COVID and Our Warped Sense of Normal
Children are not supposed to die. This didn't used to be controversial.
State Attorneys General pursue consumer protection law claims against stem cell clinics
State Attorneys General are pursuing stem cell clinics offering unproven therapies and engaging in fake clinical trials using state consumer protection and false advertising laws, seeking monetary penalties and injunctive relief. Until there is rational, comprehensive stem cell regulation, these actions can help fill the regulatory gap.
Allergy Release Technique
A dubious intervention for food allergies follows a typical pattern for such treatments.
Death by Aromatherapy
An aromatherapy room spray was contaminated with bacteria that caused melioidosis, resulting in deaths and serious sequelae. Buyers were misled.
Ivermectin: The acupuncture of COVID-19 treatments
As high-quality evidence increasingly and resoundingly shows that ivermectin does not work against COVID-19, advocates are doing what acupuncture advocates do: Turning to lower quality "positive" studies to claim incorrectly that their favorite ineffective treatment actually does "work".
The CDC Goofs and Doctors React
After a CDC goof, several doctors - including me - shared incorrect information. What happened next was revealing.
Science-Based Satire: Chiropractors…in Space?
Did the United States government recently appoint a new chief to helm a division of space chiropractic? In space can anyone hear your spine crack? No, space is a vacuum and sound can't be produced without vibrating air. Also, this is satire.
“This Would Translate to About 10,000 Deaths” Reflections From the Start of the Pandemic
“This would translate to about 10,000 deaths” Two years ago, Dr. John Ioannidis wrote an essay in STAT titled “A Fiasco in The Making? As The Coronavirus Pandemic Takes Hold, We Are Making Decisions Without Reliable Data.” It contained the following paragraph: If we assume that case fatality rate among individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 is 0.3% in the general population — a...
Socks to Treat High Blood Pressure?
Socks that lower blood pressure? The claims for Boliav socks are too incoherent to make sense of. I can't take them seriously.
Old antivax tropes never die: “COVID theater,” “Urgency of Normal,” and the Great Barrington Declaration
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a roundtable calling to "end COVID-19 theater" that brought together the Great Barrington Declaration and "Urgency of Normal," a movement to end mask mandates and other COVID-19 mitigations in schools. The arguments used long predate the pandemic and echo a dark side of the history of American medicine.