Category: Consumer Health
Dr. David Weldon Is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Choice for CDC Director
Dr. David “Dave” Weldon, President-Elect Trump’s choice to serve as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be the first presidential appointment to CDC to require Senate confirmation. Page 3,196 of the 4,155-page Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 passed by Congress states: “The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and …
A CSICon-Like Nobel Prize Summit
In November, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released 2023 Nobel Prize Summit: Truth, Trust, and Hope, the proceedings of a three-day event convened May 24–26 in Washington, D.C., to “examine misinformation and disinformation in the context of the broader information ecosystem, looking at the global impact of information technologies in nature and …
Promoting Rational Skepticism in an Online Undergraduate Consumer Health Course
Instructional resources are available that make it feasible to effectively promote rational skepticism through interactive online coursework. I’ve used such resources in a three-semester-unit undergraduate elective course called “Consumer Health.” After teaching the course about a dozen times in physical classrooms since 1986, first at Kent State University and then at Cal State LA, I’ve …
Harriet ‘SkepDoc’ Hall (1945–2023)
Beginning with her first published article in 2003, Harriet Hall, MD, gained a devoted following of scientists, health professionals, and consumers around the world who treasured her clarity, wisdom, wit, intellectual humility, and humanity. Her many writings, lectures, and other media appearances addressed a wide range of topics, including pseudoscience, questionable health claims, quackery, “alternative” …
Health Street Smarts Fairs Created by University Students to Promote Critical Thinking on Campus, Part 2
In Part 1, I discussed: (1) my concerns about health fairs; (2) my vision for the Health Street Smarts Fair (HSSF) assignment; (3) some of my favorite undergraduate-student-curated HSSF exhibits; and (4) prospects for skeptic-activists to adapt the HSSF model to create street smarts fairs to promote skeptical inquiry in community or school settings. Self-proclaimed …
Health Street Smarts Fairs Created by University Students to Promote Critical Thinking on Campus, Part 1
I haven’t been impressed by most exhibits I’ve seen at community health fairs. I’ve seen many exhibits that I believe were a disservice to visitors. But my Cal State LA undergraduate students, working together in small groups, have developed the most interesting, illuminating health fair exhibits I’ve seen. On five occasions in three different courses …
Trust, Truth, and Trump in the Time of “COVID, COVID, COVID”
Cover Image by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Donald Trump, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52646513 The What Is Skepticism? statement at skepticalinquirer.org should be widely read. I particularly like this sentence: The modern skeptical movement is a grassroots phenomenon that aims at helping the public navigate the complex borderlands between sense …
Trump and COVID-19: Population Health Neglect, Hydroxychloroquine Hype, and a Gambler’s Fallacy
Cover Image Courtesy of Flickr I am wary of anything offered with a sales pitch of “What do you have to lose?” I wonder about undisclosed risks that are difficult to anticipate. I wonder how good the prospects are for gain. I wonder whether the pitchman is trying to take advantage of people who …
Can Naturopathic Doctors Combat COVID-19?
Last week, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) announced that it urges government officials coordinating the national COVID-19 pandemic response to utilize all licensed healthcare professionals, including naturopathic doctors (NDs) “to support other medical professionals in changing the trajectory of this public health crisis.” Yes, we’re facing shortages of health care workers to respond …
D. Gary Young (1949–2018), Diploma Mill Naturopath and Promoter of Essential Oils
I believe a close look at Young’s activities can be illuminating for consumers who might be attracted to charismatic health gurus who base their teachings on alleged sources of knowledge from antiquity or tradition rather than on rigorously designed clinical research.
Consideraciones esenciales sobre la aromaterapia
La práctica que consiste en administrar aceites esenciales (o perfumados) derivados de las plantas, mediante la inhalación de vapores, o mediante la ingestión de una supuesta energía de curación, usualmente es conocida como aromaterapia.
Essential Considerations About Aromatherapy
The practice of administering plant-derived essential oils on the skin, via inhalation of vapors, or internally via ingestion for supposed healing power is commonly called aromatherapy.
Some Success Against City of Hope’s Cancer Miracle Mongering?
William London fights against false advertisement by City of Hope
Chiropractors and Diabetes Gimmickry
Chiropractic’s identity as a profession depends on a gimmick: promoting the implausible notion that chiropractors have special expertise to detect and adjust supposedly health compromising spinal dysfunctions.
Cancer Miracle Mongering by City of Hope
While I recognize that City of Hope offers cutting-edge cancer treatments and is a leader in making significant multidisciplinary and trans-disciplinary scientific research advances, to claim that it works miracles is disgraceful hype.
Quack Busters’ Leader William Jarvis Dies at Eighty
Bill emphasized that quackery (also called health fraud) is not merely the use of false and unproven medical procedures. The key is their deceptive promotion in the marketplace as “alternatives” or “complements” to standard medicine—whether the deception is deliberate or done without adequate knowledge or understanding.
A Chiropractor’s Dinner Seminar Promoting Laser Treatment of Arthritis
Chiropractors often present themselves as addressing the underlying cause or causes of health problems while suggesting that medical doctors only treat symptoms.
Continuing Education in the Toxin Haunted World of the Cancer Control Society
The Cancer Control Society (CCS) describes itself on its website as “a non-profit organization, dependent upon donations for its mission: to prevent and control cancer and other diseases through Nutrition [sic] and Non-Toxic [sic] Therapies [sic].”