cam

"A Henderson doctor combines chiropractic and neurology to treat just about anything" http://lasvegascitylife.com/sections/news/henderson-doctor-combines-chiropractic-and-neurology-treat-just-about-anything.html This article is nothing more than advertising for a practitioner of so-called...

Recently, a local newspaper here in Montreal, La Presse, has started publishing a series of article denouncing "health gurus". For three months they investigated a variety of such quacks and are now exposing them in the paper and on the newspaper's website. I wish they had gone further in...

In the BMJ there has been an interesting discussion on the merits of CAM, with rational scientists like David Colqhoun leading the fight (but getting voted down for doing so) http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1075?tab=responses Responses are in inverse posing order.

http://www.swindonlink.org/uploads/CAMs%20meeting%20letter%202nd%20June.pdf :rolleyes:

Veterinary Care: Advances In Integrative Medicine To Consider For Your Pet :rolleyes:

Alice Shortcake emailed me about this guy to give me fodder for Skepocalypse. Fodder, indeed! Though not as prominent as many of the quacks discussed here, due to his upcoming events in the US, I had to seize the opportunity to take some action. So I tracked down the location and sent an...

I've just completed the Open University "Perspectives on CAM" course. If anyone is interested in my final conclusions I have posted a rather lengthy essay here - http://aillas.blogspot.com/. The course has been criticised by David Colquhoun as the Open University "teaching quackery" which it...

Last May, IIG West informed the Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists of a healing touch lecture being given at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. While none of us in BASS were able to make it, IIG did and has provided us with a huge amount of data about the quackery being pushed on...

Reading the "Natural" News usually leaves a taste of bile in my mouth, but this "article" really made me sick. http://www.naturalnews.com/027030_cancer_chemotherapy_Patrick_Swayze.html I nominate this writer for the Douchebag of the Year award.

I just read this article from my local paper: http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4535009.Alternative_therapy_helps_paralysed_Brighton_man/ One person comments below the article: Does anyone know anything about such a study?

Seems that the antioxidants in green tea (epigallocatechin gallate and other polyphenols) inhibit the antitumour effects of the agents used to treat multiple myeloma. Another revelation that will not make it into "Natural News", I bet. Perhaps the talk of anticancer effects from green tea...

Ok, so an article that was posted on SWIFT today prompted a rather heated discussion between myself and a friend. And I'm wondering what's the best way to respond. This is the article: $2.5 billion spent, no alternative cures found Basically, he has a few main points: CAM isn't all bad...

Judge rules teen must be treated for cancer A Minnesota judge has ruled 13-year-old Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye, who has a highly treatable form of cancer, must get medical treatment. By Amy Forliti , Associated Press Last update: May 15, 2009 - 10:29 AM Featured comment Close comment jchild...

According to this CAM courses at universities are shutting down because of lacking interest among students. Perhaps the youngsters are smarter than they sometimes are credited for.

There is still time to have your say on how UK pharmacists should be regulated. As you know they are currently regulated more as shopkeepers than as scientists, and can sell health care products which make false claims pretty much with impunity. Boots is among the worst offenders. Go to the...

I am posting this with a deep sense of weariness. Yes, the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council opens its doors today. BBC news story here. I feel like complaining to the BBC about its use of the term `crackdown', for such a toothless watchdog. We are told that in a year's time the...

There was a nice skeptical moment during Hugh Laurie's appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on NBC last night. It turns out neither of them like alternative medicine very much. You can watch the clip online here until December 27th. (Adobe Flash required, as usual). It is just about...

Has someone mentioned this before? The Walgreens pharmacy chain (and probably other drugstores) have jumped on the bandwagon and created their own brand of Airborne. "Wal-born"! I'm not kidding. I have some fun with this on my blog, proposing a product called Placebo-rn...

Courtesy of badscience I see there is a report in the Times Higher Education supplement about the inaugural "Scientific research in homeopathy" [sic] conference at the University of Westminster. That would be the same place which promotes CAM as "science". The comments, both on the THE site...

US readers might be interested in the talk I gave at Yale on 12th May. It is wriiten up as "Integrative Baloney @Yale" Yale is no worse than 40 or so other US universities in its embrace of quackery, but the presence on YouTube of much of their recent symposium means that we know more about...

Another forum I frequent is all hot and bothered over the FDA Docket No. 2006D-0480. In a nutshell, just about anything touted as a "treatment" would be regulated. I'm not even sure what the word "regulated" means in this context. People fear that you could be arrested giving your child an...

This time by Simon Singh and Professor Edzard Ernst in today’s Daily Mail: Details of their new book Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial can be found here: http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/3703713/-/Product.html?searchstring=trick+or+treatment&searchsource=0

Well, on the phone earlier today my mother informed me that she got a new book touting vinegar as the latest miracle cure and that it will help her lower her blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels (she's a diabetic). A sister of a friend of hers started drinking 2 tablespoons of...

I picked this up from the previous thread on NHS funding of homeopathy, and thought it important enough to start a new one. Some of us have had a few battles with various public sector health sites, and now the NHS has surpassed itself with NHS Choices. Here is what it says about homeopathy. It...

It's not good for my blood pressure, but I subscribe to Mercola's newsletter just to keep up to date on the latest pop health crap. Most of the time I just sigh or even gasp, and move on, but this article drove me to do something. But what? Mercola is a master not only of highly selective...

Here is one of the latest items on the news page of The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health: As you might expect, the booklet is full of misinformation. For example: How helpful are inaccuracies like that to people who are seriously ill? You can read the entire booklet here...

…by the new ‘Natural Healthcare Council’ which will be backed by Prince Charles: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3134337.ece …but, unfortunately, no mention of whether or not the new Council will be addressing these ethical dilemmas:

There is a new blog devoted to debunking quackery http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ It is hosted by several, highly qualified skeptics.

It seems that PBS (USA Public TV) has scheduled a show for April 8, 2008, that will feature irresponsible information on autism: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/10/a_credulous_treatment_of_the_mercury_mil.php I intend to write to the network and suggest that they have experts review the...

On his blog, Orac often writes about quackery. In this post, he observes that government-sponsored woo has gone beyond NCCAM and entered our largest, research hospital. Orac is a professor of medicine, and cancer researcher...