Circumcision: A Response to Amy Tuteur

... by Martin

This is a response to a controversial piece in Science Based Medicine by Amy Tuteur, M.D. on circumcision: "The case for neonatal circumcision," which cites a recent journal paper of the same title [1]. Beyond calling for the American medical establishment to put pressure on parents to circumcise their infant children, the article implicitly compares...

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Is Rob Houben's 'Voice' a Hoax?

... by Martin
Recently, claims have surfaced surrounding a Belgian coma patient - Rom Houben - who spent 23 years 'locked in', conscious but paralysed. It was only recently discovered that he had been conscious, and efforts were made to enable him to communicate using a...
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Cancer is Awesome!

... by Vagina Dentata
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the new book from Barbara Ehrenreich, Smile Or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America And The World, and it looks fascinating. I first have to admit to not reading it yet – it's published in the UK at the end of the week and...
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Medicine

An Antibiotic for an Anti-biote

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 00:04


What to do when you get the sore, swollen throat of strep throat or the painful, yellow oozing of an infected cut? Take an antibiotic.

What to do when you get the pesky coughing and sneezing of the common cold/flu or the itchy spots of chicken pox? Take an antiviral?

Not always.

The trouble with antiviral medications is that, unlike their widely used counterpart the antibiotic, they tend to damage human cells as well as nasty virus particles. Antibiotics (which kill bacteria not viruses) do minimal damage (relatively) to our own nearby cells.

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Official. Drinking alcohol leads to hangover.

Mon, 03/01/2010 - 20:47

Hangovers offer rich pickings for complementary therapists. It's the perfect fodder for alternative medicine. Give them an affliction almost completely characterised by a progressive recovery and they will be tumbling over themselves to offer 'cures'. Staring bleary-eyed at the Sunday supplements the recommended homeopathic regime of nux vomica suddenly seem like a good idea. Rational individuals try to reason through the fog of hangover and decide to take one pill (sorry pillule – don't want to sound too allopathic) and then wait 24 hours. Hangover cured. Personally, I’d like to see a decent double-blind RCT looking at homeopathic nux vomica versus a bacon butty.

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The Pod Delusion #23

Fri, 02/26/2010 - 09:57
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Neuroscientific Skullduggery Confirmed, Sceptics Are Not Surprised

Wed, 02/17/2010 - 10:09

As they say, "The truth will always come out. You just might not be alive anymore when it finally happens."

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What ever happened to mercury?

Thu, 01/28/2010 - 22:28

A brief note on nothing. A couple of decades ago there was a scare relating to the mercury in silver fillings as a cause of Multiple Sclerosis. That slowly expanded to any neurological disease.

I haven't heard much of the story lately. That may be because all of the money that can be made by removing silver alloy restorations has been made. And the results?

There has been no decrease in the incidence of multiple sclerosis in the United States. Over two decades should be enough time for the affects of new, plastic composite restorations to be seen. There is no change.

To quote from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the US:

"There is no evidence that heavy metal exposure causes M.S."

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Lies, damned lies, and tissue culture

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 16:44

If you have ever worked in a molecular or medical biology research laboratory, chances are one of the first things you learnt was cell and tissue culture (TC) or the microbiology equivalents. Even if you know nothing about biology, you've probably heard mentions of cell culture on the news, or at the very least heard about the results of studies in cell culture. If you hear about "cell lines", you've got culture. If you hear about a "laboratory study" showing that your favourite chemical is carcinogenic, you've probably got culture. If you hear about new trials on a miracle cancer cure that has been shown to be effective in "preliminary laboratory tests", you've probably got culture. Everything from zombie epidemics to £10,000 animal-free beef is cell culture.

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The MHRA, homeopathy & a clear breach of an EU Directive

Wed, 01/20/2010 - 16:12

The other day, Martin wrote about the MHRA’s label test for Arnica 30C. I think that perhaps he was a touch unfair. This was only a label test, and not intended to be anything else. The purpose is to ensure that the label is clear to consumers (you can’t have patients when the ‘medicine’ is just magic water) and that it accurately conveys what is supposed to be in the bottle.

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Unevidence Based Medicine

Tue, 01/19/2010 - 22:13

This item has also been posted here.

I have received a reply to my Freedom of Information request to the University of Westminster for "research papers or other documents" that support claims made by their School of Life Sciences for the qigong tuina course they offer.

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Always let your conscience be your guide?

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 20:49

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has been given the power in the draft Pharmacy Order 2009 to set standards and make rules in a number of areas including education and training, conduct, ethics and performance in relation to owners of pharmacies and superintendent pharmacists.

They have held a consultation on these standards and I have written a response for the National Secular Society **. This is an edited version of it. It's more formal than my usual style as it's an official response.

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Medical Advice in Magazines

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 19:58

Often crammed into a small section of a page, with variable quality of 'expert', and with the available space often given over to more than one question, I would argue that the medical / health columns in magazines are not conducive to provision of nuanced health advice with appropriate caveats.

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