Cassandra Callender ’ s cancer is progressing, and the quackery isn ’ t stopping it
Cassandra Callender made national news a couple of years ago when at age 17 she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and refused chemotherapy. The court ordered that she undergo appropriate treatment, but unfortunately she relapsed. Now she's being treated at a quack clinic in Mexico even as her cancer relentlessly progresses. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 5, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking AARSOTA Autologous Antigen Receptor Specific Oncogenic Target Acquisition cannabis Cassandra Callender coffee enema Hodgkin' Source Type: blogs

How stigmatized are undervaccinated children and their parents?
Antivaxers often complain that they are judged harshly. It turns out that they are probably correct. But is this a bad thing? More importantly, what about the children, who didn't choose not to be vaccinated? (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 2, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Popular culture social studies stigmatization Source Type: blogs

The annals of “ I ’ m not antivaccine, ” part 25: We ’ re not antivaccine, we just publish posts about stopping the “ Vaccine Holocaust ”
Bloggers at the Age of Autism blog, like most antivaccine activists, vehemently deny that they are antivaccine, claiming instead that they are "vaccine safety" advocates. Their denials are belied by their having published many posts about a "Vaccine Holocaust." (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 31, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking World War II Age of Autism chelation vaccines Source Type: blogs

Quackery invades another once science-based journal
As quackery in the form of “integrative medicine” has increasingly been “integrated” into medicine, medical journals are starting to notice and succumb to the temptation to decrease their skepticism. The BMJ, unfortunately, is the latest to do so. It won’t be the last. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 30, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture quackademic medicine systematic review The BMJ Source Type: blogs

A compound derived from marijuana decreases seizure frequency in children with Dravet syndrome, and there ’ s nothing “ miraculous ” about it
There's a new clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing a beneficial effect due to cannabidiol, a chemical isolated from marijuana, on drug-resistant seizures due to Dravet syndrome. Medical marijuana advocates are crowing, "I told you so!" As is usually the case, the real story is more nuanced. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 26, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking cannabidiol cannabinoids Dravet syndrome epilepsy herbalism marijuana seizure Source Type: blogs

Will Tipper Gore be appearing at a fundraiser hosted by antivaxers?
A story in The Washington Free Beacon claims that Tipper Gore will be appearing at a fundraiser for Kathleen Murphy, a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates running for reelection to be held by Claire and Albert Dwoskin, two rich antivaxers and donors to the Democratic Party. If the story is true and not fake news that's bad, but even if it turns out not to be true I just had to discuss the Dwoskins, who have been funding antivaccine "studies" for several years now. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 24, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Al Gore Albert Dwoskin Children's Medical Safety Research Institute Claire Dwoskin climate science Kathleen Murp Source Type: blogs

Teaching critical thinking to combat fake news and bullshit: You have to start young
Thanks to social media, fake news, conspiracy theories, and health scams spread faster and farther than ever. The world is in need of critical thinking skills now more than ever. Fortunately, there is hope. Critical thinking can be taught, but teaching these skills works best if you start young. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 23, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Andy Oxman Informed Health Choices Uganda Source Type: blogs

Tell the FDA not to embrace quackery: Write to oppose its proposal on acupuncture and chiropractic for chronic pain
Chiropractors and acupuncturists have lobbied for a greater role in treating pain. They might well have won it. Last week, the FDA released proposed changes Wednesday to its blueprint on educating health care providers about treating pain, which now recommend that doctors learn about chiropractic care and acupuncture as therapies that might help patients avoid opioids. There’s still time to stop this, but you have to write the FDA. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 22, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture Chiropractic chronic pain fda opioid opioid addiction regulation Source Type: blogs

Acupuncture versus science, linguistic edition
In the Journal of Integrative Medicine, acupuncturists argue for modernizing acupuncture by uncoupling it from its traditional Chinese medicine background and avoiding the mystical language about qi and meridians. Hilarity ensues, because acupuncture can't be separated from the prescientific mysticism from which it arose. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 19, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture Ted Kaptchuk tongue diagnosis traditional Chinese medicine Source Type: blogs

Acupuncture versus science, acupuncture apologist edition
In the Journal of Integrative Medicine, acupuncturists argue for modernizing acupuncture by uncoupling it from its traditional Chinese medicine background and avoiding the mystical language about qi and meridians. Hilarity ensues, because acupuncture can't be separated from the prescientific mysticism from which it arose. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 19, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture Ted Kaptchuk tongue diagnosis traditional Chinese medicine Source Type: blogs

The check must have finally cleared, or: Mawson ’ s incompetent “ vaxed/unvaxed ” study is back online
Two badly designed, incompetently performed "studies" that claimed to show that unvaccinated children are healthier than unvaccinated children were briefly published by a bottom feeding, predatory "open access" journal, and then they disappeared, having apparently been retracted. Now they're back, like Freddie Krueger, Jason, or Michael Myers, and antivaxers are rejoicing. I guess the check must have finally cleared. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 18, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Anthony Mawson Children's Medical Safety Research Institute Claire Dwoskin J.B. Handley Retraction Watch Source Type: blogs

The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement: “ Vaccine Holocaust ” and potential impending attacks on journalists
Antivaxers are planning on publishing the personal information of employees of the Boston Herald because the paper published an editorial saying that promoting antivaccine misinformation among a vulnerable population should be a "hanging offense." Meanwhile, overblown allusions to the Holocaust are going into overdrive. Same as it ever was. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 17, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Auschwitz Autism Ginger Taylor hanging lynching Mike Adams Minnesota Source Type: blogs

The annals of “ I ’ m not antivaccine, ” part 24: Antivaxers threaten to dox Boston Herald employees over the newspaper ’ s use of imagery much less offensive than what antivaxers use on a daily basis
Last week, the Boston Herald published an editorial about how antivaxers deceived a community of Somali immigrants in Minnesota, referring to the spreading of deadly misinformation as a "hanging offense." Antivaxers took an ill-advised idiom and turned it into a threat of mass lynchings, ignoring their own violent imagery about vaccines and portraying themselves as "pro-vaccine," and used it as justification to threaten to publish the home addresses and phone numbers of newspaper employees. Yes, they are disingenuous and hypocritical as hell. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 16, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Boston Herald Holocaust lynching Mike Adams Minnesota racism Somali vaccines Source Type: blogs

The annals of “ I ’ m not antivaccine, ” part 24: Violent imagery for me but not for thee
Last week, the Boston Herald published an editorial about how antivaxers deceived a community of Somali immigrants in Minnesota, referring to the spreading of deadly misinformation as a "hanging offense." Antivaxers took an ill-advised idiom and turned it into a threat of mass lynchings, ignoring their own violent imagery about vaccines and portraying themselves as "pro-vaccine." Yes, they are disingenuous and hypocritical as hell. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 16, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Boston Herald Holocaust lynching Mike Adams Minnesota racism Somali vaccines Source Type: blogs

Acupuncturists mistake insufficient rigor for bias against them
Acupuncturists complain that the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends treatments for knee osteoarthritis for which the evidence is weak. They think that means that NICE should also accept acupuncture. In reality, it means that NICE should stop recommending treatments without support by strong scientific evidence. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 15, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture clinical trials National Institute for Health and Care Excellence NICE Popular Science Source Type: blogs