Blog Profile / Respectful Insolence
| URL : | http://scienceblogs.com/insolence | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Health | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1957 | |
| Posts / Week: | 7.6 | |
| Archived Since: | June 8, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Yes, Virginia, there is an antivaccine movement (efforts to deny it notwithstanding)
There are times when I want to fall down on my knees and give thanks for certain cranks. I mean, where would my blogging material come from, were it not for antivaccine loons, quacks, cranks, creationists, and animal rights terrorists...Show More Summary
An animal rights zealot faces her comeuppance
I was going to write about that article about massage therapy and the gene expression changes it causes, but when I went to look up the actual paper and found out, to my great disappointment, that our institution still doesn't have a subscription to the journal in which it was published. Show More Summary
The vilest antivaccine lie that won't die: Shaken baby syndrome as "vaccine injury"
Way back in the day, when I first encountered antivaccine views in that wretched Usenet swamp of pseudoscience, antiscience, and quackery known as misc.health.alternative, there was one particular antivaccine lie that disturbed me more than just about any other. Show More Summary
"Energy chelation" therapy: Scientific criticism meets common tropes of CAM apologists
It's amazing how fast six months can pass, isn't it? Well, almost six months, anyway, as it was five and a half months ago that I wrote about a particularly execrable example of quackademic medicine in the form of a study that actually...Show More Summary
Placebo effects are "proof" that God exists?
A couple of weeks ago, I made the observation that there seems to have been a--shall we say?--realignment in one of the central arguments that proponents of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) and "integrative medicine" (IM) make. Show More Summary
Microsoft, Merck, and Bill Gates: Eugenicists?
Since I wrote about a man who is arguably the biggest seller of quackery on the Internet, namely Joe Mercola, yesterday, I thought I'd turn my attention to someone who is arguably another of the biggest promoters of quackery on the Internet, namely Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com. Show More Summary
Joe Mercola: Proof positive that quackery sells
For as many benefits as the Internet and the web have brought us in the last two decades, there are also significant downsides. I could go into all the societal changes brought about by the proliferation of this new technology, not the least of which (to me, at least) is the newfound ability of someone like me to find an audience. Show More Summary
Goodbye and good riddance to organized quackery's best friend in Congress
Here's a rare bit of good news on the regulatory front. It turns out that Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) has finally decided to retire: So Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) is finally retiring, after two decades in Congress. He's got a notable...Show More Summary
The annals of "I'm not anti-vaccine," part 9 (The first volley of 2012)
One of the most common retorts that antivaccine activists like to make, usually in the most wounded, self-righteous tone with the most wounded, disgusted expression on their faces that they can manage, is that they are "not antivaccine...Show More Summary
Thanks, CWRU, for forcing me to get the paper bag out again
It's rare that I have much in the way of reluctance to leap into writing about a topic. Any regular reader of this blog should know this to be true, given the topics I regularly take on and how often my writing draws flak my way from various proponents of quackery and pseudoscience, in particular the antivaccine crowd. Show More Summary
Vaccines are "transhumanism"?
In the more than a decade since I first discovered, to my shock, that there are actual people out there who not only don't believe that vaccines are safe despite overwhelming evidence that they are but in fact believe that they don't work and are dangerous, I thought I had seen every antivaccine argument out there. Show More Summary
Still more evidence that Morgellons disease is most likely delusional parasitosis, 2012 edition
It's been nearly a year since I last discussed a most unusual malady. Part of the reason is that the opportunity to discuss it hasn't occurred recently; usually I need some spark or incident to "inspire" me to write about something, and there just hasn't been any Morgellons news that's caught my eye since 2010. Show More Summary
$#! skeptics say
Ha! I must admit, I've said probably about 50% of these things at one time or another, maybe more: Hmmmm. Maybe I need to come up with new "shit." Read the comments on this post...
If this is true, the Dutch must be drinking in lots of information!
If there's one thing about homeopaths, it's that they're indefatigable in their dedication to their unique brand of pseudoscience. They're also endlessly protean in their ability to induce their explanations for how homeopathy is supposed to "work" to evolve into endless forms not so beautiful. Show More Summary
Tactics and tropes of the antivaccine movement
I've been an observer and student of the antivaccine movement for nearly a decade now, although my intensive education began almost seven years ago, in early 2005, not long after I started blogging. It was then that I first encountered several "luminaries" of the antivaccine movement, such as J.B. Show More Summary
Dr. Francis Collins and "integrative oncology"
I was disturbed several months ago when I learned that the director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, had agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Eight International Society for Integrative Oncology Conference in Cleveland, OH. Show More Summary
More trouble for Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski
It's a new year, but some topics remain the same. One of these is the case of the highly dubious cancer doctor named Stanislaw Burzynski who claims to have discovered anticancer compounds in the blood known as antineoplastons, conducts...Show More Summary
A black hole of antivaccine misinformation
Every so often, I come across a bit of antivaccine idiocy that's so amazingly idiotic, such a--shall we say?--target-rich environment that it's catnip to a cat. I just can't resist it, even when there are other topics and subjects out there that have backed up over the last few days and I want to cover. Show More Summary
The antivaccine movement: Unencumbered by facts
One of my complaints about academic medicine is that, all too often, its practitioners seem unwilling to take risks to combat the misinformation and lies of the antivaccine movement. So kudos are indicated for Dr. Claire McCarthy atShow More Summary
The homeopathic treatment of burns: The ultimate in valuing symptomatic treatment over all else
I had been planning on either discussing a study or analyzing another cancer cure testimonial, but things have been (mostly) too serious around the ol' blog the last few days. What with depressing posts about the return of whooping cough...Show More Summary