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
Tag Archives: drugs
Listen / Watch: The Cost of Cancer Drugs
The only good drug is the one the patient can afford. WNYC radio show and podcast extraordinaire RadioLab most recently did an episode entitled “Worth” in which the show’s hosts and producer investigated the worth of an extra year of human life. They stumbled upon a very interesting story centred on the cost of cancer drugs in … Continue reading
Cracked Science Video 4: Irreproducible
We often hear the science corrects itself in the long run, but how efficient is this mechanism? Jonathan Jarry reports that reproducibility in the scientific literature is not always a given. (Des sous-titres en français seront bientôt disponibles!) Just so you are not too demoralized, the landscape may be changing: http://www.nature.com/news/journals-u… http://www.nature.com/news/metascienc… Continue reading
A Cure for AIDS that Big Pharma Doesn’t Want! Sounds Familiar?
I was sent a link to the following story by someone who wanted my opinion on it. The article is in French but I will highlight its claims. “Son remède contre le sida, les labos n’en veulent pas” Translation: “Labs don’t want his AIDS remedy.” This is yet another David-versus-Goliath “news” report on a maverick … Continue reading
Melatonin: How Strong Is the Evidence for Morpheus-in-a-Bottle?
While my body embraces rest, my mind, despite its organic roots, plows on ahead. It foregoes running and projects itself at stressful speeds, branching out and accelerating, carrying my heart beat with it. The pillow is only slowly warming up. The time is 1:30 AM. I have learned to protect myself against insomnia but, once … Continue reading
Jargon: Chemotherapy (A treatment modality by which potent chemicals kill fast-growing cells)
Chemotherapy: A medical treatment modality, commonly used against cancer, by which strong chemicals are used to destroy rapidly dividing cells. One of the classic characteristics of cancer cells is that they divide uncontrollably: they can thus be killed by agents that target fast-growing cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapeutic drugs also, by their very nature, target healthy cells … Continue reading
Read: Drs. Paul Offit and Sarah Erush on Their Hospital’s Decision to Stop Administering Most Dietary Supplements
I stumbled upon a great article from the New York Times co-penned by the indefatigable Dr. Paul Offit, a fierce defender of evidence-based medicine and vaccination in particular. This one is about supplements, the unregulated, sometimes dangerous domain of charlatans. In the piece he explains why the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will no longer be … Continue reading
When Nature Recalls: Would You Like a Boner with Your Green Algae? How About Taking Up Smoking?
A natural product is not de facto a safe product. As part of our on-going coverage of natural product recalls by Health Canada, we take a look at unwanted erections associated with all-natural weight loss. To be fair, Health Canada has not received any adverse reactions reports from consumers who bought and ingested Crane Beauty … Continue reading
Jargon: Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (a type of anticancer drug)
Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI): a drug which blocks the action of a type of protein called a “tyrosine kinase”, which can otherwise be stuck in the “on” position in certain types of cancers. An overactive tyrosine kinase can lead to uncontrolled cell growth (i.e. cancer); a TKI can be used to reduce this undesired activity. … Continue reading
Read: Joe Schwarcz on Why Not All Facts Are Created Equal
As a prelude to this year’s Lorne Trottier Symposium on Public Science, I encourage you to take a look at Joe Schwarcz’s latest article in The Montreal Gazette. Here’s an excerpt: “In science we don’t cherry pick. We shake the tree, collect all the cherries, mash them together and then taste. And that’s just what … Continue reading
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