Tag: naturopathy

The Elephant in the Compounding Pharmacy

Contaminated products from compounding pharmacies have harmed and even killed patients. Quality control measures are being implemented, but there is a bigger problem: the injudicious use of untested and potentially dangerous treatments.

/ January 16, 2018

Legislative Alchemy 2017: Naturopathy

Via the magic of Legislative Alchemy, naturopathic "doctors" gained state licensure and practice expansion, but also suffered major defeats, in 2017.

/ December 21, 2017

Update on neglect cases

An update on two Canadian cases where reliance on alternative medicine resulted in the death of two children.

/ December 14, 2017
National Cancer Institute

The integration of mysticism and pseudoscience with oncology continues apace in NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers

Last week, I commented on the inability of the Society for Integrative Oncology to define what integrative oncology actually is. This week, I note the proliferation of the quackery of integrative oncology in places that should be rigorously science-based, namely NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers.

/ November 27, 2017
Definition

What is “integrative oncology”? Even the Society for Integrative Oncology doesn’t seem to know for sure

Last week, the Society for Integrative Oncology published an article attempting to define what "integrative oncology" is. The definition, when it isn't totally vague, ignores the pseudoscience at the heart of integrative oncology and medicine.

/ November 20, 2017

UC-Irvine, integrative medicine, and the delusion of being “science-based”

Last month, a billionaire couple, Susan and Henry Samueli, announced a $200 million gift to UC-Irvine to found the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, which will be devoted to integrative medicine and studying "unconventional" treatments. Its founders promise that it will be rigorously science-based in articles in a large, glossy magazine. There are many reasons for doubts about this...

/ October 23, 2017

Australia ends insurance subsidies for naturopathy, homeopathy, and more

The Australian government has eliminated the insurance subsidy for 17 alternative health practices due to a lack of evidence for efficacy. This is a win for medicine and Australian taxpayers.

/ October 19, 2017

Don’t drink your bath water – Epsom salts, liver damage, and naturopaths

What's the harm of naturopathy? How about Epsom salt-induced liver damage?

/ October 13, 2017

Naturopathic Cancer Quackery

Naturopaths treat cancer with an array of implausible concoctions that are not based on clinical science, and then defend themselves with cease and desist letters.

/ September 6, 2017

Naturopaths are fake doctors cosplaying real doctors (even the ones running dubious stem cell clinics)

Naturopaths are fake doctors who, increasingly, are cosplaying real doctors. Not surprisingly, because naturopaths go where quacking takes them, they've started to open their very own dubious stem cell clinics, thus combining the worst of both worlds, their "natural" quackery with dubious unproven but "high tech" treatments being peddled by the worst of real doctors.

/ September 4, 2017