Tag: quackery
The NORI protocol: An unproven fruit-based nutritional treatment for cancer sold by a self-proclaimed “expert”
Mark Simon is the founder of the Nutritional Oncology Research Institute. He has neither an MD, DO, nor PhD. (He doesn't even have an ND!) Yet he claims to have discovered a dietary protocol that can cure cancer. Can it? (I think you know the answer to this question.)
The Paddison Program for rheumatoid arthritis: An unproven treatment that provides only the illusion of control
Clint Paddison is an Australian comedian with a science degree who developed rheumatoid arthritis at age 31. He now claims to have controlled it with a diet he developed to alter the gut microbiome. How plausible is his story, and does his Paddison Program work? Answer: Not very and almost certainly no.
Bleaching away what ails you: The Genesis II Church is still selling Miracle Mineral Supplement as a cure-all
Miracle Mineral Supplement (MMS) has been sold by the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing as a cure-all to treat conditions and diseases as diverse as autism, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and malaria. Indeed, it's touted as a cure for nearly all disease. It is, however, basically industrial bleach. As ridiculous and harmful as MMS is, it's a quackery that just...
The Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians publishes Principles of Care Guidelines. Not surprisingly, they aren’t science-based.
Last week, the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP) published "principles of care" guidelines. Try as they might, naturopathic oncologists tried to represent their specialty as evidence-based. Unsurprisingly, they failed.
Naturopaths try (and fail yet again) to argue that they are science-based
That booster of all things "integrative," John Weeks has devoted the entire most recent issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, which he edits, to trying to demonstrate that naturopathy is science-based. It does not go well. Same as it ever was.
Combatting dangerous quackery and antivaccine misinformation on streaming services and social media
Last week, Amazon began removing antivaccine videos from Amazon Prime. Last month, YouTube announced that it was demonetizing antivaccine videos, and Facebook stated that it would be taking action to de-emphasize antivaccine pages in its searched. These are all good first tentative steps, but the problem of quackery on streaming platforms and social media goes way beyond just antivaccine content. Making it...
Pseudoscience invades Social Work
Acutonics, aura infusions and angelic channeling: pseudoscience has invaded the practices of social workers.
Clínica 0-19: False hope in Monterrey for brain cancer patients (part 4)
Last week, Annabelle Potts, a girl with the deadly brain cancer DIPG, passed away. She had made the news in Australia and worldwide because she had been treated at Clínica 0-19 in Monterrey, Mexico, where Drs. Alberto Garcia and Alberto Siller treat DIPG patients with a secret unproven mix of intra-arterial chemotherapy injected directly into the arteries feeding the brainstem, all while...
Two integrative oncologists delude themselves that their specialty is science-based
Integrative oncology "integrates" quackery with oncology. Its practitioners, however, frequently delude themselves that their specialty is science-based. A recent review article by two integrative oncologists from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center expresses that delusion perfectly.
Crowdfunding: The fuel for cancer quackery (part 2)
In September, The Good Thinking Society released a study estimating the scope of crowdfunding for cancer quackery in the UK. Now, Jeremy Snyder and Tim Caulfield have done the same for the US, specifically for homeopathy for cancer. The results are alarming. Truly, crowdfunding is the fuel for cancer quackery. But will GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sites clean up their acts?