Medical Misinformation

In the pages of the Skeptical Inquirer and elsewhere in the skeptical literature, you can read about a seemingly endless array of snake oil remedies, dubious health claims, questionable practices, ineffective regulation, and shortcomings of mainstream medicine.

In an interview with Lindsay Beyerstein on the Point of Inquiry podcast, Offit spoke about the early 2015 measles outbreak at Disneyland, the anti-vaccination movement, and the importance of vaccination.

While “Food Babe” Vani Hari’s pseudoscience has been widely debunked by qualified doctors and scientists, a more sobering fact seems to have escaped everyone’s attention: one of America’s most notorious bloggers is earning sales commissions from products that contain the very same ingredients she says are dangerous.

The World Health Organization once again advocates for implementing complementary and alternative medicine in national health services, jeopardizing global public health and evidence-based medicine.

Scientific balance and objective assessments of evidence are necessary to avoid biased and misleading answers to concerns about pesticides.

A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble by Edzard Ernst

Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences: From Heresy to Truth by James Lawrence Powell

Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment by Benjamin Radford