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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture

The Koch Brothers and Vice President Mike Pence back a final push to pass the cruel sham known as “right-to-try”

Vice President Mike Pence
Vice President Mike Pence signing Indiana's right-to-try legislation when he was still governor there.

So-called “right-to-try” laws have passed in 38 states. A cruel sham whose real purpose has nothing to do with helping terminally ill patients and everything to do with the libertarian war on FDA regulation, these laws claim to allow terminally ill patients to bypass the FDA and obtain access to experimental drugs that have passed phase I testing. They do nothing of the sort, which is why right-to-try advocates have “gone federal.” A right-to-try bill has passed the Senate, and Vice President Mike Pence and Koch Brothers-backed groups are lobbying hard to pass it in the House. There is still hope to stop it.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

How “they” view “us”: Colton Berrett edition

Polly Tommey and husband
Polly Tommey and husband

Colton Berrett developed transverse myelitis at age 13 and as a result was left permanently disabled, with significant paralsysis. Four years later, he died, apparently by suicide. Polly Tommy and the VAXXED crew have been promoting the message that it was Gardasil that caused Colton’s disease and therefore killed him. When I explained why Gardasil almost certainly had nothing to do with Colton’s disease and death, I learned once again how “they” view “us.”

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Credulous promotion of “integrating” quackery into medicine

Snake Oil and Grift
While it's true that many, if not most, snake oil salesmen believe in their quackery, it's also always about the grift.

Over the last 25 years, medical academia has increasingly embraced “integrative medicine” (i.e., the “integration” of pseudoscience and quackery with medicine). However, it has had help normalizing this new situation. That help comes from the press. Here’s yet another example.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Did Gardasil kill Colton Berrett? The answer is almost certainly no.

Colton Berrett and his mother
Colton Berrett and his mother

Colton Barrett was a 17 year old boy who developed acute transverse myelitis at age 13, which left him partially paralyzed and dependent on a portable ventilator. Tragically, he died less than two weeks ago. His mother blames Gardasil, which he received two weeks before his first symptoms appeared, for his neurologic illness and death. However, Gardasil almost certainly had nothing to do with Colton’s illness.

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Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Integrative medicine as infiltrative pseudoscience: Pushback against quackery

Mitchell and Webb Homeopathic A&E
Mitchell and Webb Homeopathic A&E

For a quarter of a century, quackery and pseudoscience have been integrated into medicine through the construct of “integrative medicine” and into academic medicine in the form of quackademic medicine. Unfortunately, there has been little pushback. That’s why it’s good to see a recent article in The Surgeon decrying this phenomenon. We need more of this.