Altie Meds

As part of related research into consumer protection, I recently scanned in a copy of Samuel Hopkins Adams' seminal articles on the patent medicine industry. These articles, which appeared in Collier's magazine starting in 1905, helped build the record for the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act, and for amendments to that law in 1912. There are fourteen articles in the series and in them you will see how little has changed in the world of quackery. Adams focused much of his attention on the relationship between publishers and quacks, a problem that exists to this day (publishers are one of the most…

Crazy Luddite Libertarian Mike Adams is following his usual script, ghoulishly using the school shooting in Newton to pillory his usual bogeymen he blames for anything. True to form he is blaming psychiatry and medications for the school shooting. What was it I said yesterday? At some point it is likely he’ll find a way to blame his other favorite bogeymen, GMOs, pharmaceuticals, doctors (especially psychiatrists), and scientists. Did I call this or what? What is really stunning is how the cranks have continuously, and incorrectly flogged the IOM's "to err is human" study for the last…

Mike Adams, HIV/AIDS denialist, anti-vaccine crusader, germ theory denialist, and most recently, promoter of a child-protective services vaccine/sex trade conspiracy, actually has a contributor-submitted article on how to spot a scam guru. The advice in the article isn't terrible. Don't believe inflated claims. Don't believe people who say "anyone can do it" or create fake organizations to legitimize themselves. I just can't figure out what it's doing at Natural News. It also is missing some other signs you are being scammed by a false guru such as: You are at Natural News You are…

Zite has failed me. For some reason under the "science" heading it referred me to thisold hpathy article on homeopathic treatment of burns. I realize this site has been a source of idiocy for years but I think this is a true gem. It makes me want to cry for humanity. Orac, don't look, it will make your brain explode. The question is, how should you treat burns? Most normal, sane people, in the treatment of the acute burn would suggest cooling the tissue, thus ending the process of damage from the exposure to heat, as well as adding the secondary benefit of soothing the injury. What do…

For some reason the NYT is all about neck injury lately. In yesterday's discussion of a possible chiropractic induced injury, Russell asked: But given all the other stresses people put on their necks, from accidents such as headbumps, from purposeful athletics such as whacking soccer balls, and from just craning one's head in odd positions when performing various kinds of mechanical labor, it puzzles me that the risk from a chiropractor would be much greater than the risks from these other kinds of use/abuse. Of course, this is not excuse for the chiropractor, who is imposing that risk,…

The Wall Street Journal's Matthew Dalton reports: European scientific authorities Thursday rejected dozens of health claims made by food companies, in a sign of how tricky it will be for them to get some of their most popular claims past a European Union drive to bring scientific rigor to the health foods. A panel of the European Food Safety Authority issued nearly a hundred opinions on health claims, about two-thirds of which were negative. The rejections included claims on special bacteria that are supposed to aid digestion and boost the immune system, beta carotene additives for sunscreen…

Stephanie Rodgers of the Mother Nature Network reports on a recent study of lead content in popular multivitamins by Consumer Labs. According to the news summary (the report is subscription only): Of the 300-plus children's vitamins and prenatal vitamins tested for lead, only four were found to be lead-free. Those include TwinLab Infant Care, Natrol Liquid Kid's Companion, NF Formulas Liquid Pediatric and After Baby Boost 2 (for lactating women). No multivitamins for adult women tested negative for lead, but the ones with the lowest concentrations include FemOne, Viactiv Multivitamin Milk…

Sounds like a more dangerous form of Scientology, according to the Chronicle's Scavenger Blog: ...Lee's yoga focuses on Brain Education, or as one official put it, "using your brain well." Part of this training includes the head-shaking Brain Wave Vibration exercise...Participants take basic yoga classes and are reportedly encouraged to attend pricey workshops, retreats and healing sessions. The group also sells followers $4,000 healing turtles, $800 healing necklaces and $90 vibrating power brains, according to a Boston TV station.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Elephant Pharmacy, a "holistic" drug store has closed and will file for bankruptcy. Why should you care? Elephant was an upscale store based in the Bay Area, the epicenter for wooishness. If this type of business fails here, how well will woo do elsewhere? There's something to be said for the idea that perhaps people know that woo doesn't work, and maybe they cut back when the economy goes bad. Could the popularity of alternative medicine be a reflection of economic exuberance? Will individuals act more rationally when they have less money to…

Guess what? A natural therapy can cure cancer, but evil doctors don't want to tell you about it, because the medical establishment wants to make money with Mosanto and Dupont rather than cure your illnesses! Watch all about it. Update: Sorry, I missed Orac's successful attack on this thing. Thanks Science Pundit, for pointing it out.

are brought to you by mental floss. HT to Rebecca Tushnet via Frank Pasquale.

Mrs. Pal just called me upstairs where she was watching Barbara Walters. She (Walters, not Mrs Pal) was interviewing actor Patrick Swayze who is battling metastatic pancreatic cancer, a disease which will certainly kill him. Walters asked him quite a bit about the disease and treatment, and Swayze, whose answers were earthy, but pretty accurate, gave a compelling interview. He is no graduate of Google U.; he spoke frankly about his suffering, his hopes, his fears, but didn't claim to be any sort of expert outside of his own experience. Walters asked him if he was using any alternative…

There is an ongoing discussion amongst our Sciblings regarding our German counterparts at scienceblogs.de. Apparently they have some odd folks as science bloggers over there, including people who think ayurvedic heavy metals are good for you. In the tradition of countering speech with speech, I'm giving you this repost. More to come, I'm sure. --PalMD The Infectious Disease Promotion Movement (let by such intellectual luminaries as Jenny McCarthy) may be worried about "toxins" in vaccines, but the real problem may hiding in plain sight. Today's issue of JAMA has an interesting study of…

So, America is changing. We have an African American president. The Latino population continues to grow. How can the alternative medicine community adjust to this demographic shift? What are they to do? I'm glad you asked! It turns out that immigrants are palomas ripe for the plucking. Now, we've talked about the ethics of alternative medicine, and how "meaning well" is not exculpatory. If you promote quackery, it's wrong, even if you believe your own drivel. One of the worst types of drivel is naturopathy. This "specialty" advertises itself as "medicine-plus", but really it's "healing-…

The Times' Amanda Schaffer covers a retrospective of public health posters on display at the National Academies until December 19th, 2008. The catalog (pdf) is online. My favorite: It reads: "No home remedy or quack doctor ever cured syphilis or gonorrhea. See your doctor or local health officer." You could replace "syphilis or gonorrhea" with just about anything! Perhaps we should reissue this poster to deal with the modern quacks!

When those of us who practice real medicine write about implausible medical claims, we are often accused of lacking compassion, as if offering false hope is the same as compassion. We are also accused of turning away from therapies that "couldn't hurt". After all, if someone wants to use aromatherapy, what's the harm? The truth is that improbable medical claims are dangerous, and not just for the obvious reasons (i.e. dangerous practices such as chelation therapy). They also turn people away from real therapy. I've previously introduced you to the concept that there is no such thing as "…

I don't like to repost, but Steve Novella has some great pieces up right now, and this is directly related. --PalMD s I've clearly demonstrated in earlier posts, I'm no philosopher. But I am a doctor, and, I believe, a good one at that, and I find some of this talk about "non-materialist" perspectives in science to be frankly disturbing, and not a little dangerous. To catch you up on things, consider reading one of Steve Novella's best posts ever over at Neurologica. While you are there, you can also follow his debate with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, the latest guru of mind-body dualism. To…

Ok, I know I've been digging up old posts lately, but it's because I love them so darn much. Thanks for your indulgence. --PalMD That's apparently all it takes to be a "Holistic" practitioner. I've been searching online for their medical board, or for any consistent definition of "holistic medicine". What's involved? Where do I get my training? Is training standardized, and based on good standards of evidence? According to the American Holistic Medical Association: Holistic Medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses care of the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. The…

The Times is running a series of articles today that cover the basics on woo, wooish thought, and one of my favorite subjects, pre-pure-food regulation impure food. Not much new here for Sciencebloggers, but these are good resources to help individuals think through the bogus claims we see so often in the marketing of woo. William Broad discusses the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at NIH, which is charged with bringing better standards to situations like this: ...a 2004 Harvard study identified 181 research papers on yoga therapy reporting that it could be used to…