OK the judges have finished their deliberations, all the votes are in and it is time to roll out the blushing red carpet of shame and announce the worthy winner of this year’s Silver Bullet for the most egregious medical quackery. Many thanks to all of you who took time out from your busy on-line […]
Could you be suffering from brain hijack?
March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A spring holiday change of pace here. Nothing about evidence or drugs just some rather extraordinary tales of the ways tiny single-celled micro-organisms can hijack the brain – mostly of insects but at least two do humans – and programme them to issue remarkably precise instructions. A Telegraph feature of mine from earlier in the […]
Treating disease with diet – new possibilities
March 19, 2013 by 3 Comments
There were several reasons I got interested in the low-calorie liquid diet I’ve written about in today’s Daily Mail – mainly the fact that evidence is mounting that it can reverse diabetes and other conditions such as arthritic knees. But also because together with the alternate day diet I think it holds out possibility of […]
Ten top tips to boost your disease free survival
March 7, 2013 by 5 Comments
In quieter moments, pondering the end of your life, how many years to you think you might be effectively house-bound with a number of chronic diseases before you pop off? The jargon for describing this unappealing state is YLD (Years of Living with Disability) and according to a big report in the Lancet earlier this […]
The evidence–free drug that costs the NHS 70 million a year
March 4, 2013 by 9 Comments
Just as Catholic cardinals condemn paedophilia, so mainstream medicine formally rejects treatments not supported by evidence in the form of clinical trials. But in reality interfering with novices or failing to come up with the evidence, providing of course a drug is involved, doesn’t necessarily mean banishment. Both dodgy priests and drugs can remain on […]
Ways to cut antibiotic resistance but will drug companies allow it?
February 14, 2013 by 4 Comments
Most of us are aware that antibiotic resistance is growing. Nasty infections and one-time killers, such as pneumonia, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis are threatening to return in new forms, impervious to the drugs that kept them at bay for over 70 years. A warning, one of many, was issued by Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally […]
The link between South Staffs hospital scandal and losing weight
February 10, 2013 by 2 Comments
The Francis report on the dreadful doings at the Mid Staffordshire hospital can only be welcomed. The events were horrific, something went terribly wrong and heads should roll. But could what happened be a symptom of a wider problem? Does it tell us anything about the way medicine is practised in general? The most common explanation for […]
Prescribing drugs with no evidence just got a bit easier
February 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Recently I had a revealing “discussion” with a very senior and respected academic about whether illegal marketing by drug companies was putting patients at risk. By the end he was claiming my view – it clearly is dangerous and even heavy fines were not enough – merely enriches lawyers and pushes up prices paid by […]
Big oil and big pharma: brothers in harms
January 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I got to thinking about big pharma’s similarities with big oil reading Fred Pearce’s article in New Scientist this week. It was about plans for a massive pipeline – Keystone XL – to deliver Canadian tar sands to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. There were the obvious and familiar dangers – the large carbon […]
Silver Bullet Award for dangerous drug promotion
January 17, 2013 by 21 Comments
When I saw recently that Simon Singh, energetic “quack buster “ and scourge of homoeopaths, chiropractors and their ilk, had established an award called the Golden Duck to be presented to the person who had “supported or practised pseudoscience in the most dangerous or irresponsible manner” , my first thought was: How unfair! What […]
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