Remember that awful, terrible Templeton-funded prayer study that had no controls, was unblinded, and had nothing but subjective measurements of improvement? Now it's being promoted on healthfinder.gov — with not a word of reservation, just a happy claim that prayer might help sight- and hearing-impaired people. It's a beautiful example of bad science reporting, in which they'll admit that maybe it's just the placebo effect, but they still run out and get quotes from people saying this stuff might help.
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It's worse than that, PZ. It appears that they've licensed Healthday.com as their primary source of news. Healthday has several other woo-friendly stories, no doubt endorsed wholly by the woo-meisters at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
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I sent the following e-mail to the "Contact Us" link:
Hopefully I'll get an actual response. I'd suggest that others make a stink as well.
Here's the letter I just knocked out:
As a taxpayer I am appalled that the Department of Health and Human Services would promote magic and superstition in any way, shape, or form. Your reprinting of an article on prayer, http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?docID=641876 is a disservice to every thinking person.
First, do no harm is supposed to be the guiding principle of all health care providers. Unfortunately, relying on prayer causes nothing but harm and death. Here is just a partial list of children -- children! -- whose parents killed them because they appealed to superstitious beliefs instead of modern medicine.
11 year old Madeline Neumann - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/02/us-daughter-pray-death
11 year old Ian Lundman, 16 months old Matthew Swan, 7 year old Amy Hermanson, 2 year old Robyn Twitchell - http://www.childrenshealthcare.org/victims.htm
5 month old Caleb Tribble - http://tvnz.co.nz/content/628769/423466/article.html
For more, see http://whatstheharm.net/christianscience.html.
Prayer kills. Prayer kills because it stops people from providing real health care. My hope is that people will not die after relying on the article you've posted. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that will not be the case.
Too bad your article doesn't start with an excerpt from the excellent and irreverent http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/.
Bob