Medicine

Vaccines save lives … anti-vaccine beliefs kill.

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25 year old Gareth Williams has become the first person with measles to die in the latest Swansea outbreak. So why in the 21st century, an age of highly effective vaccines, do we now once again have an outbreak of a very preventable highly infectious disease? It is all down to one man, Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced Doctor who was struck … Read more

Alternative medicines can’t escape the long arm of the law

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Edzard Ernst is an impressive chap, not only is he a prize-winning physician, but he is also the founder of two medical journals. And if that is not enough, he was also the first chair in complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and is also the co-author of “Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on … Read more

Magic Pill Awareness week

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Apparently April 10-16 was World Homeopathy Awareness Week. Hey, I’m all for that, I just love the idea of folks become more aware of Homeopathy and what it is “really” all about. Now, before we get into the latest news, let me be blunt and direct … it does not work. Homeopathy’s efficacy is unsupported … Read more

Top five regrets of the dying

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The UK’s Guardian has a story that claims to list the “Top five regrets of the dying“. The background is that Bronnie Ware, a palliative nurse based in Australia who counselled the dying in their last days, has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. OK, I know you are … Read more

Burzynski Quackery … some updates, and some good news.

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I’ve a few Burzynski quackery updates for you. First is the news that Rhys Morgan, the 17-year-old skeptical blogger, has an article published in today’s UK Guardian (now that is impressive). He writes  about the details behind the Burzynski saga and then finishes with a very good quote that nails it … “[Plaintiffs] cannot, by simply … Read more

Antioxidants – The Evidence is: they don’t work

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When it comes to  antioxidant supplements I’ve been as guilty as most and have indeed in the past purchased and popped a few of these with the thought in the back of my mind that I was being health. Alas, I was simply fooling myself, the weight of evidence now available suggests that the antioxidant supplements on sale today either do nothing or might even cause harm to your long term health.

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