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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Four misleading cancer testimonials and “reverse balance”

I was doing my usual browsing of the web yesterday in search of topics for today’s post when I came across an excellent article by a colleague and friend of mine, Dr. Rachael Dunlop, who nailed it in a post entitled Anti-vaccination activists should not be given a say in the media. In the article, […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Alternative medicine: The bait and switch is working

For a long time, going back almost to the beginning of this blog eight and a half years ago, I’ve referred to the “bait and switch” of alternative medicine. What I mean by that is the manner in which advocates of alternative medicine—or, as they like to call it these days, “complementary and alternative medicine” […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Movies Television

R.I.P., Seán Ó’Laighin

This will be an uncharacteristically short (for Orac) post. A couple of months ago, I wrote about the sad story of a young man from Ireland named Seán Ó’Laighin diagnosed with an inoperable brainstem glioma at age 19. Even more sadly, this young man heard about the Burzynski Clinic in Houston and believed the claims […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation: Mixing cow pie with apple pie in pediatrics

Thanks to a winter storm that dumped a heapin’ helpin’ of heavy wet snow on us last night, we lost power before this post even got going. However, I did have a bit of time this morning to finish it up as a quickie (by my standards) before my laptop battery indicator started expressing its […]

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Biology Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I realize I overuse that little joke, but I can’t help but think that virtually every time I see advocates of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as it’s known more commonly now, “integrative medicine” discussing epigenetics. […]