Category: Politics and Regulation
The FTC cracks down on iV Bars for false advertising claims about its “intravenous micronutrient therapy”
One of the most popular forms of quackery sold by alternative medicine practitioners such as naturopaths is intravenous vitamin therapy, sometimes also called "intravenous micronutrient therapy" (IVMT). Most are variants of a concoction known as "Myers cocktail," and there is no good evidence that IVMT is efficacious for any of the indications for which quacks use it. Last week, the FTC issued...
Crowdfunding: The fuel for cancer quackery
Ever since I first started taking notice about cancer quacks like Stanislaw Burzynski, I noticed how crowdfunding using social media and sites like GoFundMe appear to be an integral part of the business model of quack clinics. Thanks to an investigation by The Good Thinking Society published in BMJ last week, I now have a feel for the scope of the problem....
NCCIH has a new director, and she’s a true believer in acupuncture.
Helene Langevin has been named the new director of the National Center for Complemenary and Integrative Health. Given her history of dodgy acupuncture research, my prediction is that the quackery will flow again at NCCIH, the way it did in the 1990s when Tom Harkin zealously protected it from any attempt to impose scientific rigor.
Bait and switch in Oregon: Substituting quackery for opioids for Medicaid patients
The Oregon Health Authority is on the verge of passing a radical policy that would require chronic pain patients receiving Medicaid to have their opioids tapered to zero while covering "nonpharmacologic treatments for pain" that include primarily acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, and other "alternative" treatments. Not surprisingly, the Oregon Chronic Pain Task Force, which is responsible for this proposed infliction of quackery...
You can’t breathe through your stomach
Some bottle water is claimed to have extra oxygen which is claimed to give a performance benefit. Are these claims valid?
Report: Health Care Sharing Ministries pose risks to consumers and insurance markets
Health care sharing ministries are exempt from virtually all regulation, do not guarantee payment, and offer extremely limited coverage. Because their features closely resemble traditional insurance products, they can confuse consumers into thinking they are buying conventional health insurance.
The Science Behind the Roundup Lawsuit
A jury has awarded a man $289 million for allegedly contracting cancer from exposure to Roundup, but the science is not on their side.
FDA blacklists cesium chloride, ineffective and dangerous naturopathic cancer treatment
The FDA recently issued an alert warning of significant safety risks associated with cesium chloride. It is a mineral salt promoted by naturopathic “doctors” and “integrative” medicine practitioners as an alternative treatment for cancer, despite the lack of evidence of safety and efficacy in treating cancer or any other disease.
CVS sued for deceiving consumers in sale of homeopathic remedies
A lawsuit claiming pharmacy giant CVS fraudulently deceives consumers in the sale of worthless homeopathic remedies has been filed by the Center for Inquiry (CFI), acting on behalf of the general public. CFI says co-mingling ineffective homeopathic products with science-based treatments on CVS's retail shelves and online confuses consumers.
Prevagen goes P-hacking
Can post-hoc data-dredging produce competent and reliable scientific evidence for Prevagen's claims of memory improvement? The FTC and consumer groups say "no."