Stuff And Nonsense

The Truth About Vaccines: Mercury

jdc325 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:13:52 +0000

Following my posts about the introduction to The Truth About Vaccines and the first chapter of the book, on vaccines and autism, here is a post about Dr Richard Halvorsen’s chapter on mercury in vaccines. Halvorsen begins by telling us of historical concerns about potential harms of thiomersal, a vaccine preservative that includes mercury (in the [...]

The Powerful Placebo

jdc325 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:32:45 +0000

I sometimes hear (or read) about the “power of placebo” – there are academic papers that examine the placebo effect, there is a book titled “The Powerful Placebo: From Ancient Priest to Modern Physician“, and there are news stories about the power of placebo (there is this recent article, for example, that refers to “the [...]

Shoot The Messenger: When Evidence And Policy Clash

jdc325 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:08:11 +0000

The BBC is reporting that home secretary Alan Johnson has sacked Professor David Nutt, head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. In criticising the decision to reclassify cannabis to Class B from C, Prof Nutt “accused ministers of devaluing and distorting evidence and said drugs classification was being politicised.” Nutt has also attacked [...]

Curry can cure cancer, say scientists

jdc325 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:45:45 +0000

Today, the mainstream media reported on research into the effects of curcumin on cancer cells... and claimed that curry is a cancer cure.

Dr Briffa on Athletic Ancients

jdc325 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:04:57 +0000

Errors: In which Dr Briffa relies on the Daily Mail as a source, and the Daily Mail itself relies on a book.