Results for: Burzynski

Dr. Rashid Buttar

When an antivax physician “dies suddenly”: The case of Dr. Rashid Buttar

Last month, Dr. Rashid Buttar, a prominent antivax "integrative medicine" practitioner, died suddenly. Because he hadn't been vaccinated, antivaxxers struggled mightily to reconcile his death with their conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines killing thousands "suddenly." It turns out, however, that that Dr. Buttar had not been a well man since 2016 and was as much a victim of quackery as his patients...

/ June 19, 2023
ProtocolKills.com

ProtocolKills.com: Repackaging an old narrative about conventional medicine versus alternative medicine for COVID-19

Quacks claim that medicine, not the disease, kills, with their nostrums as the cure. ProtocolKills.com shows that victims and their families are often their best spokespeople because they are so sympathetic and questioning their testimonials is easily portrayed as attacking very sympathetic victims. Cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski used to do this, weaponizing his patients against any critics and using them as foot...

/ April 24, 2023
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Del Bigtree

Neil deGrasse Tyson makes the unforced error of “debating” antivax propagandist Del Bigtree on The Highwire

Last week, astrophysicist and famed science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared on The Highwire, an antivax video podcast, to "debate" its host, antivax propagandist Del Bigtree. This incident demonstrates quite well why it is almost never a good idea for a scientist to agree to "debate" science deniers.

/ April 10, 2023
Andrew Wakefield.

Andrew Wakefield after 25 years: Paving the way for COVID-19 quacks and antivaxxers

It was 25 years ago yesterday that Andrew Wakefield launched the modern iteration of the antivaccine movement.In doing so, he laid down a template that antivax quacks today still follow.

/ February 27, 2023

Tess Lawrie: Ivermectin isn’t just for COVID-19 but cures cancer too!

In a turn that should surprise exactly no one, the BIRD Group's Tess Lawrie effortlessly pivots from promoting ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19 to promoting it as a cure for cancer. It's another example of how single-issue quacks almost inevitably embrace more diverse quackery.

/ January 23, 2023
Snake Oil apostates

The appeal of being a medical “apostate”

There has long been a huge appeal in medicine that derives from being an "apostate". Since COVID-19 hit, apostasy has become like a drug among too many doctors, and social media has amplified the popularity of "medical apostates" beyond anything I've seen previously.

/ November 7, 2022
Quackery duck

The war on the science-based regulation of medicine accelerates

Last week, it was reported how increasingly there is a war on the science-based regulation of medicine and physicians. It's an old story, but unfortunately the forces arrayed against science-based policy have been emboldened by the pandemic and an stronger alliance with political groups that are against government regulation in general.

/ October 31, 2022
Ducks quack

The making of COVID-19 “contrarian” doctors

In 2009, I tried to answer the question: How do doctors become quacks and antivaxxers? A Twitter encounter suggested to me that an update to that post is massively overdue.

/ October 24, 2022
Censored

“Censorship” and “thoughtcrime”? Antivaxxers and COVID-19 contrarians attack California AB 2098

One of the oldest tropes favored by quacks of all stripes, including antivaxxers, is to portray any attempt at regulating their quackery as an assault on freedom of speech. It's therefore not surprising that after its passage by the California legislature prominent spreaders of COVID-19 misinformation are labeling AB2098, which seeks clarify and codify the power of the Medical Board of California...

/ September 26, 2022
Matt Walsh asks: What is a woman?

In What Is a Woman?, Matt Walsh asks a question, but doesn’t like the answers

Matt Walsh's documentary asks What Is a Woman? Unfortunately, his documentary is every bit as much of a science denying propaganda film disguised as a documentary as antivax films like VAXXED or the anti-evolution film Expelled!, and such films tend to be potent messaging tools.

, / July 14, 2022