Medicine
Respectful Insolence
Category archives for Medicine
Bad science about GMOs: It reminds me of the antivaccine movement (revisited)
Posted by Orac on June 17, 2013 I never used to write much about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) before. I still don’t do it that often. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t been on my radar very much. That seems to be changing, however. It’s not because I went seeking this issue out (although I must admit that I first became interested…
Congratulations are in order for Jake Crosby!
Posted by Orac on June 15, 2013 I’ve been trying to lay off the blogging on the weekend for a long time now, and, for the most part, I’ve been successful, as I’m sure regular readers will have noticed. However, sometimes I just can’t help but take a few minutes to note particularly entertaining or important developments. This particular development falls into…
Alternative medicine: The bait and switch is working
Posted by Orac on June 13, 2013 For a long time, going back almost to the beginning of this blog eight and a half years ago, I’ve referred to the “bait and switch” of alternative medicine. What I mean by that is the manner in which advocates of alternative medicine—or, as they like to call it these days, “complementary and alternative medicine”…
Why won’t you call me, RFK, Jr.? Let’s talk about vaccines!
Posted by Orac on June 12, 2013 What’s Keith Kloor got that I haven’t got? What’s Laura Helmuth got that I haven’t got? Why won’t Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. call me to complain about all the not-so-Respectful Insolence I’ve directed his way over the years. I mean, seriously. I spend nearly eight years criticizing his antivaccine crank views, and these two get…
Colorado, naturopathy, and “health freedom”: Devolving into a quack wonderland?
Posted by Orac on June 11, 2013 It’s just one more cut on the road to the proverbial death by a thousand cuts. I’m referring, unfortunately, to last week’s development in the state of Colorado. Specifically, I’m referring to the Colorado legislature’s truly boneheaded decision to license naturopaths, thus giving the imprimatur of the state to quackery and, in essence, legalizing a…
Just what I need: Cellular Feng Shui!
Posted by Orac on June 10, 2013 Every so often, real life intrudes on blogging, preventing the creation of fresh Insolence, at least Insolence of the quality that you’ve come to expect. This is one of those times. (Yes, it’s grant season.) So enjoy this bit of Classic Insolence from 2008 and be assured that I’ll be back tomorrow. Remember, if you’ve…
I want my ANP! [NOTE ADDENDUM]
Posted by Orac on June 7, 2013 [NOTE ADDENDUM.] It’s been a (mostly) all Stanislaw Burzynski week. I had been thinking of finishing up with a post about something completely unrelated; that is, until people started sending me a link. Also, because I was out last night with my wife in celebration of our wedding anniversary, I didn’t have time for anything…
A couple of cranks: Compare and contrast
Posted by Orac on June 6, 2013 It was a busy day yesterday, and I had less time than usual to attend to the blog, but that’s OK. This random thought popped into my head after spending the last three days writing about Stanislaw Burzynski, first reviewing Eric Merola’s hagiography and infomercial about him, then seeing how well the BBC did in…
Odds and ends left over after the Panorama Burzynski Clinic report: Burzynski versus his own SEC filing
Posted by Orac on June 5, 2013 I realize that I’ve been focusing on Stanislaw Burzynski the last couple of days, but it’s just been one of those weeks. Between the release of Eric Merola’s latest paean to the Brave Maverick Doctor and BBC Panorama’s report on Burzynski and his activities, it’s been an eventful week. My review of the second Burzynski…
Stanislaw Burzynski versus the BBC
Posted by Orac on June 4, 2013 After yesterday’s epic deconstruction of the latest propaganda-fest from everybody’s favorite Leni Riefenstahl without the talent, Eric Merola, on his most admired subject, “brave maverick doctor” Stanislaw Burzynski, I needed something science-based to cleanse the rancid taste of intelligence-insulting nonsense from my mind. Through a quirk of fate that couldn’t have worked out better if…
In which the latest movie about Stanislaw Burzynski’s “cancer cure” is reviewed…with Insolence
Posted by Orac on June 3, 2013 Well, I’ve finally seen it, and it was even worse than I had feared. One might even say that watching it was like repeatedly smacking my head into a brick wall. It felt so good when it finally stopped. I’m referring, of course, to Eric Merola’s latest cinematic “effort. Ever since it was revealed that…
On “helping” that is anything but
Posted by Orac on May 31, 2013 Cancer is a bitch. Depending upon what organ is involved and what kind of cancer it is, it can be incredibly hard to cure. All too often, it is incurable, particularly when it involves the brain, pancreas, esophagus, or other organs. People wonder why, after over 40 years of a “war on cancer,” we don’t…
Can antivaccinationists knock it off with the autism Holocaust analogies already? (RFK, Jr. edition)
Posted by Orac on May 30, 2013 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is despicable. I just wanted to get that off my chest. (Do clear Plexiglass boxes full of multicolored blinky multicolored lights even have chests?) The reason for my outburst will become painfully apparent all too soon, but I just had to say that. There’s also one other thing that I just…
Cutting, poisoning, and burning naturally
Posted by Orac on May 29, 2013 Not too long ago, a reader asked me about black salve, and then not too long later I saw a commenter mention black salve. It occurs to me that, in all the years I’ve been doing this blog and my other blog, I don’t think I’ve ever actually written about black salve, except in passing.…
Religion and quackery: Pure synergy
Posted by Orac on May 28, 2013 Those of us who support science-based medicine and do our part to expose and combat quackery are naturally outraged at how rarely quacks are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. All too often, all we can expect is for doctors practicing such chicanery to lose their medical licenses and be temporarily shut down.…
How to kill cancer cells
Posted by Orac on May 27, 2013 I am taking the Memorial Day holiday off. I will return tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a general principle that needs to be remembered in cancer research: I would also add to that list: So does bleach. So does acid. So does alkali. So does pouring the media out of the dish and letting the…
Quoth antivaccinationist Hilary Butler: Non-vaccinators are the “new Jews”
Posted by Orac on May 24, 2013 I’ve never been able to figure it out. Antivaccine zealots seem to have an intense love of Nazi analogies and comparing those supporting science-based medicine to Nazis. While from a strictly nasty point of view, I can sort of understand the utility of such analogies to demonize one’s opponents. After all, to political extremists of…
Score one for the antiscience cranks in Portland on fluoridation
Posted by Orac on May 23, 2013 Chalk one up for the forces of anti-science, quackery, and pseudoscience. The citizens of Portland, Oregon just handed them a huge victory the other day when they once again rejected water fluoridation in a referendum: Fluoride supporters, it appeared, had everything going for them. Five Portland city commissioners had voted to add fluoride to the…
The legacy of Andrew Wakefield continues
Posted by Orac on May 22, 2013 Actions have consequences. No matter how much the person might want to try to hide from the consequences of one’s actions, they frequently have a way of coming back, grabbing you by the neck, and letting you know they’re there. We see it happening now in the U.K. Fifteen years ago, British doctor Andrew Wakefield…
A male BRCA mutation carrier “emulates” Angelina Jolie by having preventative surgery to remove his prostate? Not so fast there, pardner…
Posted by Orac on May 21, 2013 Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. OK, I know I use that line entirely too much, but I also don’t really care. When something fits, wear it. And if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. Sorry, I’ll stop. I’m in a weird mood as I write this. But it’s…
A study contributes to the deceptive rebranding of naturopathy as “lifestyle counseling”
Posted by Orac on May 20, 2013 That naturopathy is a veritable cornucopia of quackery mixed with the odd sensible, science-based suggestion here and there is not in doubt, at least not to supporters of science-based medicine (SBM). However, what naturopaths are very good at doing is representing their pseudoscience as somehow being scientific and thus on par with actual SBM. So…
Calling out false “balance” on vaccines and autism
Posted by Orac on May 17, 2013 Manufactroversy. It’s wonderful, made-up word that describes a phenomenon so aptly, so brilliantly, that I like to use it all the time. Basically the word describes a manufactured controversy that is motivated by either extreme ideology (virtually always crank ideology) and/or profit that is intentionally stoked to create public confusion about a scientific issue that…
The quack view of preventing breast cancer versus reality and Angelina Jolie
Posted by Orac on May 15, 2013 I should have known it. I should have known that the reaction wouldn’t take very long. I should have known it based on prior history. The news story to which I am referring is, of course, the revelation yesterday in the New York Times editorial page by Angelina Jolie that she had decided to undergo…
NCCAM and “pragmatic trials.” Again.
Posted by Orac on May 14, 2013 I’m not alone in pointing this out, but if there’s one thing about research and clinical trials into “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) that has become very apparent to me over the years, it’s that the more rigorous the study the less likely it is to show an effect. In normal research, the usual progression…
Alternative cancer “cures”: Nothing’s changed in 34 years
Posted by Orac on May 13, 2013 Sometimes blogging topics arise from the strangest places. It’s true. For instance, although references to how tobacco causes cancer and the decades long denialist campaign by tobacco companies are not infrequently referenced in my blogging (particularly from supporters of highly dubious studies alleging a link between cell phone radiation and cancer and the ham-handed misuse…