Médecins Sans Medicine? “Homeopaths without borders” giving sugar pills for infectious diseases in Honduras

Canadian homeopaths are in Honduras, and claim their magic water remedies can prevent diseases such as Chagas, dengue, and chikungunya.

/ March 7, 2019

Canada Is Sending Homeopaths to Honduras

The Canadian government is sending homeopaths to Honduras as part of an aid program. They dropped the ball on this one, and should just admit error and correct it, but they are doubling-down instead.

/ March 6, 2019

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A Fiasco with a Silver Lining

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment studied black men with advanced syphilis for 40 years. Patients were lied to and prevented from getting treatment. A black mark in the history of American medicine, it led to important reforms.

/ March 5, 2019
Amazon Prime

Combatting dangerous quackery and antivaccine misinformation on streaming services and social media

Last week, Amazon began removing antivaccine videos from Amazon Prime. Last month, YouTube announced that it was demonetizing antivaccine videos, and Facebook stated that it would be taking action to de-emphasize antivaccine pages in its searched. These are all good first tentative steps, but the problem of quackery on streaming platforms and social media goes way beyond just antivaccine content. Making it...

/ March 4, 2019

Flipping the Script In Action: The Nick Gundersen Case

The tragic consequences of a boy with leukemia and a mother who believed an alternative medicine documentary-maker over her son's oncologist.

/ March 1, 2019

Drug maker challenges FDA on animal testing

A drug maker claims an FDA-required toxicity study in animals is unnecessary to determine safety and urges others to question the routine use of animal testing.

/ February 28, 2019

Are Smart Meters a Health Risk?

Don't worry. There is no plausible health risk from the miniscule EMF from smart meters.

/ February 27, 2019

Homeopath Quits Homeopathy but Thinks the Homeopathic Approach Has Value

A former homeopath shows that there's nothing scientific about homeopathy; in fact, it contradicts all known scientific principles. Nevertheless she finds value in the homeopathic approach to the patient and thinks all providers can learn from it.

/ February 26, 2019
Peter Gøtzsche

Peter Gøtzsche and antivaxers: Should a science advocate ever speak at an antivaccine conference?

Last week, I wrote about how evidence-based medicine icon Peter Gøtzsche was slated to speak at an antivaccine conference. This week, I now know why he agreed to appear. In part, he thought he could change antivaxer minds. This leads me to ask: Is it ever a good idea for a science advocate to speak at a pseudoscience conference?

/ February 25, 2019

Another Australian Chiropractor is in Hot Water for Manipulating a Newborn

Yet another Australian chiropractor is under fire for treating young infants. Will anything be done about it?

/ February 22, 2019