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Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery

Naturopath Paul Theriault challenges Orac. It does not go well..for Not-a-Doctor Theriault

In the days before Orac left the blog in order to rest and recharge his Tarial cell, he got into a little…”discussion”… on Twitter with a naturopath named Paul Theriault. It did not go well…for Not-a-Doctor Theriault. Be careful what you wish for, naturopaths, when you encounter Orac. You might get it.

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery

Is there such a thing as the “placebome”?

As results from randomized clinical trials show that alternative medicine is nothing more than placeboe, quacks like to argue that they are “harnessing the power of placebo” with their methods and that placebos have real healing effect. They’ve even gone so far as to make up a genomics-based concept: The placebome. But is there such a thing as the placebome?

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center shows us how to write a press release on integrative oncology

Last week, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center issued a press releast touting its integrative oncology program. It’s a perfect example to demonstrate the formulaic nature of such press releases and the distortions behind them used to sell the “integration” of quackery into medicine.

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery

Belief in alternative cancer cures: We have a lot of work to do to combat quackery

Earlier this week, a new survey from the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that belief in alternative cancer cures is common, with roughly four out of ten Americans believing that “natural” alternative treatments alone can cure cancer, without any conventional oncologic therapies, like chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. This survey points to just how ingrained misinformation about cancer is in our society and how much work advocates of science-based oncology have ahead of them to combat it.

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Quackery

Surprise! Surprise! JACM publishes a whole issue devoted to “integrative oncology” propaganda

Last week, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM) published a Special Focus Issue on “integrative oncology.” In reality, it’s propaganda that promotes pseudoscience and the “integration” of quackery into oncology.