Category: Public Health

Acupuncture

“Integrative medicine” advocates: Co-opting the opioid crisis to promote funding for acupuncture by Medicaid

The opioid epidemic is a serious public health crisis in the U.S., and new tools and treatments to deal with chronic pain are urgently needed. Unfortunately, where public health officials see a crisis, advocates of "integrating" quackery with science-based medicine see an opportunity. In this case, promoters of pseudomedicine are taking advantage of the opioid crisis to persuade state Medicaid systems to...

/ January 22, 2018

Medical Marijuana: Where is the evidence?

Marijuana is widely touted as an effective medicine for an array of conditions. But what does the evidence actually tell us?

/ January 11, 2018
Water

“Raw water”: The latest dangerous “natural health” fad

In pseudoscience, appeals to nature are everywhere. It's not surprising, then, that there is profit to be made selling "raw" (i.e., untreated) water at very high prices for its nonexistent health benefits, those benefits all claimed to be due to the "naturalness" of the water. I can't help but note that cholera, Giardia, amoebic dysentery, and a wide variety of waterborne illnesses...

/ January 1, 2018
George Carlin

The seven dirty words the CDC won’t be able to say any more (in budget requests)

On Saturday, The Washington Post broke a story that Trump administration will prohibit officials at the CDC from using a list of seven words or phrases — including "transgender," “evidence-based,” and “science-based” — in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget. As much as we like the title of our blog, this is not the sort of recognition we at SBM...

/ December 18, 2017

Go ahead, have that coffee

Coffee drinkers, rejoice. A new paper shows positive associations between consumption and an array of health outcomes.

/ November 30, 2017

New Tools Against Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem that may lead to a post-antibiotic era. However, there are potential solutions that deserve research priority.

/ November 22, 2017

Australia ends insurance subsidies for naturopathy, homeopathy, and more

The Australian government has eliminated the insurance subsidy for 17 alternative health practices due to a lack of evidence for efficacy. This is a win for medicine and Australian taxpayers.

/ October 19, 2017

If you feel better, should you stop taking your antibiotics?

A recent paper suggests that patients would be better off stopping antibiotics when they feel better, instead of completing the entire amount prescribed. Could this approach reduce antibiotic overuse and the risk of widespread resistance?

/ September 21, 2017

Another Child Harmed by Pseudomedicine: Lead Poisoning from a “Homeopathic Healing” Bracelet

The CDC has published a report on yet another child harmed by exposure to a caregiver's belief in quackery...and the toxic level of lead found in a "homeopathic" teething bracelet.

/ September 8, 2017

Trump’s new CDC Director is very pro-vaccine, but was she also at one time a quack?

On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price announced the appointment of Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald to head the CDC. Reassuringly, her record as Georgia Public Health Commissioner was pro-vaccine and relatively non-ideological. Not so reassuringly, a news report yesterday found that before entering public service she was peddling anti-aging quackery at her private practice. Where will her balance fall now...

/ July 10, 2017