Month: December 2021
Tennessee hamstrings medical board fight against COVID misinformation and unproven treatments
A new Tennessee law hampers the state medical board's efforts to rein in COVID misinformation and will make disciplining physicians prescribing unproven COVID treatments impossible until the board goes through cumbersome rule-making procedures, an effort that could outlast the pandemic.
Nuubu: Here We Go Again! Recycling Debunked Foot Detox Myths
Companies come and go, but the claims remain the same, that you can (insert claim) with (insert product) without any evidence. A new company offering magical footpads are just putting new wine in old bottles.
John Ioannidis and the Carl Sagan effect in science communication about COVID-19
We have been critical about John Ioannidis over a number of his statements about the COVID-19 pandemic. Now he's done it again, producing a poor-quality paper whose unwritten assumptions suggest that the Carl Sagan effect, in which scientists are penalized professionally by their peers for becoming popular science communicators, still holds considerable sway in science and medicine.
A Journalist Asks if Your Child Needs an Energy Healer. The Answer Probably Won’t Surprise You.
A healthcare journalist writing for a respected source of news for millions of people has penned an article that endorses pure quackery in the form of energy healing for kids.
NAD Therapy
NAD therapy is touted as a cure-all for addiction and several chronic diseases. Evidence supporting these claims is lacking.
Treating the Unvaccinated
Should vaccination status be used to triage care for critically ill patients during a crisis?
The PULS test and COVID-19 vaccinations
No, nobody has proven that the COVID vaccine series increases your risk of heart attack. Here's why.
Navage Promises Benefits from Cleaning Your Nose with Their Expensive Machine
Navage is a machine that uses salt water to rinse out the sinuses, allegedly alleviating the causes of congestion, allergies, colds, and more. The evidence for their claims is lacking.
BOO: Or how “magic dirt” became a MLM miracle cure scam for COVID-19
"BOO" stands for Black Oxygen Organics, a "cure" for COVID-19 that got the attention of regulators last week. Basically, it's dirt billed by its believers as "magic dirt" that sells for $110 a bag (plus shipping) through a multilevel marketing sales model. What can this latest COVID cure tell us about the relationship between alternative medicine and COVID-19 denial?
The Need for Science-Based Medicine
The mission of SBM continues.