“Vaccines didn’t save us” (a.k.a. “vaccines don’t work”): Intellectual dishonesty at its most naked
If there’s one thing about the anti-vaccine movement I’ve learned over the last several years, it’s that it’s almost completely immune to evidence, science, and reason. No matter how much evidence is arrayed against it, its spokespeople always finds a way to spin, distort, or misrepresent the evidence to combat it and not have to give up the concept that vaccines cause...
The case of John Lykoudis and peptic ulcer disease revisited: Crank or visionary?
One of the themes of SBM has been, since the very beginning, how the paradigm of evidence-based medicine discounts plausibility (or, perhaps more appropriately, implausibility) when evaluating whether or not a given therapy works. One of our favorite examples is homeopathy, a therapy that is so implausible on a strictly scientific basis that, for it to work, huge swaths of well-established science...
Brief Note: Followup on Spinal Decompression Machines
In September 2008 I wrote a post on Misleading Ads for Back Pain Treatment. with particular attention to the bogus claims for the DRX 9000. The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) show “Marketplace” has just done a scathing exposé of so-called nonsurgical spinal decompression treatment with machines like the DRX 9000 and of some of the unscrupulous practitioners who offer it. Between the hidden...
H. Pylori, Plausibility, and Greek Tragedy: the Quirky Case of Dr. John Lykoudis
Mark Crislip is on vacation, but through an arduous series of shakings and succussions (beating his head against the wall?) we have channeled part of his essence: This post mostly concerns itself with infectious diseases, thanks to several recent posts on SBM that discussed the plausibility of health claims† and that touched on the recent discovery that most peptic ulcer disease (PUD)...
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...