Osteopathy making a mockery of academia and evidence-based healthcare

The TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (THE) reported yesterday that the British School of Osteopathy (BSO) has won university college title, meaning that it could be on the road towards full university status. University college title, awarded by the Privy Council on the advice of the Department for Education (DfE) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, is usually seen as a step towards full university status. The London-based BSO already secured degree-awarding powers and access to Hefce public teaching and research funding in 2015. The BSO will be known, from September, as the University College of Osteopathy...

Read on: Osteopathy making a mockery of academia and evidence-based healthcare

GMC registered medical practitioners should not prescribe homeopathically prepared remedies

Guest post by Richard Rawlins MB BS MBA FRCS

Doctors who are registered medical practitioners (RMPs) must comply with the standards of practice set down by the General Medical Council. ‘Homeopathy’ is a specific system of medical care, devised by Dr Samuel Hahnemann in the nineteenth century, and comprises two distinct dimensions: (i) the establishment of a constructive therapeutic relationship between an empathic homeopath and a patient. This may provide benefit due to the non-specific effects of condolence, counselling, and care – and should be a component of the practice of all doctors in any event; (ii) the homeopathically prepared (HP) remedies that are generally prescribed. To avoid confusion, these two dimensions should not be conflated […]

Read the rest here: GMC registered medical practitioners should not prescribe homeopathically prepared remedies

American Loon #1889: Lane Lester

... Lane Lester is a Professor of Biology at Emmanuel Missionary College (or, as it is currently known, Andrew University), Georgia – a small, extremist, Pentecostal college that offers non-accredited “education” – and Regional Representative of the Institute for Creation Research. Lester calls himself a “creationist geneticist”...

Read the full lunacy: #1889: Lane Lester Encyclopedia of American Loons

Should the ‘Faculty of Homeopathy’ be reported to the General Medical Council?

The UK ‘Faculty of Homeopathy’ (FoH) is the professional body of British doctors who specialise in homeopathy. As doctors, FoH members have been to medical school and should know about evidence, science etc., I had always thought. But perhaps I was mistaken?

The FoH has a website with an interesting new post entitled ‘Scientific evidence […]

Read the rest here: Should the ‘Faculty of Homeopathy’ be reported to the General Medical Council?

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Under Investigation For False Health Claims | IFLScience

An advertising watchdog has filed a complaint against Gwyneth Paltrow's now infamous lifestyle company, Goop. The nonprofit Truth in Advertising (TINA) sent out a letter to two district attorneys connected to the California Food, Drug and Medical Task Force, criticizing the company for promoting over 50 unsubstantiated (and illegal) health claims... Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Under Investigation For False Health Claims | IFLScience

2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #34

A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week. 

Editor's Pick

Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns 

 

Harvesting rice in Viet Nam. Global rice consumption trends are rising. Photo: FAO/Hoang Dinh Nam

With global warming expected to significantly impact future yields in countries located closer to the equator, the United Nations agriculture agency is calling on Asia-Pacific economies to take a leading role in adaptation and mitigation.

“Many APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] economies have already felt the full force of agricultural losses from natural disasters in recent years, with the vast majority of these being climate related,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

Geographically, the negative impact of climate change on agricultural output could result in lower yields of rice, wheat, corn and soybeans in countries with tropical climates, compared with the impacts experienced by those in higher latitudes. Fisheries could also be affected by changes to water temperature, warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today.

“The annual tally runs into the billions and billions of dollars in losses. So, the time to act is now. Policy makers need to prepare for changes in supply, shifting trade patterns and a need for greater investment in agriculture, fisheries, land and water management, that will benefit smallholder farmers and others that produce our food,” Mr. Kadiresan added.

Many vital agricultural regions in Asia are at risk of crossing key climate thresholds that would cause plant and animal productivity to decline, according to a meeting in Viet Nam of Agriculture Ministers of APEC member economies.

Based on the findings of the global research community, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) anticipates that these trends are expected to worsen in the future with the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change.

Much can be done to increase the efficiency of agriculture and land-use activities in Asia, according to Mr. Kadiresan. 

Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns, UN News Center, Aug 25, 2017

---

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Aug 20, 2017

• Curbing climate change: Why it’s so hard to act in time by Timothy H. Dixon, The Conversation US, Aug 17, 2017
• What should you say to a climate change skeptic? by Mira Abed, Los Angeles, Aug 18, 2017
• Researcher finds new evidence of western forest decline by Daniel Grossman, Yale Climate Connections, Aug 17, 2017
• The Trump administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change by Juliet Eilperin, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 20, 2017
• Let Monday’s eclipse be a call to action on climate change, Opinion by Rabbi Dan Fink, Idaho Statesman, Aug 18, 2017
• Britain’s seabird colonies face catastrophe as warming waters disrupt their food supply by Robin McKie, Observer/Guardian, Aug 19, 2017
• This Q&A Is Top Secret, Contains Leaked Info and Definitely Was Not Peer Reviewed by Theresa Riley, Moyers & Company, Aug 18, 2017
• Climate advisory group died quietly by Michael Doyle & Brittany Patterson, ClimateWire, Aug 17, 2017

Mon Aug 21, 2017

• Volkswagen To Bring Back The Iconic Microbus In 2022 — Only This Time It's Electric by Joann Muller, Forbes, Aug 19, 2017
• Q&A: The return of UK fracking and what it could mean for the climate by Jocelyn Timperley, Carbon Brief, Aug 16, 2017
• Arctic voyage notes global warming’s impact on ice, animals by Frank Jordan, AP/Fairbanks Daily News Miner, Aug 20, 2017
• What Happens to Solar Power in an Eclipse? We’ll Find Out Monday by Brad Pulmer, Climate, New York Times, Aug 18, 2017
• Greenland: how rapid climate change on world’s largest island will affect us all by Kathryn Adamson, The Conversation UK, Aug 18, 2017
• The Fundamentalists Holding Us Back from a Climate Change Solution by Allie Conti, Vice, Aug 20, 2017
• How Deeply Will Rising Temperatures Cut into Crop Yields? by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Aug 21, 2017
• Are the floating houses of the Netherlands a solution against the rising seas? by Olga Mecking, Pacific Standard, Aug 21, 2017

Tue Aug 22, 2017

• Climate Change May Shrink the World’s Fish by Graig Welch, National Geographic, Aug 21, 2017
• How Climate Change Canceled the Grizzly Salmon Run by Ed Young, The Atlantic, Aug 21, 2017
• Climate Change Solutions: Bringing Forests to Center Stage by Nancy Harris & Donna Lee, World Resources Instittue, Aug 21, 2017
• A controversial California effort to fight climate change just got some good news by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 21, 2017
• California power grid survives solar eclipse unscathed by David R Baker, SF Gate, Aug 21, 2017
• Agriculture a culprit in global warming, says U.S. research by Ellen Wulfhorst, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Aug 22, 2017
• People Furthest Apart on Climate Views Are Often the Most Educated by Umair Irfan, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Aug 22, 2017
• Can Anyone, Even Walmart, Stem The Heat-Trapping Flood Of Nitrogen On Farms? by Dan Charles, NPR News, Aug 21, 2017

Wed Aug 23, 2017

• Doctors must respond to changes in the politics of climate change by Gary W Yohe & Kristie L Ebi, Stat, Aug 22, 2017
• Will the U.S. Ever Build Another Big Coal Plant? by Benjamin Storrow, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Aug 21, 2017
• The World Eyes Yet Another Unconventional Source of Fossil Fuels by Nicola Jones, Yale Environment 360, Aug 21, 2017
• Alaska’s Permafrost Is Thawing by Henry Fountain, New York Times, Aug 23, 2017
• Harvard scientists took Exxon’s challenge; found it using the tobacco playbook by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
• The Surprising Effect of Ocean Waves on Global Climate by Tim Lougheed, Ensia, Aug 22, 2017
• Tropical Depression Harvey an Extremely Dangerous Flood Threat for Texas, Louisiana; Hurricane, Storm Surge Watches Issued by Jon Erdman, Weather Underground, Aug 23, 2017
• Why is climate change’s 2 degrees Celsius of warming limit so important? by David Titley, The Conversation US, Aug 22, 2017

Thu Aug 24, 2017

• In Italy’s Drought-Hit Vineyards, the Harvest of a Changing Climate by Jason Horowitz, New York Times, Aug 22, 2017
• The Fight Against Climate Change Could Get Unexpected Help from Seaweed by Dom Galeon, Futurism, Aug 23, 2017
• Another US agency deletes references to climate change on government website by Jamiles Lartey, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
• Tropical Storm Harvey projected to become 'major hurricane' by Nicole Chavez, CNN, Aug 24, 2017
• Trump keeps saying ‘clean coal.’ It does not mean what he thinks it means. by Dino Gandino, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 23, 2017
• Typhoon Hato, a maximum category 10 storm, slams into Hong Kong, Macau, AAP/New Zealand Herald, Aug 23, 2017
• Coal in decline: an energy industry on life support by Adam Morton, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
• Nine states aggressively step up plans to cut emissions by David Abel, Boston Globe, Aug 23, 2017

Fri Aug 25, 2017

• How machine learning could help to improve climate forecasts by Nicola Jones, Nature, Aug 23, 2017
• Can we save our lakes from global warming? by Bob Berwyn, Deutsche Welle, Aug 23, 2017
• New study finds that climate change costs will hit Trump country hardest by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Aug 24, 2017
• Hurricane Harvey Is Going to Slam Into Texas and the National Flood Insurance Program Is a Mess by Nathalie Baptiste, Climate Desk/Mother Jones, Aug 25, 2017
• Harvey’s intensity and rainfall potential tied to global warming by Brendan Gibbons, San Antonio Express-News, Aug 25, 2017
• Thirsty world must wake up to looming water crisis, expert says by Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Aug 24, 2017
• I was an Exxon-funded climate scientist by Katharine Hayhoe, The Conversation US, Aug 24, 2017
• What you can and can’t say about climate change and Hurricane Harvey by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 25, 2017

Sat Aug 26, 2017

• Failure to Set Cost of Carbon Hampers Trump’s Effort to Expand Use of Fossil Fuels by Andrew Revkin, ProPublica, Aug 24, 2017
• We’ve been underestimating the solar industry’s momentum. That could be a big problem by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 25, 2017
• Worst monsoon floods in years kill more than 1,200 across South Asia by Jatindra Dash & Ruma Paul, Reuters, Aug 25, 2017
• Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns, UN News Center, Aug 25, 2017
• Russian tanker sails through Arctic without icebreaker for first time by Patrick Barkham, Guardian, Aug 24, 2017
• Climate Change Is Making This Bolivian Village a Ghost Town by Ben Walker, InsideClimate News, Aug 25, 2017

from Skeptical Science http://www.skepticalscience.com/news.php?n=3861
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American Loon #1888: Bryan Leonard

Bryan Leonard is one of the alleged martyrs featured in the creationist movement's dishonest “academic freedom” campaigns, people having been the victim of what Intelligent Design creationists would describe as oppression by the Darwinist establishment (i.e. actual scientists with actual expertise and a commitment to science). A more comprehensive description of the so-called Bryan Leonard affair can be found here. We’ll just provide a brief recap...

Read the full lunacy: #1888: Bryan Leonard Encyclopedia of American Loons

Richard Eaton’s excellent update on developments around complementary medicine

Dear edzard
I am sending you Richard Eaton’s excellent update on developments around complementary medicine. As you will know, the College is supportive of an integrated approach that offers each patient the best of both worlds – conventional and complementary. In both worlds it is important that treatment and advice offered is safe, appropriate and evidence […]

Read the rest here: Richard Eaton’s excellent update on developments around complementary medicine

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

The German ‘Heilpraktiker’ is a dangerous and anachronistic nonsense

I have mentioned the German alt med phenomenon of the ‘Heilpraktiker’ before. For instance, a year ago I wrote this:

…The German ‘Heilpraktiker’ (literally translated: healing practitioner) is perhaps best understood by its fascinating history. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, German health care was dominated by lay practitioners who were organised in […]

Read the rest here: The German ‘Heilpraktiker’ is a dangerous and anachronistic nonsense

American Loon #1887: Peter Leithart

Peter Leithart is a theocrat and president of Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Alabama. He is also the author of numerous books, some coauthored with George Grant or Gary DeMar, including a series of children’s bedtime stories that we...

Read the full lunacy: #1887: Peter Leithart Encyclopedia of American Loons

Oh, that glorious and ubiquitous BS about homeopathy !!!

I have been collecting pictures posted by homeopaths on Twitter. When I say collection, I am exaggerating: it takes only about 10 minutes to find what I posted below.

Let’s hope that my collection cures some people from the desire to try homeopathy.

For those who, after having had a look at the pictures, still […]

Read the rest here: Oh, that glorious and ubiquitous BS about homeopathy !!!

American Loon #1886: Noson Leiter

More from the fuming, delusional hatred department. Noson Leiter, of the rather unappealingly named Torah Jews for Decency, is apparently one of the Religious Right’s favorite rabbis, and has appeared at Tea Party conferences along with luminaries like Rick Scarborough. Leiter rose to a modicum of...

Read the full lunacy: #1886: Noson Leiter Encyclopedia of American Loons

‘BIG PHARMA’ is secretly funding skeptic organizations to defame homeopathy

This article could well be proof that homeopathy is ineffective against paranoia.

START OF QUOTE

Given the fact that homeopathy has met with resistance simultaneously on multiple fronts, many are wondering if this is an organized effort. Dr. Larry Malerba, who has practiced homeopathic medicine for more than 25 years, says that he has never […]

Read the rest here: ‘BIG PHARMA’ is secretly funding skeptic organizations to defame homeopathy

Are critics of chiropractic ‘carpet bombers’?

A recent comment by a chiropractor told us this:

“If the critics do not take step 2 [point out what’s right and support] then they are entrenched carpet bombers who see reform and reformers as acceptable collateral damage. That makes them just as much a part of the problem when it comes to reform as […]

Read the rest here: Are critics of chiropractic ‘carpet bombers’?

California SB277 lawsuit update – judge rejected Torrey-Love

On August 15, 2017 Judge Charles D. Wachob from the Placer County Superior court granted the state’s demurrer to the California SB277 lawsuit (known as Torrey-Love).  In lay terms, dismissed the suit without leave to amend. Demurrer is generally granted when, assuming all the facts plaintiffs claimed are true, the court sees no legal basis for the suit, in technical terms, no cause of action...

Read on: California SB277 lawsuit update – judge rejected Torrey-Love

American Loon #1885: Tim LeFever

Tim LeFever is a two-time Republican nominee for Congress in the Sacramento area, chairman of the board of the Capitol Resource Institute, member of the board of directors of The Pacific Justice Institute – both fundie anti-gay organizations, if you wondered – and occasional writer for Townhall...

Read the full lunacy: #1885: Tim LeFever Encyclopedia of American Loons

Chiropractic for kids: a pack of offensive lies

It is bad enough to mislead adult patients into believing that chiropractic is effective for conditions for which it is clearly not. However, it is far worse, in my view, to do that for paediatric conditions.

There is no doubt that chiropractors continue to treat children and advertise their services for childhood conditions. I am […]

Read the rest here: Chiropractic for kids: a pack of offensive lies

American Loon #1884: Sin Hang Lee

Sin Hang Lee is an MD and formerly pathologist at the Milford Hospital pathology laboratory (where he received the boot in 2010), who has gained a reputation for himself for scaremongering about the Gardasil vaccine (facts here). His ideas about HPV DNA are silly and have been widely...

Read the full lunacy: #1884: Sin Hang Lee Encyclopedia of American Loons

Alternative medicine kills cancer patients – Science-Based Medicine

Alternative medicine, by definition, consists medicine that either has not been shown to work or has been shown not to work. To paraphrase an old adage yet again, medicine that has been shown to work with an acceptable risk-benefit ceases to be “alternative” and becomes simply “medicine.”

Unlike the case for many conditions commonly treated with alternative medicine, whether or not a treatment works against cancer is determined by its impact on the hardest of “hard” endpoints: Survival...

Read more: Alternative medicine kills cancer patients – Science-Based Medicine

Is chiropractic subluxation a notion of the past? SADLY NOT!

How often have we heard that chiropractic has moved on and has given up the concept of subluxation/malalignment? For sure there is no evidence for such nonsense, and it would be high time to give it up! But, as has been argued here and elsewhere, if chiros give it up, what is there left? What […]

Read the rest here: Is chiropractic subluxation a notion of the past? SADLY NOT!

American Loon #1883: Richard Lee

Most people are aware of conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 or the JFK shootings, but it turns out to be difficult to find a major event in history that has not been subjected to conspiracy theory. There is a whole industry of conspiracies surrounding the suicide of Kurt Cobain, for instance, and...

Read the full lunacy: #1883: Richard Lee Encyclopedia of American Loons

Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival | JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute | Oxford Academic

Abstract
There is limited available information on patterns of utilization and efficacy of alternative medicine (AM) for patients with cancer. We identified 281 patients with nonmetastatic breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer who chose AM, administered as sole anticancer treatment among patients who did not receive conventional cancer treatment (CCT), defined as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and/or hormone therapy. Independent covariates on multivariable logistic regression associated with increased likelihood of AM use included breast or lung cancer, higher socioeconomic status, Intermountain West or Pacific location, stage II or III disease, and low comorbidity score. Following 2:1 matching (CCT = 560 patients and AM = 280 patients) on Cox proportional hazards regression, AM use was independently associated with greater risk of death compared with CCT overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.88 to 3.27) and in subgroups with breast (HR = 5.68, 95% CI = 3.22 to 10.04), lung (HR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.42 to 3.32), and colorectal cancer (HR = 4.57, 95% CI = 1.66 to 12.61). Although rare, AM utilization for curable cancer without any CCT is associated with greater risk of death...

More details here:Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival | JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute | Oxford Academic

NB: full paper is behind paywall.

Use of alternative medicine hastens death of cancer patients

This press-release caught my eye today. It relates to an article that does not seem to be available yet (at least when I looked it was not on Medline). As it is highly relevant to issues that we have repeatedly discussed on this blog, let me quote the important sections of the press-release instead:

To […]

Read the rest here: Use of alternative medicine hastens death of cancer patients

This post discusses the paper referenced by us here (abstract only)

Do Babies Get Too Many Vaccines?

American Loon #1882: Dennis Lee (II)

Almost certainly not the same person as last entry’s Dennis Lee, this entry’s Dennis Lee is senior pastor of Living Waters Fellowship in Mesquite. Interestingly, “Living Waters” is also the name of Ray Comfort’s publishing company. This may or may not be a coincidence; we sort of suspect it’s not....

Read the full lunacy: #1882: Dennis Lee (II) Encyclopedia of American Loons

This Canadian doctor is going head-to-head with Gwyneth Paltrow over Goop | Toronto Star

Dr. Jen Gunter has been blogging about health and evidence-based medicine for seven years. But it’s her willingness to call out celebrity pseudo-science — in sometimes colourful language — that appears to be getting under Gwyneth Paltrow’s skin...

Read more: This Canadian doctor is going head-to-head with Gwyneth Paltrow over Goop | Toronto Star

Measles outbreaks – time to stop the madness of the anti-vaccinationists

We have repeatedly discussed on this blog the fact that many alternative practitioners are advising their patients against vaccinations, e. g.:

• Governments take action to prevent vaccination-rates from falling 
• Use of alternative medicine is associated with low vaccination rates 
• Integrative medicine physicians tend to harbour anti-vaccination views 
• Vaccination: chiropractors “espouse views which aren’t evidence based” […]

Read the rest here: Measles outbreaks – time to stop the madness of the anti-vaccinationists

American Loon #1881: Dennis Lee (I)

A legend in pseudoscience circles, Dennis Lee is the head of Better World Technologies and United Community Services of America, a company that markets pretty much every piece of ridiculous nonsense technology or “technology” you can imagine, from healing devices that use zero-point energy to...

Read the full lunacy: #1881: Dennis Lee (I) Encyclopedia of American Loons

AVN achieves precedent-setting government immigration ban for overseas antivaxers | reasonable hank

When I first encountered the anti-vaccination pressure group, the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network, over 8 years ago, as a part of Stop the Australian (Anti) Vaccination Network, one of the first things which became apparent was that the anti-vaccination activists would become self-fulfilling prophecies – due to their verbose, unearned hubris, along with their vilification of bereaved families, and their attacks on doctors and other public health workers, and their attacks on the media, and their attacks on politicians – who would succeed in bringing about that which they were, at that stage, strawmanning for business: fighting against (then-nonexistent) compulsory vaccination and the censure of their as-yet unchecked and lucrative, awful behaviour...

Read on: AVN achieves precedent-setting government immigration ban for overseas antivaxers | reasonable hank

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

Gerson therapy: a treatment to avoid at all cost

The Gerson therapy, CANCER RESEARCH UK correctly informs us, is an alternative therapy which means it is usually used instead of conventional cancer treatment. It aims to rid the body of toxins and strengthen the body’s immune system. There is no scientific evidence that Gerson therapy can treat cancer. In fact, in certain situations Gerson […]

Read the rest here: Gerson therapy: a treatment to avoid at all cost

This gynecologist is taking on Trump, Goop — and wacky health trends | STAT

... In her war with Goop, Gunter positions herself above the fray because she’s not selling anything. She doesn’t take money from drug companies. She writes, she said, because she’s alarmed by the growing rift between evidence-based medicine and alternative therapies....

Read all about it here: This gynecologist is taking on Trump, Goop — and wacky health trends

Addressing misconceptions on measles vaccination | ecdc

Since the introduction of vaccination, myths and misconceptions regarding vaccination have been present. Scientific research in psychology has shown that addressing these misconceptions is difficult: mere reading about a myth, even about a myth’s refutation, can strengthen the myth, rather than weaken its influence. Likewise, an explicit and strong negation of a risk can paradoxically increase rather than decrease the perception of risk in readers. The steps outlined below, proposed in the scientific literature, aim to help public health professionals address vaccination misconceptions in the best possible way.

• Core facts: a refutation should always emphasize the facts, not the myth. The introduction should only present key facts easy to memorize.
• Explicit warnings: before any mention of a myth, text, visual or oral cues should clearly warn that the upcoming information is false.
• Alternative explanation: any knowledge gaps left by addressing misconceptions linked to vaccination should be filled by providing an alternative casual explanation for why the myth is false.
• Graphics: core facts should be displayed graphically when possible.
• Careful language: moderate language and formulations should always be used when saying that there is no risk as strong negations of risk may backfire and lead to a higher risk perception.

Measles is a serious disease ...

Read on: Addressing misconceptions on measles vaccination (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

Inside the anti-vax cult: Cathering and Greg Hughes bombarded with vicious attacked 24 hours after their baby son Riley’s death | Herald Sun

WITHIN 24 hours of their baby boy’s death, Catherine and Greg Hughes were confronted with the ugliness that drives the misinformed anti-vax warriors.

The grieving parents were bombarded with vicious attacks claiming they were “baby-killers” and that their infant son Riley had died because they did not treat him with vitamins and essential oils...

Full exposé here: Inside the anti-vax cult: Cathering and Greg Hughes bombarded with vicious attacked 24 hours after their baby son Riley’s death | Herald Sun

New review confirms: neck manipulations are dangerous

On this blog, we have often discussed the risks of spinal manipulation. As I see it, the information we have at present suggests that:

• mild to moderate adverse effects are extremely frequent and occur in about half of all patients; 
• serious adverse effects are being reported regularly; 
• they occur usually with chiropractic manipulations of the […]

Read the rest here: New review confirms: neck manipulations are dangerous

Encyclopedia of American Loons #1880: Bill Ledbetter

Bill Ledbetter is the pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma, wingnut, creationist and proponent of David Barton-style pseudohistory and Christian Nation nonsense. As such, he has for instance been invited to serve as the weekly chaplain for the Oklahoma legislature, and his 15-minute sermon there sums up his lunacy pretty well (discussion here and here and here; follow the links if you for some reason want to hear the original – it is gloriously insane): Ledbetter started off by claiming that “America is the only nation in history that’s been under one governing document her whole history,” which is false...

Full glorious lunacy here: Encyclopedia of American Loons - #1880: Bill Ledbetter

Bastyr University sent me a cease and desist letter - Naturopathic Diaries

On Friday, July 21, 2017, I received a cease and desist letter from Bastyr’s lawyer, which alleges I have defamed the university by making willfully false statements that hurt its reputation. They are demanding that I remove purported defamatory material from the internet. You can read the letter below...

Bastyr University sent me a cease and desist letter - Naturopathic Diaries

Just the Vax: All Those HPV Vaccine Deaths Aren't After All

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS is a surveillance program designed to monitor post-market vaccine safety.  It is a passive surveillance system which means that entries are largely self-reported although healthcare professionals and vaccine manufacturers are required by law to report any adverse events from vaccines...

Full details: Just the Vax: All Those HPV Vaccine Deaths Aren't After All

Alex Jones: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Alex Jones is known for pushing conspiracy theories, but he also spends a lot of time promoting his own products. John Oliver and a “doctor” “from” M.I.T. test out his marketing strategy.





(for my money, the best line is "only found in comets... and trace amounts in blueberries" - AT)

Chiropractic is excellent … for comic relief!!!

Chiropractic may not be effective (as discussed often here); it also is not nearly as safe as chiropractors claim (as discussed often here), but it is excellent for making me – and I hope many others too – laugh heartily. If you doubt it, please read this article:

START OF QUOTE

… “People come in with […]

Read the rest here: Chiropractic is excellent … for comic relief!!!

A response to Why you can fuck off when you say I NEED to vaccinate my children… – Vaccinate Your Damn Kids

This is my first blog post! Yay! I am going to respond to the oh so popular blog entitled, “Why you can fuck off when you say I NEED to vaccinate my children…”

“Below are not my words, they are words of a friend, I have been given permission to use them. I am not going to be bullied any longer. I am not going to put up with “well, my child is fully vaccinated and fine.” Because I am not fine and I refuse to put my children at risk because your child is fine...”

Read on: A response to Why you can fuck off when you say I NEED to vaccinate my children… – Vaccinate Your Damn Kids

Mainstream medicine is partly to blame for the 'treatments' Goop promotes

It is easy to mock the ridiculous and potentially harmful health advice and product lines promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow and her team at Goop. Sleeping near healing crystals, lugging around jade eggs in the vagina, swilling moon juice, undergoing raw goat milk cleanses, dabbing on sex dust, and snapping photos of your aura are just some of the ridiculous treatments and remedies offered at high prices to those looking for health ideas from a movie star.

The mocking may be a bit understated. How does this company and other equally daffy outfits pull off these highly lucrative health scams?

Read on: Mainstream medicine is partly to blame for the 'treatments' Goop promotes

Universal Medicine small town woes & GLOBAL gossip July 2017 | Universal Medicine SCAM Exposed

Unfortunately Tenterfield, a small town near the border of NSW and Queensland, will have to deal with the Girl to Woman Festival on August 27 and all the Universal Medicine/Esoteric Women’s Health cult parasites that come with it.

A reader found this poster in a local shop and the shopkeeper was happy for her to take it down. The shopkeeper had never heard of UM, or Esoteric Breast Massage and like most people, she didn’t want a bar of it...

Universal Medicine small town woes & GLOBAL gossip July 2017 | Universal Medicine SCAM Exposed

No alternative medicine ever disappears when shown to be ineffective: The case of laetrile – Respectful Insolence

... In the early 1980s, clinical trials showed that laetrile had no appreciable anticancer effect in humans and that it was also toxic. (The reason, of course, is the cyanide.) In science-based medicine, that would have been that. The treatment would have been abandoned. But that’s not how alternative medicine works....

Read more: No alternative medicine ever disappears when shown to be ineffective: The case of laetrile – Respectful Insolence

Paul Offit MD – debunking the anti-vaccine tropes and myths

... Unfortunately, since Dr. Offit is considered one of the “leaders” of the pro-vaccine majority, his name has been demonized by the anti-vaccine cult. These people use the Big Lie, a Nazi propaganda technique where a known falsehood is repeatedly stated, then treated as if it is self-evidently true in hopes of swaying the course of an argument in a direction that takes the big lie for granted rather than critically questioning it or ignoring it....

Read the full post: Paul Offit MD – debunking the anti-vaccine tropes and myths

This blog may not be what you think it is

Someone alerted me to this article – and I was delighted, of course:

While social media might feel at times like it is all about food, fashion and celebrities, there can be much more to it than that. You can transform your feeds into places of scientific discovery, if you just follow the right people […]

Read the rest here: This blog may not be what you think it is