Tag: homeopathy
Health Savings Accounts: a tax-sheltered way to pay for quackery
If you want money to pay for pseudoscience, but your pesky health insurance company is getting in the way, a Health Savings Account might be just the solution. And if the Health Savings Act of 2016, sponsored by the Big Supplement’s own Senator Orrin Hatch, becomes law, your opportunities will be greatly expanded. First, let’s take a look at Health Savings Accounts...
Is it ethical to sell complementary and alternative medicine?
Complementary and alternative medicine may be legal to sell - but is it ethical to sell?
Is “harnessing the power of placebo” worthwhile to treat anything?
We frequently write about placebo effects here on Science-Based Medicine. The reason is simple. They are an important topic in medicine and, at least as importantly, understanding placebo effects is critical to understanding the exaggerated claims of advocates of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more frequently called “integrative medicine” (i.e., integrating pseudoscience with science). Over the years, I (and, of course,...
Continued Battle over Homeopathy
The battle to rid modern scientific societies from the blatant and harmful pseudoscience of homeopathy continues. This past year has been overall a good one – in the US both the FDA and FTC decided to review their regulation of homeopathy. They have gathered their testimony and are now apparently reviewing everything. Their decisions on this topic are eagerly anticipated and could...
SCAM Cell Therapies
Injecting animal cells into humans for therapeutic reasons has a long history. The most infamous was John Brinkley who injected goat testicles into 16,000 men in the 1920s and 30s to treat impotence. Harriet wrote a review of Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, which covers the topic. I wonder who would get...
Australian review finds no benefit to 17 natural therapies
A review by the Australian government has assessed the evidence for a variety of natural products covered by private health insurance. Their conclusion was that most lacked clear evidence of clinical efficacy. Hopefully this will end insurance coverage of seventeen different pseudosciences.
US Department of Justice Goes After Supplements
It is shaping up to be a good year for those of us advocating more effective regulation of supplements and unproven therapies in the US. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing its regulation of homeopathy, and recently also announced it is taking public comment on its regulation of the term “natural.” The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also reviewing the...
The Federal Trade Commission takes on homeopathy—maybe
Well, I’m back. OK, returning from London isn’t nearly as epic as Sam Gamgee’s final words in The Lord of the Rings returning to his wife and daughter after having accompanied Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, and key elves of Middle-Earth to the Grey Havens, there to say goodbye to them as they boarded a ship to the undying lands. I just love the...
Battle of the feds: FTC tells FDA to do its job regulating homeopathy
Last month, the Society for Science-Based Medicine submitted a comment to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to its request for public comments on the agency’s current regulation (actually, lack of regulation) of homeopathic drugs. As the SFSBM pointed out, the FDA has, without legal authority, exempted homeopathic drugs from the safety and efficacy requirements applicable to other drugs under...
New Study on Homeopathic Cough Syrup for Children Reveals a Lack of Effectiveness and Ethics
On the pages of SBM we frequently discuss homeopathy, and rightfully so considering its position as one of the most pervasive yet dumbest forms of alternative medicine. Just yesterday our own Scott Gavura, who is neither pervasive nor dumb, wrote an excellent review of some recent improvements in the regulation of these ridiculous remedies in Canada, and I encourage readers to check...