Denialism

Month: August 2008

  • I am embarrassed

    —

    by

    Chris
    in

    by the San Francisco Chronicle for giving a lot of uncritical coverage to a pet psychic in “Marla Steele makes pet talk a two-way street.” This “psychic” discusses Reiki (and the ability to do it from a distance–“energy broadcasting”), among other thing. And here’s the reporter’s hardball question: What do you say to skeptics? I…

  • Doctors aren’t preachers (or at least they shouldn’t be)

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    I’ve written a number of times about how a physician must be careful not impose his or her personal beliefs on patients. Another interesting case has hit the news. The decision of the California Supreme Court hinged on interpretation of state non-discrimination law. I’m not a lawyer, but I do know a bit about medicine…

  • Seeding trials—no relation to Seed Media Group, LLC

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    I’ve been having an internal debate about whether to write on this issue, not because it isn’t interesting, not because it isn’t important, but because it’s getting so much coverage and I’m not sure how much I can add to the conversation. But it so infuriated me that I must blog. Science-based medicine relies on…

  • Trick or Treat! Alternative Medicine Book Review in the Journal

    —

    by

    Chris
    in

    Today’s Journal is worth a read for this important development: something reasonable actually appeared in the Opinions section! Scott Gottlieb, one of the AEI’s ogres, penned a review of Trick or Treatment, a book on America’s obsession with alternative medicines, by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. This apparently is not your typical rant against alternative…

  • How we know what we know

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    Over the last few decades, the nature of medical knowledge has changed significantly. Before the revolution in evidence-based medicine, clinical medicine was practiced as more of an art (in the “artisan” sense). Individuals were treated empirically with a strong knowledge of medical biology, and the guidance of “The Giants”, or particularly skilled and respected practitioners.…

  • Helpful hints for Creationist Cults

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    Answers Research Journal, the teleologic, Apologetic, unscientific screed put out by Answers in Genesis has so far done nothing resembling science. But I now have an idea for them, although I’m not sure if it’s been proposed. So far, their “research” has taken the form of trying to find “facts” to fit their conclusions that…

  • Live forever!

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    Look, whether you like it or not, you can’t live forever. I bring this up because there is always a new book or new add purporting to have “the answer” to long life and good health, which never includes modern, evidence-based medicine. Still, perhaps some of these books contains good advice. Or not. Let me…

  • Open thread—troll anmesty

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    The recent uptick in troll traffic here and at Orac’s place got me thinking. Many of the trolls have been making unsophisticated attacks on the truth without actually stating a hypothesis. And that got me thinking even more. If they could only state their questions properly, there would be some useful fodder for discussion. There…

  • DrPal, tell us more about HPV and cancer

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in , , ,

    OK, if you insist. This comes with the usual caveat directed at scientists that I know this is oversimplified, but I wish to reach the largest audience possible. Feel free to correct my mistakes, but please don’t bother me about oversimplification. So here’s the deal. Several decades ago, it became scientifically fashionable to believe that…

  • $30M in Fines for Scam “Created by a Teacher”

    —

    by

    Chris
    in

    The FTC has piled on Airborne, one of the most annoying consumer scams in the market. The vitamin pill was advertised to prevent colds. And it was created by a teacher! But the FTC concluded: …there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can…