Category: Bad science

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Bad science Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Quackery

Clínica 0-19 and IDOI: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey (part 2 of 4)

Drs Siller and Garcia and Clínica 0-19 and IDOI: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey
Clínica 0-19: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey with Dr. Alberto Garcia and Dr. Alberto Siller.

Earlier this week, I discussed Clínica 0-19, a clinic “making DIPG history in Monterrey” whose doctors claim to be able to successfully treat the deadly brainstem cancer DIPG using intra-arterial chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This week, I discuss what I’ve learned since last week, specifically a lot more about just what it is that these doctors do, why it is scientifically dubious and unproven, and why I am becoming even more harsh in my assessment of this clinic, which shows every indication of being a predatory clinic selling an unproven treatment for a very high price.

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Bad science Cancer Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Clínica 0-19 and IDOI: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey (part 1 of 4)

Clínica 0-19: Where hope doesn't live

Drs. Alberto Siller and Alberto Garcia run Clínica 0-19 in Monterrey, Mexico, which has become a magnet for patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a deadly brain cancer. Unfortunately, their treatment is an unproven combination of 11 chemotherapy drugs injected into an artery feeding the brainstem, plus an unknown and unproven “immunotherapy.” Of course it all costs $300,000 or more for a complete course of treatment, and the good doctors are “too busy to do clinical trials” or even publish their survival and recurrence statistics, despite having used this protocol for 20 years. I say: If it quacks like a duck…

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience

The excuses and conspiracy theories flow over Dr. Bob Sears’ being disciplined by the Medical Board of California

Dr. Bob Sears
Dr. Bob Sears

Last week, we learned that antivaccine pediatrician Dr. Bob Sears was disciplined by the Medical Board of California. It didn’t take long for him to take to Facebook to make excuses and paint himself as a martyr to the “vaccine freedom” cause or for his antivaccine admirers to come up with ridiculous conspiracy theories.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Politics

The conspiracy theory surrounding Italian antivaccine scientist Stefano Montanari deepens

Stefano Montanari and Antonietta Gatti
Stefano Montanari and Antonietta Gatti

Stefano Montanari and Antonietta Gatti are a husband-wife duo of Italian antivaccine “scientists” who like to use the electron microscope to find particulates in vaccines and try to scare people over them. Recently, Montanari was punched by an unknown assailant after having addressed the fascist group Casa Pound. Naturally, he thinks it’s part of a government conspiracy to silence him.

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Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

The facilitated communication empire strikes back over the Midwest Summer Institute

Midwest Summer Institute

Earlier this week, the University of Northern Iowa faced severe criticism for hosting the Midwest Summer Institute, a conference on facilitated communication. Yesterday, FC advocates struck back.