Results for: anti-vaccination

ACA: Six Key Elements of A Modern Chiropractic Practice Act

In February, 2015, the American Chiropractic Association House of Delegates ratified “Six Key Elements of A Modern Chiropractic Practice Act.” For what it’s worth, this means that the “Six Elements” are part of the official “Public Policy” of the ACA. 1. “Chiropractic Physician” and “Chiropractic Medicine” as the Regulatory Terms of Licensure. 2. Scope of Practice Determined by Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Education,...

/ May 14, 2015

Legislative Alchemy: Naturopathic licensing and practice expansion 2015

Naturopathy is chock-full of quackery. No doubt about it. Here at SBM and elsewhere, the seemingly limitless nonsense that can be incorporated into naturopathic practice has been documented time and again: detoxification, food “sensitivities,” anti-vaccination ideology, fake diseases (chronic yeast overgrowth, adrenal fatigue, chronic Lyme disease), bogus tests (also here), homeopathy, chelation therapy, assorted other odd-ball treatments, lack of ethical standards, and...

/ April 30, 2015

The DC as PCP? Drug Wars Resume

Chiropractors are once again engaged in intra-fraternal warfare over the chiropractic scope of practice, a saga we’ve chronicled before on SBM. (See the references at end of this post.) Every time it looks like the warring factions have buried their differences, they come rising to the surface like zombies. The International Chiropractors Association (ICA), representing the “straight” faction, wants chiropractic to continue...

/ March 19, 2015

What do we do about politicians and physicians who promote antivaccine misinformation?

There are politicians and physicians out there promoting antivaccine misinformation. None of us expect politicians to be scientists or physicians, but we do expect them to listen to them. Worse are physicians who betray their profession to promote antivaccine pseudoscience. What can be done about these very public figures who endanger public health?

/ February 9, 2015

Washington bills: Christian Science no longer an excuse for denying medical care

All states try to protect children from neglect, abandonment and mistreatment, such as deprivation of clothing, shelter, food and medical care. This includes civil laws which permit the removal of a child from the home and other protective interventions. Criminal laws protect children as well by, for example, making nonsupport a misdemeanor or criminal neglect a felony. Washington State law prohibits criminal...

/ February 5, 2015

SFSBM Report upsets naturopaths. We’re fine with that.

The Maryland Naturopathic Doctors Association is not pleased with the Society for Science-Based Medicine. Not at all. That is a good thing, for several reasons. It demonstrates the importance of stopping naturopathic licensing (and practice expansion) legislation in the state legislatures. It shows how they handle legitimate criticism of their practices. And it is a lesson in their modus operandi of obfuscating...

/ December 11, 2014

Political Science: Chronic Lyme Disease

New York may soon join a handful of other states who reject science-based guidelines for the treatment of Lyme disease in favor of ideological guidelines based on the vociferous lobbying of patients and “Lyme literate” health care providers. Ignoring science is an unfortunate but well-known legislative phenomenon. I’ve discussed it a number of times on SBM, in the form of Legislative Alchemy,...

/ November 13, 2014

More Fear-Based Practice Building: Shaken Baby Syndrome and Chiropractic

During my first clinical rotation in medical school, I found myself at the pediatric nurse station one afternoon waiting for a patient to arrive from the emergency department. An adorable older infant was there sitting in a bouncy chair, smiling and drooling as babies tend to do, and looking rather well for an inpatient. The nurse watching her explained that she had...

/ November 7, 2014

What naturopaths say to each other when they think no one’s listening

It's said that the true test of a person's character is what he or she does and says when no one is watching. When it comes to science and medicine, naturopaths fail that test of character.

/ October 20, 2014

Connecticut “modernizes” naturopathic scope of practice

Naturopathy has been legal in Connecticut for almost 90 years, but with a scope of practice limited to counseling and a few treatments like physiotherapy, colonic hydrotherapy and “natural substances.” There was no specific authority to diagnose and treat. All of that changed on October 1, 2014, courtesy of the Connecticut legislature, which, in the words of the American Association of Naturopathic...

/ October 16, 2014