In 2017, are antivaxers winning?
The election of Donald Trump as President has emboldened antivaxers, because they quite rightly sense that he is one of them. His inauguration as President, combined with other trends, have led observers to ask the question: Are antivaxers winning, or will 2017 be the year of the antivaxer?
Corrigendum. The week in review for 02/12/2017
The week in review. Chiropractic and stroke. Integrative Medical doctors don’t trust vaccines. Death from medical marijuana. Shilajit: compost or mulch oozing from Himalayan rocks. India goes full Tuskeegee with AIDS. And more!
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. promotes an awful epidemiology study linking vaccines and neurological conditions from…Yale?
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has never seen a lousy study linking vaccines to bad things that he didn't like. This is no exception. Oddly enough, this study was funded and carried out by a lawyer and an investment banker, with the help of an eminent Yale pediatrician. Of course, the study doesn't show what RFK Jr. thinks it shows.
Vaginal Seeding: To Swab or Not to Swab Your Newborn Baby
More mothers are requesting vaginal seeding, but does the evidence support this potentially risky intervention?
Do anti-inflammatory drugs effectively treat spinal pain?
While anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly used to treat back pain, a new review suggests that they may not provide meaningful benefits to most people.
Russian Academy of Sciences Calls Homeopathy Pseudoscience
That homeopathy is pure pseudoscience is not news. Its basic principles are essentially magic, and the preparation of homeopathic products is indistinguishable from brewing a magic potion. Its two core principles, as the commission states, are a priori dogma - that like cures like, and that diluting substances out of existence leaves behind their magical essence. Science has progressed over two centuries...
Re-thinking Antioxidant Supplementation for Macular Degeneration
After the AREDS trial, people with moderate to severe age-related macular degeneration were advised to take dietary supplements to slow the progression of the disease. But some experts say the trial actually showed supplements don't work, and might even make some patients worse.
Donald Trump versus the FDA: Is the standard of evidence for drug approval actually too low rather than too high?
All of the candidates being considered by President Trump for FDA Commissioner believe that the FDA is too strict in its standards for approving new drugs. In a commentary in Nature last week, two bioethicists argued that, at least in terms of preclinical data, the standard of evidence is actually too low. Which is correct?
Corrigendum: The week in review for 2/5/2017
Drinking hydrogen peroxide kills. Homeopaths don't care if their nostrums kill children. Acupuncture is placebo. But you knew that. Saudi Arabia bans reiki for the damnedest reasons. Eating placentas. And more!
Elemonics – Nothing but a dance and a tune
When it comes to quackery and pseudoscience, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com has few peers. Amusingly, he thinks he's a scientist, too, and he's at it again.