The Washington Post publishes an advertorial on IV drips
Last week, I had a choice between two poorly framed articles on health to discuss. I wrote about the one on "vaccine injury." But the second one about IV drips kept nagging at me. Why do journalists do so poorly on issues like this?
A poorly framed article on COVID-19 vaccine injury in the New York Times
A poorly framed article on people who believe that COVID-19 vaccines injured them is being trumpeted by antivaxxers. Where the New York Times and its reporter Apoorva Mandavilli go wrong?
We finally learn from TACT2 what we should have known two decades ago: Chelation therapy doesn’t work for heart disease
At SBM, we've long argued that chelation therapy for heart disease is quackery. An abstract presented recently finally confirmed that. Why did it take so long?
COVID-19 vaccine-caused “turbo cancer” nonsense just keeps getting more turbocharged
No matter how implausible it is or how weak the evidence for it is, the myth that COVID vaccines cause "turbo cancer" just won't die. Quite the contrary, alas. Antivaxxers are—dare I say?—turbocharging it with bad science.
There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are causing cancers associated with “accelerated aging”
A recent presentation at AACR found a link between markers of accelerated aging and an increased risk of cancer. Then antivaxxers got a hold of it to blame COVID-19 vaccines not just for cancer, but for "accelerated aging" causing it.
Dr. Vinay Prasad vs. a VAERS study finding more reports of vaccine injury in red states
Dr. Vinay Prasad attacks an epidemiological study published in JAMA Open Network reporting that people in red states are more likely to report vaccine injuries, claiming that a more rigorous study would "not be difficult," when he knows that it would be very difficult.
The Truth vs. Alex Jones: How the DSHEA of 1994 gave conspiracy mongers the means to fund their empires
As the HBO documentary The Truth vs. Alex Jones shows, Alex Jones promoted the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax to sell his supplement line. It's a model that many Internet conspiracy theorists use, like Mike Adams. Did the DSHEA help create Alex Jones and the modern conspiracy industry?
Mark Sircus and “natural allopathic medicine”? Now I’ve heard everything from quacks
The term "allopathic medicine" was invented by homeopaths in the 19th century as a disparaging term for medicine. So to see a quack like Mark Sircus try to coopt it as "natural allopathic medicine" is quite something.
Denis Rancourt and “no virus”: COVID-19 symptoms were due psychological stress from the pandemic response!
It's hard to believe that in the 21st century there are still those who deny that viruses exist. However, virus denial and antivax go together and always have. Denis Rancourt, while far from the first or more vociferous virus denier, is an excellent example.
Prions. Why did it have to be prions? (Again.)
Prions. Why did it have to be prions? (Again.) The antivax trope that vaccines cause prion disease is an old one, and antivaxxers are trying desperately to resurrect it to apply to COVID-19 vaccines.