Vaccinations and autism: are we number 1?
It has been alleged by Great Minds such as Jenny McCarthy that the US recommends far more vaccinations than other countries. Her precise statement was, “How come many other countries give their kids one-third as many shots as we do?” She put this into the context of wondering if our current vaccine schedule should be less rigid. The entire piece was filled...
Placebo Effects Revisited
In the Wall Street Journal last week was a particularly bad article by Melinda Beck about acupuncture. While there was token skepticism (by Edzard Ernst, of course, who is the media’s go-to expert for CAM), the article credulously reported the marketing hype of acupuncture proponents. Toward the end of the article Beck admits that “some critics” claim that acupuncture provides nothing more...
A Sleep Remedy with Proprietary Secrets
A new product, Dream Water, is designed to help one relax, fall asleep and improve the quality of sleep using the all natural ingredients melatonin, GABA and 5-HTP (tryptophan). A single-dose 2.5 oz bottle retails for $2.99. They also offer a more dilute formulation in an 8 oz bottle. They suggest drinking half a bottle, keeping it at your bedside, and drinking...
An update on our search for new SBM bloggers
Three and a half weeks ago, Amy Tuteur announced her departure from SBM. Three weeks ago, I announced that we were recruiting new bloggers to replace Amy, to bolster areas of weakness among our bloggers, and expand our repertoire. I thank those of you who have responded. Given that none of you have heard anything from us other than perhaps an acknowledgment...
J.B. Handley and the anti-vaccine movement: Gloating over the decline in confidence in vaccines among parents
UPDATE, 4/25/2011: I can’t resist pointing you to a hilariously misguided attack against me that proves once again that, for the anti-vaccine activists, it’s all about the ad hominem. Clifford Miller, a.k.a. ChildHealthSafety, was unhappy that I showed up in the comments of Seth Mnookin’s post complaining about J.B. Handley’s attacking him solely based on his having once been a heroin addict,...
KA at Boston Skeptics in the Pub March 29
Yers truly will speak at Tommy Doyle’s, Harvard Square, Cambridge. 7:00 PM on March 29. Title: Implausible Health Claims and Human Studies Ethics: A Collision Course Description: A broad international consensus regarding protections for subjects in human trials emerged during the 2nd half of the 20th century. It can be summarized in several tenets, most of which pertain explicitly or implicitly to scientific...
The Evolving Science and Guidelines of CPR
Pearl of wisdom for the day: If given the option, don’t let your heart stop. Very Bad Things soon follow if your heart stops. In spite of what the entertainment industry would have you believe, it is extremely difficult to save the life of someone in cardiac arrest. A few random breaths, slow rocking chest compressions, even the ever-so-dramatic overhand blow to...
Mainstream Media’s Sub-Par Health Coverage, Part 2
I recently wrote about an experience that I had with a reporter (Erica Mitrano) who interviewed me about energy healing at Calvert Memorial Hospital in southern Maryland. Erica was very friendly and inquisitive, and we had a nice conversation about the lack of scientific evidence supporting any energy healing modality. I thought it would be fun to post what we had discussed at SBM,...
How bad can health reporting get?
A couple of years ago, a number of us raised concerns about an “investigative reporter” at a Detroit television station. At the time I noted that investigative reporters serve an important role in a democracy, but that they can also do great harm, as when Channel 7’s Steve Wilson parroted the talking points of the anti-vaccine movement. Wilson has since been canned...
Diagnosis, Therapy and Evidence
When Dr. Novella recently wrote about plausibility in science-based medicine, one of our most assiduous commenters, Daedalus2u, added a very important point. The data are always right, but the explanations may be wrong. The idea of treating ulcers with antibiotics was not incompatible with any of the data about ulcers; it was only incompatible with the idea that ulcers were caused by...