Quackery
Respectful Insolence
Category archives for Quackery
Apparently, according to Eric Merola, Orac is a white supremacist who eats puppies
Posted by Orac on April 1, 2013 It’s been less than a week since I wrote about Stanislaw Burzynski. In fact, as hard as it is to believe, I’ve been trying not to. Obviously, I’m failing, but what can I say? Things keep happening. In particular, there’s Eric Merola. You remember Eric Merola? He’s the producer of a propaganda film extolling the…
Funny how you never see Orac and this person in the same place at the same time…
Posted by Orac on March 30, 2013 Three weeks ago, a certain “friend” of mine gave a talk to the National Capital Area Skeptics at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, VA. The topic was one near and dear to my heart, namely quackademic medicine; so I couldn’t resist posting a link to the video. Amusingly, Jake Crosby makes an appearance in…
“Common sense” that isn’t
Posted by Orac on March 29, 2013 “Common sense” is not so common. Actually, that’s not exactly right. What I meant was that what most people think of as “common sense” has little or nothing to do with what science concludes. Evidence talks, “common sense” walks. I saw a fantastic example to illustrate this point on a certain blog that I’ve found…
Criticizing the Trial to Asess Chelation Therapy (TACT) is defending science-based medicine
Posted by Orac on March 28, 2013 When I wrote about the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) trial last week, little did I suspect that I would be revisiting the topic again so soon. For those of you not familiar with TACT, it was a trial designed to test a favorite quack treatment for cardiovascular disease, chelation therapy. It is, as…
A founding father of quackademic medicine speaks
Posted by Orac on March 27, 2013 It’s been a while since I’ve written about Brian Berman. We first met him when he somehow managed to insinuate a “case report” of chronic low back pain into The New England Journal of Medicine in which he recommended acupuncture for this patient. Dr. Berman also happens to be a founder of quackademic medicine on…
The “myth” of placebo effects
Posted by Orac on March 21, 2013 Heidi Stevenson amuses me. The reasons are legion. Be it the time when Heidi lectured scientists on anecdotal evidence (which she values far more highly than scientists, of course, declaring it the “basis of all knowledge”); launched a vile and nonsensical attack on Stephen Barrett; argued against prior plausibility with using a straw man argument…
Disease, “dis-ease,” what’s the difference?
Posted by Orac on March 19, 2013 I’ve had a rule of thumb for a while that helps me identify quacks with a high degree of accuracy. It’s not very sensitive, as a lot of quacks don’t exhibit this trait, but it’s very specific. A lot of quacks don’t use the term; so not hearing says nothing about a practitioner. If you…
Your Friday Dose of Woo: Homeopathic gene therapy?
Posted by Orac on March 15, 2013 It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. Besides indulging my taste for shamelessly working lyrics from Led Zeppelin and other classic bands into my post, what am I talking about? Simple. Things have been way too serious lately. I mean, just look at yesterday’s post.…
Two Stanislaw Burzynski’s “success stories”
Posted by Orac on March 11, 2013 One of the strategies that Stanislaw Burzynski will undoubtedly use to “prove” in Eric Merola’s new Stanislaw Burzynski movie that antineoplastons work in cancer will be to highlight “success stories.” Last year, Burzynski apologists frequently pointed to a girl with an inoperable brain tumor named Amelia Saunders as a success story when the U.K. press…
The Cancer Treatment Centers of America: Cherry picked patients and survival data used to sell “integrative” oncology to the masses
Posted by Orac on March 7, 2013 I’m not a big fan of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). That I don’t much like CTCA should come as no surprise, given that this particular hospital chain distinguishes itself from other hospital chains by advertising its full body embrace of quackery, in particular “naturopathic oncology.” At the same time as it’s advertising its…
Get out the popcorn! This internecine war among antivaccinationists is getting interesting (part 4)
Posted by Orac on March 5, 2013 I’m running out of popcorn again. I know I’ve been writing a lot about the latest internecine war among cranks. It’s a battle royale whose first shot occurred when everybody’s favorite Boy Wonder “reporter” betrayed his mentors with a missive published on a hive of scum and quackery even more wretched that the hive of…
Colorado PBS: Becoming a wretched hive of scum and quackery?
Posted by Orac on March 4, 2013 Over the weekend, as I was contemplating what to write about for today, I received a rather odd and unexpected e-mail. Indeed, it was with great surprise that I read this e-mail on Saturday morning, sent to the Burzynski Movie mailing list: Dear Burzynski Movie Subscribers: Major International Distribution Deal For Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious…
How not to discuss the role of alternative medicine during the Third Reich
Posted by Orac on March 1, 2013 I really hate to write this post, but I feel compelled. The reason I hate to write it is because someone I admire screwed up. The reason I feel compelled is because of my longstanding interest in World War II and Holocaust history, not to mention my longtime interest in refuting the lies of Holocaust…
“Integrative medicine” quackery infiltrates Kentucky
Posted by Orac on February 28, 2013 Yesterday, I expressed my dismay at learning that what used to be a bastion of science-based medicine, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is now peddling the quackery known as acupuncture to children, or, as I put it, “integrating” nonsense with science. Sadly, as I’ve written about all too often because I keep seeing it again and…
Get out the popcorn! This internecine war among antivaccinationists is getting interesting (part 2)
Posted by Orac on February 26, 2013 It’s been well over two weeks since I urged everyone to get out the popcorn and sit back to enjoy the internecine war going on over in the antivaccine movement. The reason for my chuckling was the way that everyone’s favorite Boy Wonder Reporter Propagandist for the antivaccine crank blog Age of Autism, Jake Crosby,…
“Almost autism”: A new diagnosis created by antivaccinationists
Posted by Orac on February 22, 2013 Is it just me, or are medical propaganda films becoming the preferred media for “brave maverick doctors, dubious doctors, and quacks to promote their wares? I just pointed out how everybody’s favorite “brave maverick doctor,” he of the therapy for cancer for which there is no compelling evidence but that he keeps administering anyway, using…
The Galileo Gambit
Posted by Orac on February 21, 2013 Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been discussing How “They” See “Us,” which is basically that “they” see “us” as pure evil. Well, maybe not always sheer evil, but certainly not good, and even more certainly as having ulterior motives, the most common of which is filthy pharma lucre. As a result, when a…
The long, strange case of Abraham Cherrix continues
Posted by Orac on February 19, 2013 Discussing Stanislaw Burzynski’s abuse of science while contemplating how even his success stories really aren’t yesterday reminded me of a topic that I discussed rather extensively not long after I moved my blog over to ScienceBlogs and have covered sporadically since then. I’m referring to the case of Abraham Cherrix. Cherrix, for those who haven’t…
The “pharma shill” gambit
Posted by Orac on February 14, 2013 Over the last couple of days, I’ve been discussing How “They” See “Us,” which is basically that “they” see “us” as pure evil. Well, maybe not always sheer evil, but certainly not good, and even more certainly as having ulterior motives, the most common of which is filthy pharma lucre. So it seemed appropriate, as…
How “they” view “us”
Posted by Orac on February 12, 2013 Those of us who dedicate considerable time and effort to combatting quackery generally do it because we think we’re doing good. Certainly, I wouldn’t spend so much time nearly every evening blogging the way I do if I didn’t think so. It’s true that I also enjoy it, but if I were doing this just…
Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Posted by Orac on February 11, 2013 Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I realize I overuse that little joke, but I can’t help but think that virtually every time I see advocates of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as it’s known more commonly now, “integrative medicine” discussing epigenetics.…
An antivaccine Frankenstein strikes back against the monster he created
Posted by Orac on February 7, 2013 On the one hand, I’m seriously tempted to get out the popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show that is the internecine conflict going on in the antivaccine movement right now. On the other hand, as bizarre as it sounds, I actually do feel a bit sorry for the main combatant, Jake Crosby. He’s the…
Gary Null and Sayer Ji love me! They really love me!
Posted by Orac on February 5, 2013 Gary Null loves me! He really loves me! Well, maybe not Gary Null, but Sayer Ji. You remember Sayer Ji, don’t you? He’s the guy who runs GreenMedInfo.com who showed up on my skeptical radar when he claimed that vaccines are “transhumanism” that subverts evolution. (Seriously, you can’t make stuff like this up.) On another…
Will naturopathic quackery be licensed in Michigan?
Posted by Orac on February 4, 2013 If I’ve pointed it out once, I’ve pointed it out a thousand times. Naturopathy is a cornucopia of almost every quackery you can think of. Be it homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, applied kinesiology, anthroposophical medicine, reflexology, craniosacral therapy, Bowen Technique, and pretty much any other form of unscientific or prescientific medicine that you…
An antivaccine Frankenstein’s monster turns on his creator
Posted by Orac on February 1, 2013 Almost everyone knows the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster. It’s such a classic tale that has been around so long and told so many times in so many ways that it’s almost impossible for someone living in this country not to have encountered it growing up. Frankenstein’s monster is also a tale that…