homeopath making insane claims for their little sugar pills, from curing imaginary ailments to treatments for very real ones. In spite of professing reverence for Hahnemann – it’s bad enough if you’re trying to claim scientific rigour if you treat texts written in the late 18th century as gospel – they nevertheless ignore his teachings that homeopathy should never be used as prophylaxis. Nor, as far as I can tell, did he advise using homeopathy to treat injuries. Nevertheless, like the fanatics who claim the right to refuse goods and services to beleaguered minorities in the name of Christianity, homeopathic “vaccines” and first aid kits are on sale everywhere. No links, the damn stuff is easy enough to find; just check out the usual suspects.

You’ll almost certainly remember a Mitchell and Webb sketch called … Continue reading →

Beth Landau-Halpern: Coming Out – as a homeopath

The post Beth Landau-Halpern: Coming Out – as a homeopath by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

There’s offensive and then there’s offensive. It’s unpleasant enough that homeopaths such as Landau-Halpern take others for idiots, pushing their ridiculous and pointless nostrums for all kinds of malaise, real or imagined. It’s downright out of fucking order that she should try to hijack the problems of a minority group in an attempt to portray herself as a martyr and hero.

Witness this raging brainshite:

This blog is my “coming out” statement – my coming out of hibernation, where I retreated for safety after a long year of being pilloried for being a homeopath, talking about homeopathy, being involved in research in homeopathy, and teaching about non-conventional paradigms of medicine. My antagonists were a small, but vocal and nasty minority from print media, social media, and the scientific community. 

You might be tempted to a tiny feeling of pity for her. Don’t give in to it. This is not some … Continue reading →