Category: Legal

Junk science helps homeopathic remedy company win class action

Junk science from two of homeopathy's biggest apologists help Hyland's defeat a class action lawsuit for consumer false advertising claims, and nixed refunds for ineffective homeopathic remedies.

/ January 19, 2017
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Florida revokes medical license of “Lyme literate” doctor

Florida finally revoked the medical license of “Lyme literate” doctor John Lentz, who honed his diagnostic skills and treatments in ILADS seminars and treated “chronic Lyme” for almost a decade. Why does the system allow this?

/ December 22, 2016

“Donald Trump’s presidential election win stuns scientists”

Scientists in the U.S. and from around the world are weighing in on Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the most powerful country on earth: Trump will be the first anti-science president we have ever had . . . The consequences are going to be very, very severe. Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society in...

/ November 10, 2016

California legislature should repeal naturopathic licensing

On January 1, 2018, the California Naturopathic Doctors Act will be automatically repealed unless the California Legislature deletes or extends that date during the 2017 legislative session, which convenes on December 5, 2016. In addition, according to California law, the Naturopathic Medicine Committee of the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, which regulates naturopathic doctors (NDs), is subject to review by “appropriate policy...

/ October 27, 2016

Natural Health Products: Loosely regulated, little evidence of benefit, and an industry intent on preserving the status quo

This week’s post will revisit a topic I recently covered, but it’s time-sensitive and needs your input. Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent to the US Food and Drugs Administration, is considering revisions to the way in which it regulates dietary supplements, which are called “natural health products” in Canada. It is rare that a regulator acknowledges that a regulatory system isn’t working,...

/ October 20, 2016

Is there a distinct standard of care for “integrative” physicians? The Woliner case

We at SBM argue that there should be a single, science-based standard of care in medicine. Unfortunately, with the rise of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) also called "integrative medicine," there is a separate standard emerging that allows CAM practitioners to get away with using unproven and disproven treatments. The case of Dr. Kenneth Woliner illustrates this problem.

/ October 13, 2016

Personal Care Products Safety Act: Facelift for FDA Regulation or Lipstick on a Pig?

The U.S. cosmetics industry, the largest in the world, is expected to reach $62 billion in revenues in 2016. Yet, despite the fact that its products are regularly applied to, and absorbed by, the body’s largest organ (the skin) and even ingested in small amounts, the cosmetics industry is largely self-regulating. There are over 57,000 different chemicals used in cosmetics. According to...

/ September 29, 2016

FTC Sues Predatory Journal

Because I have a university e-mail address I frequently get spam from journals I have never heard of soliciting submissions, and even offering editorial positions. I have generally ignored them, and it’s probably a good thing. Over the last decade we have seen the rise of open-access science journals. The idea is a good one – journals charge a moderate fee to...

/ September 21, 2016

Nada for NADA: “acudetox” not effective in addiction treatment

The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) teaches and promotes a standardized auricular acupuncture protocol, sometimes called “acudetox.” NADA claims acudetox encourages community wellness . . . for behavioral health, including addictions, mental health, and disaster & emotional trauma. I do not know what “community wellness” is or how one measures whether wellness has been successfully “encouraged.” In any event, in the NADA...

/ September 1, 2016

Legislative Alchemy 2016 Update: Acupuncturists win; naturopaths and chiropractors don’t (so far)

Legislative Alchemy is the process by which state legislatures transform pseudoscience and quackery into licensed health care practices. By legislative fiat, chiropractors can detect and correct non-existent subluxations, naturopaths can diagnose (with bogus tests) and treat (with useless dietary supplements and homeopathy) fabricated diseases like “adrenal fatigue” and “chronic yeast overgrowth,” and acupuncturists can unblock mythical impediments to the equally mythical “qi”...

/ July 21, 2016