Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Is the legal banning of quackery a Freedom of Speech issue? It seems like a question with an obvious answer. It is also of interest because it was recently tested by a federal court. The specific case concerned Nutritionist Heather Del Castillo. The whisper was that she practising without a license and so the state … Read more
Over on Science Based Medicine Steve Novella highlights a bit of radioactive quackery that has popped up. His source is an article from Thailand. There officials have discovered and pulled the plug on a scam that involved selling people an ‘energy card’ that you buy to supposedly … “improve the immune system, strengthen the heart … Read more
In the US the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has conducted their second Cancer poll and has just released the results. Side note: The word Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. In other words, ASCO are the subject matter experts. They have a keen interest … Read more
There is a new article that has been published within the BMJ using the above question. Spoiler alert, the answer is “yes”. The article is not really asking the question, but instead is laying out the empirical evidence that confirms that this is exactly what is going on. The pattern is perhaps familiar. Somebody, perhaps … Read more
Radio Canada Internation reports the reactions being made by many in response to a new course that offers to train you in quackery. They are not alone, other have deployed similar criticism. The course on offer is Homeopathy … Starting this fall, Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, will offer a diploma in homeopathy, a practice the critics … Read more
A term that you might have come across is “Integrative Medicine”, and if so then you might perhaps be wondering what this actually is. Google it and you find that the Wikipedia article sums it up quite distinctly like this … Integrative medicine, which is also called integrated medicine and integrative health in the United Kingdom,[1] combines alternative medicine with evidence-based medicine. Practitioners claim that … Read more