Science Based Medicine: a superb new group blog

I'm very excited to announce to Terra Sig readers the kickoff of a new group blog called Science Based Medicine. Yes, it may sound odd that one would need to preface "Medicine" with the qualifier, "Science-Based," but therein lies the goal of this new resource from its mission statement:

Safe and effective health care is critical to to everyone's quality of life; so much so that it is generally considered a basic human right. The best method for determining which interventions and health products are safe and effective is, without question, good science. Therefore it is in everyone's best interest for health care to be systematically evaluated by the best science available. . .

. . .And yet there are numerous and powerful influences in society that strongly appose the scientific basis of medicine. Driven by some combination of ideology or the desire for profit they wish to eliminate standards of science in health care, or (often under the guise of "health care freedom") create a double standard in which unscientific methods and products can thrive unchecked.

Led by Steven Novella, MD (NeuroLogicaBlog and the podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe), Science-Based Medicine will also include the contributions of Wallace Sampson, MD, a former Stanford hematologist-oncologist who began questioning the evidence-base of so-called alternative medicine nearly 30 years ago. While Dr Sampson co-founded the journal, The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, I believe that Science-Based Medicine is his first foray into the sci/med blogosphere.

There are also some other heavy-hitters who are expected to post on this group blog. Given my own interests in separating the truth from the fiction behind herbal medicines and therapeutic natural products, I warmly welcome the addition of Science Based Medicine to the community.