Category: Politics and Regulation
Court overturns FDA ban on electric shock device used on special needs students
An FDA ban on using electric shock devices to control behavior in special needs students, a method deemed "torture" in a U.N. report, was overturned in a flawed court decision. The FDA should appeal.
Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 3: Conspiracy theories vs. science
Last month, I discussed why ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine:, basically a “miracle cure” that isn’t. Since then, conspiracy theories about its being "suppressed" have continued to bump heads with the science showing that, at the very best, evidence for its efficacy is very weak and, at the worst, the drug is useless.
Sen. Rubio’s proposed tax shelters for quackery
Sen. Marco Rubio has again introduced a bill that would subsidize quackery by providing a tax-sheltered way to pay for homeopathy, herbs, and other pseudoscience.
NCCIH Strategic Plan 2021–2025: Meet the new plan, same as the old plan…?
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health recently released its latest 5 year strategic plan. It's basically the same as the last strategic plan, but with one new addition. It's not really a new addition, but it signals a resurrection of an old trope about "integrating" quackery with science-based medicine.
H.R. 2654 forces Medicare to treat chiropractors and MDs as equals
Chiropractors are deceptively trying to sell H.R. 2654 as expanded Medicare coverage for musculoskeletal conditions. The bill actually mandates that Medicare treat chiropractors and medical doctors as equals, covering anything a chiropractors are authorized to do under their expansive state scope of practice laws.
No evidence, no problem: A closer look at the aducanumab approval
Why did the FDA approve aducanumab, a drug that hasn't been shown to work?
Legislatures and litigation: anti-vaxxers continue attacks on COVID mitigation
Anti-vaxxers are attacking COVID-19 mandates in state legislatures and in court even as COVID-19 cases numbers and hospitalizations remain high among the unvaccinated.
The origin of SARS-CoV-2, revisited
Since early in the pandemic, scientists have overwhelmingly concluded that evidence points to a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, as a far more likely explanation for the pandemic than a laboratory origin. In May, however, there has been a lot of media chatter about the "lab leak" hypothesis, and President Biden even ordered US intelligence agencies to look...
Supreme Court rules that FTC cannot seek restitution on behalf of consumers
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the FTC lacks the authority to seek consumer refunds and other monetary relief from scammers. Without a fix from Congress, the ability of the FTC, and perhaps other agencies, to redress financial injuries caused by quacks and other frauds is greatly diminished.
Irreversible Damage to the Trans Community: A Critical Review of Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters (Part Two)
Part 2 of the review of Abigail Shrier's "Irreversible Damage" provides insight into her harmful beliefs about trans youth, along with evidence-based counterarguments.