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: medicine
Read: 23andMe or the Fallacy of ‘More Is Better’
A few months ago, a fellow skeptic told me he was considering personalized genetic testing and wondered what my opinion was on the service. The idea is that any consumer who desires can send a DNA sample to a company, like 23andMe, and get a report back on various genetic risk factors. Sounds like a … Continue reading
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
Read: Does Being Short Mean a Higher Risk for Bad Heart Juju?
Short people are at a higher risk for adverse cardiac events. Tall people are at a higher risk for heart attacks. Short people live longer. Tall people live longer. Which is it? A new study came out (in the much revered New England Journal of Medicine) apparently showing that short people are at an increased risk … Continue reading
Read: Dr. Labos on Natural Health Products (in the National Post)
If the first episode of Dr. Labos’ and my new podcast, The Body of Evidence (also available on iTunes) failed to quench your thirst for knowledge on natural health products, I can now direct you to an article five months in the making that Dr. Labos finally managed to publish in The National Post: “The response in … Continue reading
The Body of Evidence: Podcast and Radio Guest Appearance
Originally posted on Moutons No More:
? Those of you who came to Funny You Should Think That! 10 last Saturday in the Old Port of Montreal were the first to witness the birth of a new Moutons No More production: a podcast called The Body of Evidence. Dr. Christopher Labos, who was my guest on episode 204…
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
“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
Watch: How Vaccines Work
The Patient Education Office of the McGill University Health Centre has just released a video to educate the public on the importance of vaccination. And who guides us through the mechanism of action of one of our most effective public health measures? Dr. Christopher Labos… in cartoon form. If … Continue reading
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