Results for: conflicts of interest
Conflict of Interest in Medical Research
The cornerstone of science-based medicine is, of course, scientific research. The integrity and quality of biomedical research is therefore of critical importance and to be thoughtfully and jealously guarded, if we care about maintaining an optimal standard of care. There are many threats and hazards to the institutions of medical research – mostly ideological. One that has not been discussed much on...
The Scientific Integrity Act: Protecting science from politics
The proposed federal Scientific Integrity Act supports science and the scientific process as the basis of public policy and aims to protect it from politics, ideology, and financial conflicts of interest.
Yet more evidence that we physicians need to clean up our act
A recent study found that physicians and scientists who are perceived as "experts" are prevalent within the antivax community and more influential because of their status as physicians and scientists. Why do physicians continue to tolerate antivax quacks within our ranks?
Do mRNA vaccines produce harmful “junk proteins” that “gunk up” the cell and cause unintended “off-target” immune responses?
A new study is making the rounds in the antivax crankosphere. The study found that the modified mRNA used in the Pfizer vaccine can cause a frame shift (to be explained) that results in the production of proteins besides the intended spike protein. The findings are, as you probably guessed, a big nothingburger compared to how they are being spun.
Study laundering: IPAK, antivax “scientists,” and the return of living dead antivax studies
Antivaxxers don't like it when one of their crappy studies that they somehow managed to sneak into a decent peer-reviewed journal is deservedly retracted, as happened to Mark Skidmore's paper that estimated that 278K people might have died from COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately for Skidmore and others, there exist fake journals that will launder their study by republishing it so that antivaxxers can...
The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 5/10)
The fifth installment in the grand debunk the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 5.
Quoth quacks, “The medical consensus has changed before, making my quackery science!”
Brave maverick doctors (i.e., quacks) have long tried to portray themselves as "innovators" challenging an ossified medical consensus for the good of patients. This tradition continues among COVID-19 quacks, in particular the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance and its founders.
The Ohio State Medical Board has finally suspended the medical license of antivax quack Sherri Tenpenny
Last week, the Ohio State Medical Board suspended the medical license of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a longtime antivax quack. The only question is: What took them so long, and why did it take the pandemic for them to act? Also, is there less to this action than meets the eye?
The American Board of Internal Medicine finally acts against two misinformation-spreading doctors
Last week, I wrote about how COVID-19 has exposed the toothlessness of state medical boards. Last week, the American Board of Internal Medicine announced that it was going to permanently revoke the board certifications of two COVID-19 contrarian doctors, Drs. Paul Marik and Pierre Kory. Can medical specialty boards make up for the failure of state medical boards, at least partially?
Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. antivaccine? Judge him by his own words!
Last week, an antivaxxer on Substack—where else?—tried to argue that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is not antivaccine by encouraging you to judge him by his own words. I agree. You should judge RFK Jr. by his own words, as they show definitively that he has been antivaccine since at least 2005.