Tag: alternative medicine
How Google listings are used by alternative cancer clinics to lure in desperate patients
I've long been writing about "alternative cancer clinics" (i.e., quack clinics) that sell false hope in the form of very expensive but ineffective treatments to desperate cancer patients. A recent study demonstrates how they use Google to do this.
Alternative medicine and antivax: Two crappy tastes that taste crappy together—particularly when among physicians
A recent study reaffirms the high degree of correlation among physicians between antivax views and an embrace of quackery. This is an old finding that needs to be documented periodically and shows why the acceptance of non-science-based treatments by physicians endangers vaccination efforts.
Alternative Reproduction?
Are there effective forms of SCAMs for birth control or reproduction? Of course not.
The American Academy of Pediatrics Weighs in on “Alternative Perinatal Practices”: Part 1
In a soon-to-be published clinical report, the AAP tackles potentially risky "alternative practices" involving labor and delivery of human newborns.
Why It’s Worthwhile to Debunk Shivambu
Richard Feynman famously said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool". This is the most important lesson skepticism has to offer.
State medical boards vs. COVID-19 misinformation, an update
The disinformation epidemic about COVID-19 has pushed state medical boards to consider disciplining physicians who promote COVID-19 disinformation. How would that work? What are the obstacles? Is it even possible? It should be, but it will be messy and complicated.
Long COVID: Alternative medicine sees a business opportunity
With vaccines transforming the risk and consequences of a COVID infection, the health burden of "long COVID" may become a lasting consequence of the pandemic. Alternative medicine senses a business opportunity.
The Brownstein protocol is not a proven treatment for COVID-19
Dr. David Brownstein is a "holistic" physician who practices in Dr. Gorski's neck of the woods. Unfortunately, he just wrote a book promoting an unproven protocol involving vitamins, nebulized hydrogen peroxide and iodine, and intravenous ozone to treat COVID-19. There is no evidence that his protocol works, other than a very poor quality case series.
New York Times Goop Fail
A NYT opinion piece repeats all the common alternative medicine tropes in service to the further exploitation of women.
The Threat of Conspiracy Thinking to SBM
Conspiracy thinking is on the rise, and threatens the very notion of science and truth.