Denialism

Category: Altie Meds

  • My New Product: All Natural Pb®

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    Chris
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    Sciblings, I know you all are going to run out and buy my new nutritional supplement, Pb®. Pb® is all natural. Pb® is pure. Pb® is elemental. Pb® is balanced. Pb® affects one’s optimal health. Pb® is readily absorbed by the blood stream and accumulates in the body, competing with unnatural toxins that cause illness.…

  • Mercola—still lying after all these years

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    MarkH
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    It’s no secret that I have no respect for Joe Mercola. Every time I read one of his promotional emails or make a visit to his website, I see more fantastic claims. Usually, I don’t see blatant lies…until now…

  • The latest scummy tactic of altie med – blaming medicine for celebrity deaths.

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    MarkH
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    A fellow medical student once asked me why I thought people become hostile to science-based medicine. Certainly our own failures contribute. When we have no treatments for a disease, or if the treatments themselves may also incur significant morbidity, it is understandable that patients will become disillusioned with what doctors have to offer. However there…

  • Bill Nelson Wins the Internet

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    MarkH
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    I agree with our buddy Ben Goldacre when he says Bill Nelson wins the internet. I can not begin to describe the hilarity of this video but first a bit of background. Bill Nelson is a quack who’s been running a Rife-machine scam. That is, for many thousands of dollars you can purchase and use…

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

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    Chris
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    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…

  • Live forever!

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    MarkH
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    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…

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

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    Chris
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    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…

  • Galileo, Semmelweis, and YOU!

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    MarkH
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    To wear the mantle of Galileo, it is not enough to be persecuted: you must also be right. –Robert Park I used to spend a lot of time on the websites of Joe Mercola and Gary Null, the most influential medical cranks of the internets (to call them “quacks” would imply that they are real…

  • The Joys of the Skymall Catalog

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    Chris
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    I just returned from a wonderful trip to Turkey and London, and the flight gave me the opportunity to spend hours with one of my favorite diversions, the Skymall Catalog. Admit it! You look at this thing full of wonders, and wonder who in the world buys them! Check out this whopper: the “Aculife Therapist…

  • Gary Null and his goon(s)

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    MarkH
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    I’ve mentioned before that I think that PBS stations are making a deal with the devil when they feature Gary Null’s infomercials. This alternative medince guru is a classic crank—an HIV denialist, seller of phonie cures, and host to other cranks. But at least he’s a nice guy, right? Ask Lee Phillips, some guy who…