Results for: herbal
We Have to Draw the Line Somewhere
Passive acceptance of Alternative Medicine has eroded the quality of medical care in this country. With the DSHEA of 1994 and political correctness, we have lost the reverence afforded to us in times past. Our professional knowledge is called into question as our standards deteriorate. There no longer exists a line separating proven fact from speculation. There is no border separating reality...
The Ethics of “CAM” Trials: Gonzo (Part IV)
A Review; then Back to the Gonzalez Regimen† Part I of this blog introduced the topic of the “Gonzalez regimen” for treating cancer: “Intensive Pancreatic Proteolytic Enzyme Therapy With Ancillary Nutritional Support” and “detoxification” with twice daily coffee enemas, daily “skin brushing,” “a complete liver flush and a clean sweep and purge on a rotating basis each month,” and more. The topic...
Charlatan: Quackery Then and Now
Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, by Pope Brock, is not only a rip-roaring good read, but it brings up serious issues about regulation of medical practice and prosecution of quackery. It tells the story of John R. Brinkley MD, who transplanted goat glands into people, and of Morris Fishbein MD, the editor...
Would you like a liver flush with that colon cleanse?
I have to apologize for last week’s post. I’m not apologizing for the subject matter (the obsession that reigns supreme among some alt-med aficionados over “cleansing” their colons to “purge toxins” and achieve the super-regularity of several bowel movements a day). Rather, I’m sorry I probably didn’t emphasize quite strongly enough just how disgusting one of the links that I included was....
Deception and Ethics in Sectarian Medicine
In January I had the pleasure of attending TAM 5.5 in Fort Lauderdale. On the last day of the conference the JREF had an open house where anyone interested could come see the inner workings at the JREF facility. Since I had a rental car I decided to go through the lobby to see if anyone needed a ride, and sure enough...
Colon “cleanses”: A load of you know what…
One of the more popular treatments in alternative medicine is the "colon cleanse," a treatment based on the idea that there is 20 lbs. worth of accumulated feces in your colon that is slowly poisoning you. There's only one way to put it. Colon cleansing is a load of crap.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
The Women's Health Initiative revealed new risks about hormone replacement therapy, and now the media (and doctors) are scrambling to understand what it means. Of course, because this is medicine, it's complicated.
On the ethics of clinical trials of homeopathy in Third World countries
I’m on the record multiple times as saying that I reject the entire concept and nomenclature of “alternative medicine” as being distinct from “conventional” medicine as a false dichotomy, when in reality there should be just “medicine.” Indeed, if there is one major theme to which this blog is dedicated it’s that medicine should be as much as possible science-based, a concept...
Airborne Settles Case On False Advertising
The story of Airborne – a popular supplement marketed as an “herbal health formula that boosts your immune system to help your body combat germs” – is representative of what is wrong with the supplement industry and how it is regulated in the US. Recently the company that sells Airborne – Airborne Health, Inc – agreed to pay $23.3 million to refund...
The ultimate in “integrative medicine”: Integrating the unscientific into the medical school curriculum
For the second week in a row I find myself throwing out the original post that I had planned on doing in favor of a different topic. The reason this week is, quite simply, having read Dr. Atwood’s excellent two part post Misleading Language: The Common Currency of “CAM” Characterizations (Part I; Part II). I don’t at this time intend to expand...