Month: August 2017

Physician aid-in-dying laws spread amid legal challenges

Legalization of physician aid-in-dying is increasing in the U.S. but opponents are taking their opposition to the courts and Congress.

/ August 31, 2017

Panera Markets Food Fear

Panera Bread goes full Food Babe in their latest ad campaign, which fearmongers about a safe food preservative.

/ August 30, 2017

ZYTO: An Electrodermal Diagnostic Device Is Tested and Fails Miserably

ZYTO is a bogus, illegal electrodermal diagnostic device that claims to evaluate organ function and make dietary recommendations. Repeat testing produced results that were wildly inconsistent. The device produces noise, not meaningful information.

/ August 29, 2017

Naturopathy vs. patients: Patients lose

Over the weekend, there was a news story describing two cancer patients treated by naturopaths in New Zealand. Both died, one almost certainly unnecessarily, the other after enduring more suffering than she likely had to. These tragic cases and others reminded me of why it is so appalling that so many physicians are "integrating" naturopathy into "integrative medicine." In reality, they are...

/ August 28, 2017

Is the use of “Open-Label” Placebo Ethical in the Treatment of Children?

Is the use of "open-label" placebo ethical in pediatric medical care, or any care for that matter? A recent article in Pediatrics discussing this issue comes to a flawed conclusion based on a misunderstanding of placebo and of the literature on placebo without deception.

/ August 25, 2017

Statins beat supplements

Red yeast rice supplements have poor quality control and there's no clear evidence they do anything beneficial. So why take it?

/ August 24, 2017

The Promise of CRISPR

CRISPR is the latest rock-star medical technology that promises to revolutionize medicine. Let's take a look at the hype and the reality.

/ August 23, 2017

Viotren and Other Dietary Supplements for Erectile Dysfunction: Buyer Beware

Viotren and other dietary supplements are being illegally marketed to treat erectile dysfunction. Some of them work, but only because they are adulterated with prescription drugs like Viagra (at up to 31 times the prescription dose). Using them can be risky.

/ August 22, 2017

No, a Vaccine Court ruling does not show that vaccines cause SIDS

There was a rumbling in the antivaccine underground over the weekend about a recent ruling by the Vaccine Court compensating parents of a child who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). In a confused and scientifically highly flawed decision, the Special Master Thomas Gowen didn't rule that vaccines cause SIDS, but did rule that they contributed to SIDS in this one...

/ August 21, 2017

Myeloproliferative neoplasms – an overview and my experiences

In 2014 I was diagnosed with a type of myeloproliferative neoplasm. Since that time I have sought many treatments, and experienced many setbacks. Science-based medicine has kept me alive to write this post. Here I pass along some of my knowledge and experience regarding these rare cancers.

/ August 18, 2017