Results for: quacks
Stanislaw Burzynski and Robert O. Young: How two quacks of a feather illustrate how poorly states regulate medical practice
One of the weaknesses in our system of regulating the practice of medicine in the United States is that, unlike most countries, we don’t have one system. We have 50 systems. That’s because the functions of licensing physicians and regulating the practice of medicine are not federal functions, but state functions. Each state sets its own laws and regulations governing the practice...
Epigenetics: It doesn’t mean what quacks think it means
Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I realize I overuse that little joke, but I can’t help but think that virtually every time I see advocates of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as it’s known more commonly now, “integrative medicine” discussing epigenetics. All you have to do to view...
Cranks, quacks, and peer review
Last week, I wrote one of my characteristically logorrheic meandering posts about what turns a scientist into a crank or a doctor into a quack. In a sort of continuation of this line of thinking, this week I’ll turn my attention to one of the other most common characteristics of a crank, be he scientific crank (i.e., a creationist), a quack, or...
How do scientists become cranks and doctors quacks?
What are the characteristics of physicians and scientists that lead them to go down the dark paths of quackery and pseudoscience?
A poorly framed article on COVID-19 vaccine injury in the New York Times
A poorly framed article on people who believe that COVID-19 vaccines injured them is being trumpeted by antivaxxers. Where the New York Times and its reporter Apoorva Mandavilli go wrong?
We finally learn from TACT2 what we should have known two decades ago: Chelation therapy doesn’t work for heart disease
At SBM, we've long argued that chelation therapy for heart disease is quackery. An abstract presented recently finally confirmed that. Why did it take so long?
There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are causing cancers associated with “accelerated aging”
A recent presentation at AACR found a link between markers of accelerated aging and an increased risk of cancer. Then antivaxxers got a hold of it to blame COVID-19 vaccines not just for cancer, but for "accelerated aging" causing it.
The Truth vs. Alex Jones: How the DSHEA of 1994 gave conspiracy mongers the means to fund their empires
As the HBO documentary The Truth vs. Alex Jones shows, Alex Jones promoted the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax to sell his supplement line. It's a model that many Internet conspiracy theorists use, like Mike Adams. Did the DSHEA help create Alex Jones and the modern conspiracy industry?
Denis Rancourt and “no virus”: COVID-19 symptoms were due psychological stress from the pandemic response!
It's hard to believe that in the 21st century there are still those who deny that viruses exist. However, virus denial and antivax go together and always have. Denis Rancourt, while far from the first or more vociferous virus denier, is an excellent example.
Prions. Why did it have to be prions? (Again.)
Prions. Why did it have to be prions? (Again.) The antivax trope that vaccines cause prion disease is an old one, and antivaxxers are trying desperately to resurrect it to apply to COVID-19 vaccines.