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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

An appropriate topic for April Fools’ Day

In the three years that I’ve been blogging, one thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’m not very good at coming up with good April Fools’ Day posts. Yes, I have tried it before. For example, a couple of years ago, I tried to make everyone believe that I had gone soft on woo, […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

“Why aren’t there more clinical trials studying the effect of CAM on cancer?” cries the CAM advocate

I’ve lamented time and time again just how much money the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) wastes on basic research and clinical trials of modalities that are, from a scientific viewpoint, so highly implausible that the chances of finding a clinically useful or relevant–or even a consistent statistically significant–effect (for example, homeopathy […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Sigh, another HuffPo atrocity against medicine

PalMD, PalMD, PalMD…why did you have to make me aware of this? What Most Doctors Won’t Tell You About Preparing for the Swine Flu The blogger, Lisa Sharkey, opines: What can I do to keep my family safe? How can I boost our immune systems now and what complementary medicines can I begin taking immediately, […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Another acupuncture study misinterpreted

I have to hand it to acupuncture mavens. They are persistent. Despite numerous studies failing to find any evidence that acupuncture is anything more than an elaborate placebo whose effects, such as they are, derive from nonspecifice mechanisms having nothing to do with meridians, qi, or “unblocking” qi. Moreover, consistent with the contention that acupuncture […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Mike Adams brings home the crazy over the Daniel Hauser case

You knew it was just a matter of time. At least I did. Let me back up a minute and tell you what I mean. Over the last week, I’ve done three posts about a chemotherapy refusenik (as some oncologists I’ve worked with tend to refer to them as) named Daniel Hauser. Hauser is a […]