As the focus of attention turns to the H1N1 outbreak that is now occurring across the country, the public faces an array of information sources that will influence their opinion about vaccination. There have been many claims and critiques about the H1N1 vaccine and it has become a springboard to envelop other vaccines and vaccination [...]
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Archive
Category: History of Medicine
Original broadcast date: September 20, 2009 Our breadth of understanding of the reams of medical information reported in the media is dependent in part on our understanding of the history of medicine. This history includes our human response to change and our willingness to accept new ideas and engage in healthy debate when conflicts arise. [...]
Original broadcast date: July 5, 2009
The general principle in science and medicine is to challenge claims and research findings in order to evaluate its veracity and repeatability. It takes evidence, solid evidence as the fuel for debate and contrarian viewpoints, not opinion based on anecdotal evidence.
To wit, the news that Oprah Winfrey is bankrolling ex-Playboy playmate Jenny McCarthy to broadcast her opinions about the dangers of vaccines is one of many instances where critical appraisal of data is being subjugated by celebrity opinion.
In an article originally published on the web site Science-Based Medicine, and an abridged version in the June 7, 2009 edition of the Toronto Star, Dr. David Gorski comments on anti-vaccine advocacy, bioidentical hormone claims, pseudoscience, alternative medicine, the law of unintended consequences, the logical fallacies that are used to support them and what he calls the Oprah-fication of medicine.
- David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS, Program Leader, Breast Cancer Biology Program
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Associate Professor of Surgery
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Bad Science
Mar 29Alternative Medicine, Book Reviews, Debunking Pseudoscience, Food, Food Science, Food Science, Health Policy, Health Policy, Health Statistics, History of Medicine, Nutrition and diet, Nutrition Science, Pharmacology, Prescription Drugs, Prevention and Screening, Pseudoscience, Psychology, Radio Interviews, Science, Technology, Toxicology, Vaccine research, Vaccines
Original broadcast date: March 29, 2009 If there is one quote that epitomizes the plethora of ideas expressed in physician and Guardian columnist Dr. Ben Goldacre’s book bad science, it is this from paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science, Steven Jay Gould: “ When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their [...]
Original broadcast date: April 20, 2008 We are the safest and healthiest human beings who ever lived, and yet irrational fear is growing, with deadly consequences — such as the 1,595 Americans killed when they made the mistake of switching from planes to cars after September 11. In part, this irrationality is caused by those [...]
