Health Canada is finally making (baby) steps toward better informing the public when it comes to homeopathy. As readers of the blog should know by now, homeopathy is based on really silly, counterfactual beliefs that, if true, would lead to a complete rewrite of biology and chemistry textbooks. Despite this, Health Canada routinely approves homeopathic … Continue reading
Tag Archives: alternative medicine
I’m Majoring in Science, With a Minor in Wishful Thinking
The infiltration of pseudoscience in academia, either universities proper or academic health centres, is very real. Dr. David Gorski is doing a great job reporting on the American side of this disturbing inroad, but I thought it was time to tackle the Canadian (and more specifically the Quebec) perspective. The Prince Arthur Herald recently published … Continue reading
Follow-Up on the Makayla Sault/J.J./Hippocrates Health Institute Case: J.J. Went Back to Chemo
Finally, two items of good news come out of this dreadful affair in which Aboriginal families stopped chemotherapeutic treatment for their leukemic daughters and sought nonsensical pseudoscientific treatment in Florida. While one of the children passed away this winter, the other, known in the media as “J.J.”, is being reported as feeling well. Could it … Continue reading
Food and Health Through the Lens of Entertainment: Funny You Should Think That!
A little plug for the show I’m hosting in a week. It’s all about science… and entertainment! A show of comedy, reason, and alcohol. FUNNY YOU SHOULD THINK THAT! is a monthly event (intelligently) designed to make you laugh and think. Moutons No More takes to the stage with amazing guests to talk pseudoscience, lambast … Continue reading
Watch: Journalists Get Health Canada License Number for Fake Remedy
If you have ever bought a natural health product approved by Health Canada, you must watch this 22-minute episode of CBC’s Marketplace. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get approval from Health Canada to manufacture and sell a natural health product? You will hear from me on this topic in a couple … Continue reading
“A little research” doesn’t cut it: Quack medicine speaks in Northwest Territories
After being accused by a magazine of promoting “disproven and discredited therapy systems” at their conference, the organizers of the Northwest Territories Wellness Conference (taking place this weekend) used the old “complementary” trope to excuse their choices. Indeed, a cursory look at their schedule reveals workshops with the following descriptive phrases: “how to use local plants … Continue reading
R.I.P. Makayla Sault
The First Nations girl with leukaemia who had refused to continue her course of chemotherapy and instead elected to be treated with blatant pseudoscience in Florida has passed away. She was 11 years old when the story was first reported half a year ago. The typical question one gets when criticizing wishful thinking and pseudoscience is, … Continue reading
Follow-Up on the Hippocrates Health Institute: Lawsuits
Listeners of my podcast and followers of Canadian news in general will probably be familiar with the case of two First Nations girls with leukemia whose parents decided to have treated at a Florida massage establishment called The Hippocrates Health Institute. A judge recently declared that the girls could not be taken away from their parents, … Continue reading
Listen: Dr. Christopher Labos and I on the Rise of Integrative Medicine
This month, Within Reason tackles a scientific topic, so I can publicize it here! Woohoo! Would you like a side of magic with your chemo? Disproven folk remedies used to be the domain of snake oil salesmen; now, they are being integrated into university health centres. Jonathan speaks to Dr. Christopher Labos, a public science educator and … Continue reading
Read: Making “Quackoncology” Respectable
I hate to start the week with a depressing article, but I must pass this along. From the fantastic blog Science-Based Medicine, David Gorski reports on the latest development in a horrifying trend: integrative oncology, in which otherwise respectable medical bodies end up promoting Reiki and naturopathy to their medical and scientific audience. “Let’s just put … Continue reading
Cracked Science 
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