Month: November 2009

The Institute for Science in Medicine enters the health care reform fray

I’ve been writing about the attempts of proponents of various pseudoscience, quackery, and faith-based religious “healing” modalities to slip provisions friendly to their interests into the health care reform bill that will be debated in the Senate beginning today. If you want to know what’s at stake, check out the first press release of a newly formed institute designed to promote science-based...

/ November 30, 2009

Naturopaths and the anti-vaccine movement: Hijacking the law in service of pseudoscience

Time and time again, we’ve seen it. When pseudoscientists and quacks can’t persuade the scientific and medical community of the validity of their claims, they go to the law to try to gain the legitimacy that their claims can’t garner through proving themselves by the scientific method. True, purveyors of pseudoscience and unscientifically-derived medical practices do crave the respectability of science. That’s...

/ November 30, 2009

Ontario naturopathic prescribing proposal is bad medicine

Two weeks ago, Canadian Skeptics United published on their Skeptic North site a piece by an Ontario pharmacist criticizing a proposal by the province to grant limited prescribing rights to naturopaths. The essay, which was reprinted in the National Post on Tuesday, outlines the intellectual and practical conundrum presented by allowing those with education that diverges from science-based practices to prescribe drugs....

/ November 27, 2009

Why Universal Hepatitis B Vaccination Isn’t Quite Universal

I am just a parent with some questions about vaccine safety and was happy to find your website.  I have noticed that the Scandinavian countries do not routinely recommend HepB vaccination unless the mother is a known carrier.  I did not see this addressed anywhere on your website and I hope you or one of your colleagues might consider discussing the reasons...

/ November 27, 2009

Man in Coma 23 Years – Is He Really Conscious?

Belgian citizen Rob Houben has been noncommunicative for 23 years. Has he suddenly gained the ability to communicate?

/ November 25, 2009

Does C-section increase the rate of neonatal death?

It is a potentially devastating indictment of the rising C-section rate. Most midwifery and “natural” childbirth websites claim that elective C-section triples the rate of neonatal mortality. Mainstream web sites like Feministing.com, and newspapers like The New York Times have repeated the claim. There’s just one problem. It’s not true. The claim originated with the paper Infant and Neonatal Mortality for Primary...

/ November 24, 2009

Recombinant Human Antithrombin – Milking Nanny Goats for Big Bucks

Antithrombin deficiency is a hereditary disease causing low levels or defects of antithrombin, a blood protein required for controlling clot formation. Patients are at risk of blood clots, organ damage, and death. They usually have to take oral anticoagulant drugs like warfarin for life. During high-risk procedures like surgery or childbirth, oral anticoagulants must be discontinued to minimize the chance of bleeding...

/ November 24, 2009

Medical Marijuana: are we ready?

Cannabis has been used recreationally and medically for centuries. Despite long experience, relatively little is known about the risks and benefits of its use as a medication. A considerable portion of our ignorance can be attributed to government discouragement of cannabis research. Searching the NIH website brings up many studies of both cannabis abuse and cannabis as a therapeutic agent, but most...

/ November 23, 2009

The autism “biomed” movement: Uncontrolled and unethical experimentation on autistic children

Ever since I first discovered the anti-vaccine movement, first on Usenet, specifically on a Usenet newsgroup devoted to discussing alternative medicine (misc.health.alternative, or m.h.a. for short) and then later on web and on blogs, there have been two things that have horrified me. First, there are the claims that children suffer all sorts of harm from vaccines, be it being made autistic...

/ November 23, 2009

“Move along. Nothing to see Here”- F. Drebin

I am, I think, the slowest writer in the  SBM stable.  I start each entry about 10 days before it is due, and work diligently on it through the week.  As such, I run the risk that events may make my work pointless. Case in point.  I have been slogging away at this entry for the last week and had the final...

/ November 20, 2009