American alternative medicine watchdog website focusing on quackery
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Announcements: Scopes Trial Centennial @3:09 CFI trans articles @4:28 Ronald Lindsay Gary Francione Tilda Storey-Law Robert Pokoski Nathan Lents Follow-ups: Louisiana 10 Comm review @10:59 RFK Confirmation hearing starts @12:38 Reminder: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. formally petitioned the FDA to revoke its authorization of the Covid vaccine in May 2021 Also, How RFK Jr. drove mistrust of a cancer prevention vaccine. CFI Action Alert You can also submit a for-the-record statement directly to the Finance Committee (details at the link). If you're looking for something to get you started, you're welcome to download CFI's lobbying one-pager, which you'll find right at the top of Quackwatch's “RFK Jr. Watch” resource page. News: KS - Tuberculosis Outbreak @20:48 Indiana man @22:22 Proud Boys pardons @26:51 Pastor's message @33:02 NIH reports freeze @36:33 It's not just NIH Quakers fight back @43:10 MO - SB72 @44:14 Greenland @48:15 SCOTUS @52:14 Final Stories: Walkout song for Kristi Noem.. One hot mama? @53:07 Ray's annoyance @55:18
EFT Tapping, that takes me back a couple of years. Back when there was limited 240x 120 size video on websites. My symptoms were really bad that that time. I tried to make sense of it. I couldn't. Not with a 56k modem. I quickly moved on to other possible help sources. About a year ago, I saw a EFT Tapping video. I tried it out. It did work for me if I was on the edge of an attack. Not so much if I have a big hella whopper of one, but that might be just me. This time, I went looking for answers. I did find some. Not enough to satisfy folks on the medical evidence-based side of the fence. But in-between the hooey and the functional components is a way of feeling better without risk to the body or the wallet. This technique has been infused with cognitive therapy, meditation and affirmations. Those things do work. It might not work for everyone. But there are folks that have found relief practicing FTF Tapping. You couldn't get some of those same people go to a meditation class but they are doing a meditative practice and not know it. That is ok. So here is the thing. Check out the videos. Read the views at Skeptic's Dictionary & Quackwatch. Read a couple of pages from the EFT manual. You might decide that the technique works for you. Or you decide it is a bunch of junk pseudoscience. Both things can be true. It is up to you to decide if you want to add it to your anxiety tool kit. If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255. Or for LGBTQ folks, The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741. Resources Mentioned: Contrary Views of Emotional Freedom Techniques Skeptic's Dictionary gives a very detailed page about the creators, the practice and the site owners thoughts about the technique. There is also a comments page where folks go deep. Quackwatch is a website that since 1996 takes a very critical look at claims made regarding questionable health treatments. There is a page on the website that has a few thoughts about EFT. The section on EFT is toward the bottom of the site. Positive Views of Emotional Freedom Techniques: The BBC did a video story about the technique, How Tapping Therapy Can Help Calm Your Mind. The non-profit Kaiser Permanete page on Emotional Freedom Technique Gary Craig original site was www.emofree.com now re-directs to Palace of Possibilities. The EFT International Free Tapping Manual This is a 66-page PDF explaining the concepts of the practice and how to go about it. Videos: Nick Ortner Tapping Techniques on YouTube - please be aware that you will see the tapping techniques but the Ortner family does have goods and services for sale. EFT Tapping for Anxiety Ten Minute Tapping Meditation for Anxiety, Stress and Worry Disclaimer: Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder. This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
When life gets tough, some people find themselves reaching out to others for help. In many cases, this is a friend or family member or mentor. But some will reach out to complete strangers who offer advice on how to overcome adversity, improve themselves, or simply cope. Call them whatever you want-- life coach, guru, motivational speaker-- they are not a new phenomenon. In this episode, we dive into the man who is arguably the biggest to ever fill a conference center-- Tony Robbins. Is he a legit force for self-help or just another charlatan? Listen up and decide. References A short history of self-help, the world's bestselling genre. (2013, November 29). Publishing Perspectives. https://publishingperspectives.com/2013/11/a-short-history-of-self-help-the-worlds-bestselling-genre/ Associated Press. (2020, June 16). Americans are the unhappiest they've been in 50 years, poll finds. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/americans-are-unhappiest-they-ve-been-50-years-poll-finds-n1231153 Baker, K. J. M., & Bradley, J. (2019, November 22). Tony Robbins has been accused of sexually assaulting A high Schooler at A summer camp. BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiejmbaker/tony-robbins-accused-sexual-assault-teenager-supercamp Granberry, M. (1991, October 1). A true believer : Tony Robbins has attracted converts--and critics--to his positive-thinking empire. The Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-01-vw-3520-story.html Kreidler, M. (1999, November 12). Fit for life. Quackwatch.org. https://quackwatch.org/11Ind/fitforlife/ Lewis, R. (2020). Tony Robbins. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Schein, M. (2018, May 3). Tony Robbins is A major jerk (and other reasons you should follow his lead). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelschein/2018/05/03/tony-robbins-is-a-major-jerk-and-other-reasons-you-should-follow-his-lead/?sh=2b51d0467be9 Schwartz, A. (2018, January 8). Improving ourselves to death. New Yorker (New York, N.Y.: 1925). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/improving-ourselves-to-death Travers, M. (2022, November 13). A psychologist tells you why you need to escape the toxic world of self-help. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2022/11/13/a-psychologist-tells-you-why-you-need-to-escape-the-toxic-world-of-self-help/?sh=648b91763785 Vix, B. (2019, May 21). Why Many People Believe Tony Robbins is a Scam. Money Inc. https://moneyinc.com/why-many-people-believe-tony-robbins-is-a-scam/ Wallace, R. (2019, January 8). How Tony Robbins achieved a net worth of $500 million. Money Inc. https://moneyinc.com/tony-robbins-net-worth/ Wikipedia contributors. (2023a, January 29). Jim Rohn. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Rohn&oldid=1136286071 Wikipedia contributors. (2023b, February 3). Tony Robbins. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Robbins&oldid=1137176861 (N.d.). Headstuff.org. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://headstuff.org/topical/science/heres-tony-robbins-definitely-not-guru/
Follow-up: George Devolder Santos @1:39 All about George Barry Croft @9:52 Trump Taxes @12:39 Politics: Speaker vote @23:47 Far-right to hold power What Biden did wrong @29:12 News: Hitler Youth dies @42:36 Benedict and Nazis Greta Thunberg, Andrew Tate, and Greg Locke?? @45:47 911 Call Analysis @50:06 Permitless carry in half of the States @58:02 Religious Nonsense: Bhairi Naresh, president of Atheist Society of India @1:01:26 Kirk Cameron @ Conspiracies: A brand-new Consumer Health Digest over at Quackwatch
On Phoenix Suns forward Tom Gugliotta's 1999 brush with death where a so-called “dietary supplement” made him have a seizure and briefly go into a coma. --- An NBA history podcast about bad teams, bad luck, and bad decisions. Hosted by Lew @L0GICMASTER Please follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @backfiredNBApod Stats from Basketball Reference and NBA.com. Transaction info from prosportstransactions.com and Basketball Reference. Intro music: “How To Save A Life” by The Fray performed by Pau Gasol. Outro music: “Wonderwall” by Oasis performed by The Mike Flowers Pops. (Copyright London Music Stream Ltd./Sony Music Publishing) Sources: American Academy of Family Physicians, Arizona Republic, ESPN, ESPN The Magazine, Human Metabolome Database, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, New York Post, QuackWatch, United States Justice Department, Washington Post
Follow-up: Georgia Guidestones @1:49 Soon to be 8B @5:41 George Floyd's murderer sentanced @8:30 Tamir Rice's murderer has a new job...temp @16:03 Simone Gold on CFI's Quackwatch @19:54 Bannon says he will testify @22:00 Graham must testify? @23:21 News: Jan 6 hearing to lay out ties to Q @24:33 Shinzo Abe @30:03 Bill Bennett, FOX News contributor on shootings @42:49 On drug dealers On black abortions Rod of Iron Church update @48:29 Politics: Christian activist inside track with SCOTUS @52:14 CFI joined our friends at American Atheists and FFRF to demand an investigation Non-religious candidates of 2022 @59:29 Religious Nonsense: India: 70 year-old Woman drug 200m from her house and beaten @1:01:09 Australia arrests @1:01:44 No Jews Allowed - is OK! @1:02:48 Coronavirus: Dashboard COVID numbers by county OH - Medical Right to Refuse @1:05:12 BA.4 and BA.5 @1:07:43 Reinfection of COVID-19 JAMA suggests that either two or three doses of vaccine may be enough to lower the prevalence of long-term COVID @1:10:47 Final Stories: Webb Telescope @1:11:14
Daytime TV – it's a subject we've broached a couple times on AHC Podcast, but this episode is about one of the heavy hitters of the afternoon antics. Dr. Phil has been on our TV's for over 20 years and has made a name for himself for a number of reasons. In the beginning, it seemed he was all for helping couples in need, a troubled teen, or a drug addict looking for help. As time wore on, the show topics got wilder and tales of potential exploitation have clouded the once clear image. But is Dr. Phil really out to expose people in their darkest hour, or is he really looking to offer a helping hand to those that could use it? We'll dive into this and much, much more on this episode of AHC Podcast. Citations: Batheja, A. (2018, January 10). The time Oprah Winfrey beefed with the Texas Cattle Industry. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/10/time-oprah-winfrey-beefed-texas-cattle-industry/ Clevinger, N. (2021, October 5). Who are dr. Phil's children? The US Sun. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/3795385/who-are-dr-phils-children/ Henman, S., Climans, K., Mason, D., Tran, C., & Mathew BurkeMatthew Burke is a writer at Factinate. (2019, October 18). 30 behind-the-scenes facts about dr. phil. Factinate. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.factinate.com/people/30-behind-the-scenes-facts-about-dr-phil/ Koul, S. (2021, September 29). It's time to cancel "dr. Phil". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/dr-phil-mcgraw-mental-health-danielle-bregoli Kreidler, M. (2009, December 12). Disciplinary action against Phillip McGraw, ph.D.. Quackwatch. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://quackwatch.org/cases/board/psych/mcgraw/ News 9. (2020, May 14). Dr. Phil recalls time as linebacker for Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Home. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.news9.com/story/5e34cc6ee0c96e774b34fb23/dr-phil-recalls-time-as-linebacker-for-tulsa-golden-hurricane Saylor, D. (2018, January 4). Dark stories about how 'dr. Phil' worked behind the scenes. Ranker. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-dr-phil-stories/donn-saylor Welcome. Wilmington Institute.com - Dr Bob Gordon - bridging mental health and the law. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2022, from http://www.wilmingtoninstitute.com/ Who is dr. Phil McGraw? everything you need to know. Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements of TV Host. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/dr-phil-mcgraw-41477.php Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, January 10). Phil McGraw. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_McGraw
Dr. Stephen Barrett, founder of Quackwatch.com, on fighting medical misinformation in the social media age
This week Tina is joined by ICU nurse and educator Justin Alves with DKB Med. Together, they discuss the troubling story of Dr. Sam Chachoua, a trained medical doctor who turned to alternative medicine and lied about the results. Made infamous over claims he cured a famous Hollywood actor, his dangerous, unproved methods almost killed the famous actor and could have impacted countless other people. We will also talk about the incredible story of Mary Magee, the first U.S. medical provider to accidentally contract HIV from a patient. Known as “Jane Doe” for many years, Mary has been an advocate for nurses, the LGBTQ+ community, and worked to end the stigma associated with HIV. Please support our show by supporting our sponsors! Thank you to the American Nurses Credentialing Center for sponsoring our podcast. If you are thinking about getting certified in your nursing specialty, please go to https://pages.nursingworld.org/gnbn for more information! Thank you to Trusted Health for sponsoring this episode. Please go to https://www.trustedhealth.com/gnbn and fill out a profile to help support our podcast and see what opportunities are out there for you! Thank you to our new sponsor Samuel Merritt University. If you're interested in getting more information on their MSN and DNP programs and scholarships visit them at https://smumsn.com and show them how much you appreciate them for sponsoring our podcast! Thank you to CBD Stat for continuing to sponsor our podcast! If you're interested in CBD, go to https://www.cbdstat.care/goodnursebadnurse and check them out! And of course our latest sponsor, Eko! Please visit them at https://ekohealth.com and use promo code GNBN for $20 off your purchase of the new Littmann Cardiology IV stethoscope with Eko technology! Credits Alexander, S. (2019, September 27). 4 lessons from the beginning of the AIDS crisis. ONE. https://www.one.org/us/blog/4-lessons-aids-crisis-5b/ Allday, E. (2011, December 10). Nurse who contracted HIV with jab sheds anonymity. SFGATE; San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Nurse-who-contracted-HIV-with-jab-sheds-anonymity-2394068.php CBR Staff Writer. (2000, September 24). $10m awarded to AIDS and cancer researcher in lawsuit - Tech Monitor. Tech Monitor. https://techmonitor.ai/techonology/10m_awarded_to_aids_and_cancer_researcher_in_lawsuit Chachoua, S. (2021). @samchachoua. Twitter. https://twitter.com/samchachoua Char Adams. (2016, February). Charlie Sheen Blasts Doctor Who Claims to Have Cured Him of HIV and Even Injected Himself with Star's Blood. PEOPLE.com; PEOPLE.com. https://people.com/celebrity/charlie-sheen-blasts-doctor-who-claims-to-have-cured-him-of-hiv-on-twitter/ Deerwester, J. (2016, June 21). Charlie Sheen gives “Today” an HIV status update. USA TODAY; USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/06/21/charlie-sheen-gives-today-status-update/86171076/ DoctorOz. (2016). Dr. Oz and Charlie Sheen Debunk Dr. Sam Chachoua's Claims [YouTube Video]. On YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YbjvsK8xRY Dr Sam Chachoua. (2021). Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20001026171952/http://www.nexusmagazine.com/chachoua.html Gorski, D. (2016, February). When antivaccine pseudoscience isn't enough, Bill Maher fawns over Charlie Sheen's HIV quack. Science-Based Medicine. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/when-antivaccine-pseudoscience-isnt-enough-bill-maher-embraces-goat-milk-hiv-quackery/ Haglage, A. (2019, June 13). “Screw you and all your fear and homophobia”: Nurse reveals what it was like to work at San Francisco's first AIDS ward. Yahoo.com; Yahoo. https://www.yahoo.com/now/screw-you-and-all-your-fear-and-homophobia-nurse-reveals-what-it-was-like-to-work-at-san-franciscos-first-aids-ward-185306242.html Juzwiak, R. (2016, January 30). Supposed Doctor Who Injected Himself With Charlie Sheen's HIV-Positive Blood: “I've Cured Countries!” Gawker. https://www.gawker.com/supposed-doctor-who-injected-himself-with-charlie-sheen-1756141228 Knockin' Doorz Down. (2021). Charlie Sheen | Sober living, “Tigers Blood”, “Winning”, Two and a Half Men and The Road To Recovery [YouTube Video]. On YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ1v7h7MBqE Kreidler, M. (2019, November). Induced Remission Therapy (Sam Chachoua) | Quackwatch. Quackwatch.org. https://quackwatch.org/related/cancer/chachoua/ Lang, M. E. (2016, March 7). The Goats' Milk Cure and Other Fables. The Well Project. https://www.thewellproject.org/a-girl-like-me/aglm-blogs/goats-milk-cure-and-other-fables Living into the Lessons of 5B with HIV/AIDS Nurse Guy Vandenberg. (2019, September 18). Discover Nursing. https://nursing.jnj.com/nursing-news-events/nurses-leading-innovation/living-into-the-lessons-of-5b-with-hiv-aids-nurse-guy-vandenberg Oz Exclusive: Charlie Sheen Heads to Mexico and Comes Face-to-Face With the Doctor Who Claims He Has the Cure For HIV. (2016, February 6). The Dr. Oz Show. https://www.doctoroz.com/episode/oz-exclusive-charlie-sheen-heads-mexico-and-comes-face-face-doctor-who-claims-he-has-cure PEOPLE.com. (2016, January 12). Charlie Sheen Temporarily Went Off HIV Medications to Seek Alternative Treatment in Mexico: “So What? I Was Born Dead.” PEOPLE.com; PEOPLE.com. https://people.com/celebrity/charlie-sheen-off-hiv-meds-seeking-alternative-treatment/ PolitiFact - No, arthritic goat milk cannot cure HIV. (2020). @Politifact. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/feb/23/samir-chachoua/no-arthritic-goat-milk-cannot-cure-hiv/ Sam Chachoua - Top podcast episodes. (2018, December 8). Listen Notes. https://www.listennotes.com/top-episodes/sam-chachoua/ SEIU. (2019, August 5). SEIU Nurse Mary Magee in new “5B” documentary talks about revolutionary care, pioneering nurses and working in union. SEIU - Service Employees International Union. https://www.seiu.org/blog/2019/8/seiu-nurse-mary-magee-in-new-5b-documentary-talks-about-revolutionary-care-pioneering-nurses-and-working-in-union Unbliveble 99. (2016). Supposed Doctor Who Injected Himself With Charlie Sheen's HIV-Positive Blood: I've Cured Countries! [YouTube Video]. On YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31eJZKFO2NQ Walker, M. (2003). German cancer therapies : natural and conventional medicines that offer hope and healing (pp. 168–181). Kensington. https://www.google.com/books/edition/German_Cancer_Therapies/e9smPCEn2xIC?hl=en&gbpv=1
"Learning to Loath GMOs": A Critical Response to the New York Times Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD Progressive Radio Network, July 27, 2021 In its July 19th issue, the New York Times Magazine published a brilliant piece of twisted pseudo-scientific propaganda. The essay, entitled “Learning to Love GMOs,” is truly stunning. Its author, journalist Jennifer Kahn, takes readers who would have little to no understanding of genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms (GMO) through a fictional labyrinth of out-dated and conflated GMO similitudes to an end point where readers might believe GMOs are really cool and there is nothing to be frantically worried about. Kahn spins the story of Cathie Martin's research to develop a genetically engineered purple tomato high in the anti-oxidant anthocyacin as the work of a solo humanitarian to improve consumers' health by providing nutrient-rich GMO produce. What is missing from Kahn's equation is that the research was conducted at one of the world's oldest and most prestigious independent centers for plant science, the Johns Innes Centre (JIC) in the UK. The Centre, which is registered as a charity, lists over 500 employees and is funded by some of the largest proponents of genetic-modified plants, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. JIC's website includes purple tomatoes as one of its projects that combines “transcription factors, biosynthetic genes and iRNA [interference RNA] with the availability of natural tomato mutants.” iRNA, or Post-Transcriptional Gene Slicing, is a method to silence certain genes the researchers desire to curtail their expression. The Times article makes an effort to advance the flawed agro-chemical mantra of “substantial equivalence” without citing the term. The early acceptance of GMOs was largely based upon the unproven hypothesis of “substantial equivalence.” The USDA's adoption of this concept during Bill Clinton's first term in the White House gave GM seed companies a free pass to avoid submitting trial evidence to prove the environmental and health safety of genetically modified crops. Since the ruling claims that GMOs are fundamentally identical genetically to their natural counterparts, no compliance of safety regulations should necessarily apply. Therefore Big Ag firms did not have to worry over strict regulatory hurdles, which otherwise apply to other products such as pharmaceutical drugs, processed foods, pesticides, cosmetics and chemical additives. However, during the past decade a flurry of research has shown that the “substantial equivalence” hypothesis is patently false. Alexandria University in Egypt, the Permaculture Research Institute and the Norwegian Center for Biosafety each found genetically modified crops to be fundamentally different. In addition, studies have confirmed that nutrient levels in traditional, organically raised grown crops are substantially higher than GM varieties. New technological methods to create concise profiles of a food's molecular composition, notably “omics,” were not available in the early 1990s when Clinton wore the mantle as America's first biotech president. Omic technology destroyed the Big Ag's industry's arguments to support the lie about substantial equivalence. For example, Kings College London published a study in Scientific Reports of Nature revealing unquestionable genetic consequences between GMO Roundup and non-GMO corn. The differences include changes in 117 proteins and 91 metabolites.[1] Despite “substantial equivalence” having been debunked, the erroneous hypothesis continues to linger in pro-GMO propaganda. However, in Kahn's recent essay, she attempts to shift attention away from the early generation of GMOs, which were engineered solely to sell more toxic pesticides, and emphasize GMO's potential for increasing nutritional health and to advance medicine. In order to add a bit of balance, Kahn quotes James Madison University professor Alan Levinovitz who accurately described one fundamental criticism, among many others, against GMOs. “With genetic engineering there's a feeling that we're mucking about with the essential building blocks of reality,” Levinovitz stated. “We may feel OK about rearranging genes, the way nature does, but we're not comfortable mixing them up between creatures.” But most disturbing is Kahn's failure to make any mention o the trail of environmental disasters and disease risks due to consuming genetically modified foods. She completely whitewashes the matter; she prefers we may forget that Monsanto's soy and corn, which now represent the majority of these crops grown in the US, was developed solely to allow farmers to spray highly toxic pesticides without injuring the crops. These crops contain notable concentrations of the pesticides that then find their way into numerous consumer food products including baby foods. Nor should we forget that Round-Up grown foods may be destroying people's microbiome. Last year, researchers at the University of Turku in Finland reported a “conservative estimate that approximately 54% of organisms in our microbiome are “potentially sensitive” to glyphosate. Despite her pro-GMO advocacy, if Kahn's conscience had led her to take a moral high road, she could have at least apologized on Monsanto's behalf for the trail of death and disease the company's glyphosate has left in its wake. The company has yet to atone despite losing three trials with $2.4 billion fines, repeated appeal losses, and being ordered to pay $10.5 billion in settlements. To date Monsanto's glyphosate poisoning has been identified with the suppression of essential gut enzymes and amino acid synthesis, gluten intolerance, disruption of manganese pathways, neurological disease, cancer, amyloidosis and autoimmune disease. Her New York Times article would have better served the improvement of public health as a warning rather than an applause to appease companies such as Bayer/Monsanto and Syngenta. And shame on the New York Times' editors for permitting such biased misinformation to find its way into print. Kahn is eager to cite findings showing GMO benefits without indicating her sources. She tells us that environmental groups have “quietly walked back their opposition as evidence has mounted that GMOs are both safe to eat and not inherently bad for the environment.” Kahn doesn't mention who these groups might be. She reframes the Philippine story of the destruction of genetically engineered Golden Rice; yet around that time even the pro-industry magazine Forbes published an article questioning Golden Rice's viability and noting that its benefits are only based upon unfounded hypotheses. As for its risks to health, GM Watch in the UK points out the work conducted by David Schubert at the Salk Institute that the rice might potentially generate Vitamin A derivatives that could “damage human fetuses and cause birth defects.” Kahn, who should be acknowledged as a highly respected science journalist and teaches journalism at the University of California's Berkeley campus, happens to be a contributing author for the Genetic Literacy Project (GLP) at the University of California at Davis, a public relations operation sponsored by the agro-chemical industry. Monsanto/Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont are among GLP's industry partners. It is one of the most frequently quoted sources of cherry-picked information by pro-GMO advocates and journalists. In our opinion, it is perhaps one of the most financially compromised and scientifically illiterate organizations, founded and funded to disseminate pro-GMO propaganda in order to prop up public support for GMOs and genetic engineering in general. In effect, some universities now act as private industry's lobbyists. This becomes a greater scandal when the university is a public institution receiving public funding. GLP and its east coast partner, Cornell University's Alliance for Science, largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, serve as the GMO industry's clearing houses for public relations to spin science into advertising, propaganda and character assassination of GM opponents. The Genetic Literacy Project is a key collaborator with another food industry front organization, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). ACSH has nothing to do with actual health science. It has been described by the independent corporate financial watchdog organization Sourcewatch as a thinly veiled corporate front that holds “a generally apologetic stance regarding virtually every other health and environmental hazard produced by modern industry, accepting corporate funding from Coca-Cola, Syngenta, Proctor Gamble, Kellogg, General Mills, Pepsico, and the American Beverage Association, among others.” ACSH also favors toxic pesticides, the use of biphenol A in products, cigarettes and hydrofracking. It is closely aligned with pseudo-medical front organizations that criticize alternative and natural health modalities, such as Quackwatch and the Science Based Medicine network. GLP sources a couple thousand corporate-friendly studies favoring GMO safety. One review of over 1,700 studies, known as the Nicolia Review, for a time was the most cited source making the broadest claims for GMO safety. However subsequent independent and unbiased reviews of Nicolia's analysis concluded that many of these studies were tangential at best and barely took notice of anything related to crop genetic engineering or GMOs. Many studies are completely irrelevant from a value-added perspective because they have nothing to do with GMO safety. Furthermore, other studies in Nicolia's collection conclude the exact opposite of their intention and give further credibility to GMOs environmental and animal and human health risks. When Nicolia published his review, he intentionally omitted and ignored scientifically sound research that directly investigated GMO safety and found convincing evidence to issue warnings. For example, one peer-reviewed publication by over 300 independent scientists declared that there is no scientific consensus that GM crops and food are safe. Not surprisingly, there is no mention of this study in the Nicolia Review. It is no secret that Monsanto and Big Ag have significant influence over UC-Davis's agricultural department and divisions. The bogus economic studies trumped up by the Big Ag cartel to defeat California's GMO labeling bill Prop 37 were performed at UC-Davis and then publicized through the GLP. Gary Ruskin, who has been filing Freedom of Information Act requests, has publicly expressed deep concerns that UC Davis is acting as a financial conduit for private corporations and interests to develop and launch PR attacks against academics, professors, activists and other institutions who oppose those same corporate interests. For GMO opponents, the name Mark Lynas, may send shivers down the spine. As soon as any journalist or researcher mentions Lynas' name approvingly, one can be certain which camp the author represents. You can be assured you will be reading words on dirty laundry washed in even dirtier water. Therefore when Kahn quotes Lynas as if he were an unbiased authority about GMOs, we know we have boarded the wrong train and will reach a destination of distorted scientific facts and self-righteous corporate praise. The public watchdog group US Right to Know describes Lynas as “a former journalist turned promotional advocate for genetically engineered foods and pesticides who makes inaccurate claims about those products from his perch at the Gates Foundation-funded Cornell Alliance for Science (CAS).” Lynas has accused those who would inform the public about Round-Up's carcinogenic properties as conducting a “witch hunt” by “anti-Monsanto activists” who “abused science.” Lynas has denied his role as a shill for Big Ag. However, a decade ago, The Guardian acquired a private memo from the pro-biotechnology organization EuropaBio about its initiative to recruit “ambassadors” to preach the GMO gospel. Mark Lynas was specifically named in the document alongside then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a prime candidate to pressure European agencies who were skeptical about GMO claims, promises and health and environmental risks. In short, Lynas has been one of Big Ag's most invaluable foot soldiers for over a dozen years. Similar to the Genetic Literacy Project, the Cornell Alliance for Science does not conduct any agricultural research; yet its tentacles to attack GMO opponents are far reaching in the media. CAS was launched in 2014 after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation granted the alliance $5.6 million in start-up monies. The public relations Alliance makes the unfounded claim to represent “balanced” research about genetic engineered products. One of its missions is to influence the next generation of agricultural scientists to embrace GMO science. For CAS, as for Bill Gates, GMOs are the only food solution for Africa's future. Five years ago, organic New York farmers mobilized to pressure the Trustees of Cornell University to evict CAS from the campus and halt its influence over the school's prestigious College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. One argument Kahn wants us to buy into is that there were mistakes made during the early roll out of GMOs in the 1990s. But, somehow, mysteriously and without any solid evidence, we are supposed to believe that these same companies now engineering new generations of crops have learned their lessons. All that has really changed has been the genetic technology for altering plant genomes. The same mind-set that only technology and the quest for food dominance remain. After hundreds of thousands of dollars were flushed away during a genetically modified wheat project, a retired professor of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph in Canada remarked: "We – scientists and the public – are so malleable and gullible (or is it because researchers and research administrators are just desperate for money?), that we swallow and become promoters of the mantra that GM is somehow going to feed the world: by resolving the monumental threat of burnt toast? Or browning in cut apples? Or flower color in carnations? Really? For shame. Let's be honest. The one and only reason these people, corporations, and governments are funding this sorry use of [lab] bench space is because it may yield a proprietary product." Following Lynas' lead, Kahn wants us to believe that genes exchanged between different plants is common in nature and therefore manipulating genes between species with genetic engineering tools, such as CRISPR, should not worry us. Yes, plants have acquired genes from other organisms in the past – the far distant past – according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. However, it is so exceedingly rare that these should be regarded as anomalies without any correlation whatsoever to the millions of different genes available to bio-engineer new plant organisms. This has been one of Lynas' pet arguments on his bully pulpit since turning traitor on his former Greenpeace activists and joining Monsanto's legions. It may also be noted that Jennifer Kahn is an active participant in CRISPRcon, a forum dedicated to “the future of CRISPR and gene editing technology applications in agriculture, health, conservation and more.” Among the organization's supporters are Bayer, the Innovative Genomics Institute, Cornell Alliance for Science, Corteva Agriscience and the United Soybean Board. A mission noted on its website is expressed in one of its mottos, “The public doesn't trust GMOs. Will it trust CRISPR?” This is a public relations pitch that permeates her Times article. It is important for independent investigators and researchers to identify and publicize the background of cloaked public relations shills posing as unbiased journalists in mainstream news sources. Kahn's New York Times piece is an example of a propaganda effort without credibility; it is an attempt to disingenuously manipulate the narrative so more Americans will love GMOs. In the wake of the agrichemical industry's efforts to bolster favorable images of GMOs and more recently CRISPR editing technologies, the mainstream media willingly rolls out a red carpet. No equal publishing space is awarded to the scientific critics of genetic engineering who uncover the flaws in the industry's public research. Consequently, journalists such as Mark Lynas and Jennifer Kahn are the norm rather than exception. Today the lesson is clear that money, power and influence sustain the lies and deceit of private industry. Take on any cause critical of GMOs and agro-chemical agriculture, and Big Ag will come after you. Kahn is seemingly just one of many other journalists the GLP and Cornell Alliance can turn towards to advance genetic engineering's mythologies. Seven years ago, 70 percent of Americans, according to a Consumer Reports National Research Center survey, did not want genetically modified organisms in their food. In 2018, the Pew Research Center reported that only five percent of Americans said GM foods were better for one's health – which about makes up the number of people who are in one way or another invested in the agrichemical industry. Still over half believe they endanger health. Yet too much has been invested into agro-biotechnology to expect GMOS to disappear at any time. As the public increasingly turns away from genetically modified organisms in their produce, we will expect new volleys of industry propaganda like that penned by Jennifer Kahn to dangle new carrots. For Kahn, one of these rotten carrots is to improve nutritional content. Yet, similar to the Golden Rice, this will need to be proven beyond being an infomercial. We can also expect to hear ever wilder and more irrational claims about how GMO-based agriculture might reduce CO2 greenhouse pollution and save humanity. And we expect much of this PR campaign to be backed by the World Economic Forum's full-throttle Great Reset invasion. In other words, out of desperation to reach global food dominance, the agro-chemical industry backed by western governments will be declaring a full food war against the peoples of the world. It is time for us to unlearn any illusory attachment we might have to Big Agriculture and learn to loath GMOs.
Quackwatch, which is operated by Stephen Barrett, M.D., is a network of Web sites and mailing lists maintained by the Center for Inquiry (CFI). The sites focus on health frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct. Their main goal is to provide quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. To help visitors with special areas of interest, there are sites that cover autism, chiropractic, dentistry, multilevel marketing, and many other problematic areas. The Internet Health Pilot site provides links to hundreds of reliable health sites. Casewatch contains a large library of legal cases, licensing board actions, government sanctions, and regulatory actions against questionable medical products. All of these can be accessed through our “Visit Our Affiliated Sites” drop-down menu. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free2think/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free2think/support
A suspiciously oily not-so-sweet 16th episode from the gals, who are clearly Tired and Emotional. In any case, they go to a punk show, discuss Mecca's wellness misfire, chronic illness imposter syndrome, a Quackwatch from the history books and some delicious calls fresh off the crisp and juicy Spoonie Hotline. Including an excerpt read by Sarah Ramey from her new book, The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness. Yoni Oil you shouldn't buy8 Ways That Imposter Syndrome Shows Up When You Have a Chronic Illness or DisabilityDynamic DisabilitySnake OilChloe's New BoyfriendFREE PALESTINE- donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Get out your cloudbuster and strap into your orgone accumulator because it's time to talk about the sexual electricity that courses through the sky. Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich discovered this energy after studying specimens of milk steak under a microscope. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about Reich's claims that orgone could cure cancer and bone spurs and how it was snapped up by members of the Beat Generation so they could, well, beat off. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: “American College of Orgonomy: Using Emotions for a More Satisfying Life.” Princeton Info, 22 Jan. 2014, princetoninfo.com/american-college-of-orgonomy-using-emotions-for-a-more-satisfying-life/. Bellis, Mary. “Wilhelm Reich and the Orgone Accumulator.” ThoughtCo, 22 Oct. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/wilhelm-reich-and-orgone-accumulator-1992351. Folley, Aris. “Alex Jones Promotes Toothpaste He Claims 'Kills' Coronavirus; FDA Warns It's Fraudulent.” TheHill, The Hill, 12 Mar. 2020, thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/487149-alex-jones-promotes-toothpaste-he-claims-kills-coronavirus-as. Kreidler, Marc. “Some Notes on Wilhelm Reich, M.D.” Quackwatch, 15 Feb. 2002, quackwatch.org/11Ind/reich/. Louv, Jason. “The Scientific Assassination of a Sexual Revolutionary: How America Interrupted Wilhelm Reich's Orgasmic Utopia.” VICE, 15 July 2013, www.vice.com/en/article/mggzpn/the-american-quest-to-kill-wilhelm-reich-and-orgonomy. “'My Life in Orgone Boxes': William Burroughs on His Sexual Science Experiments in OUI Magazine, 1977.” DangerousMinds, 30 Aug. 2016, dangerousminds.net/comments/my_life_in_orgone_boxes_william_burroughs_on_his_sexual_science_experiments. Simon, Matt. “Fantastically Wrong: Why Is the Sky Blue? It's Packed With Sexy Energy, of Course.” Wired, Conde Nast, 26 Nov. 2014, www.wired.com/2014/11/fantastically-wrong-wilhelm-reich/. Turner, Christopher. Adventures in the Orgasmatron: How the Sexual Revolution Came to America. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012. Turner, Christopher. “Wilhelm Reich: the Man Who Invented Free Love.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 July 2011, www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/08/wilhelm-reich-free-love-orgasmatron.
America’s Sacrificial Altar for Google, Wikipedia and the Pharmaceutical Empire Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD Progressive Radio Network, December 3, 2020 Weekly, millions of people do Google searches for advice about their personal health, a large variety of illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, etc., drug and vaccine safety, and scores of other topics affecting physical and mental health. They depend upon speed and accuracy to find the current scientifically based and clinically proven information. For the large majority of people, a personal medical condition or health crisis begins by turning exclusively to established medical, drug-based protocols. However, these treatments do not always relieve symptoms and very rarely reverse disease. Certainly they have not shown success to prevent them. Consequently, increasingly people are seeking second and third opinions. More often than not Google will take a person immediately to Wikipedia. Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales acknowledges that “60 to 70 percent of Wikipedia’s traffic originates from Google. There is an assumption and a reasonable expectation that the information we find on Wikipedia is 1) accurate, 2) soundly researched and referenced from high quality and reliable resources, 3) written by credentialed writers and editors with expertise in the subject, 4) unbiased, and finally 5) objective and neutral. At a minimum it is assumed that content is scientifically validated and on matters of health and disease from the National Institutes of Health PubMed database. Whether it regards a pharmaceutical, surgical or radiological approach, or perhaps a more natural medical modality such as lifestyle change, nutrition, medical botanicals, Chiropractic and Chinese Medicine, information is expected to be accurately described. Then using our freedom of choice and informed consent, we can select the medical route that we believe would be most safe and effective. Unfortunately, our four-year investigation into Wikipedia's treatment of health issues reveals exactly the opposite. Many individuals with outstanding credentials are terrified of having their biographies appear on the open-source encyclopedia. Once a person's biography is added she or he will no longer have control over its content. Often they will be faced with character assassination and denigration about their careers and life's work. Their biographies are frozen as if confined in a Russian gulag for a political crime. They may seek redress by reaching out to the media; but the media also is fully compromised. They may seek open hearings on Wikipedia's backside to expose unfair behavior and misinformation but will be met either by deafening silence, ridicule or censorship. They may even seek redress from the IRS or state's attorney generals for Wikipedia's gross serial violations of its non-profit status. You enter a highly politicized ideological war and the encyclopedia’s parent organization, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), will do essentially nothing to correct errors or reprimand belligerent senior administrators and editors. Much of Wikipedia’s chaos over unreliable health information is due to a relatively small group of non-credentialed, hate-filled individuals, popularly known as Skeptics. With Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales’ full support, Skeptics have hijacked the site and converted it into their personal social media platform to condemn all non-conventional and alternative medical therapies and its practitionersand voices who are critical of the dominant drug and vaccine based medical paradigm. Since its founding certain editors realized that Wikipedia was prime game for writing entries and reshaping content as a means to proselytize their personal ideological agendas. This is due to the encyclopedia’s systemic vulnerabilities and its naïve belief that truth can emerge by reaching a faux democratic consensus. In 2006 Wikipedia editor Paul Lee, a physical therapist in California’s Central Valley and an avowed Skeptic, started to reach out to internet Skeptic groups to recruit editors to advance the Skeptic mission to ridicule and discredit all forms of complementary and alternative medicine, marginalize those who question vaccination safety and efficacy, and attack critics of corporate commercial interests adversely impacting the nation’s health such as genetically modified crops, fluoridation, sugar and junk food, etc. That year Lee posted on the International Skeptic Forum: “I would like to invite webmasters and site owners to begin editing Wikipedia and SkepticWiki. There are many subjects for skeptics to get involved with, and we really need help. There are plenty of loons out there doing the editing right now, and far too few skeptics to keep them at bay. Any coordination of efforts should be done by private email, since Wikipedia keeps a very public history and “every” little edit, and you can’t get them removed. We don’t need any accusations of a conspiracy… I hope to see more skeptics in action!” Lee also lists the subjects Skeptics should focus on, which include the National Vaccine Information Center, vaccine critics Barbara Loe Fisher and Viera Scheibner, Chiropractic, and complementary and alternative medicine. Lee happens to be the former list master for the pro-pharmaceutical and junk food friendly Quackwatch, a personal blog founded by a psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Barrett. Over time, Quackwatch and its Skeptic allies such as the Center for Inquiry and the Science Based Medicine blog have exponentially increased their presence on Wikipedia to become the single most cited references in the Skeptics’ arsenal to attack alternative medical therapies and the critics of conventional medicine’s power base. The consequence is that personal bias has trumped Wikipedia’s rules of objectivity and neutrality. New York Times best-selling human rights author Edwin Black described the dangers Wikipedia poses for social progress in his article “Wikipedia: The Dumbing Down of World Knowledge” published on the History News Network: “…. Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for dumbing down the world of knowledge. If Wikipedia’s almost unstoppable momentum continues, critics say, it threatens to quickly reverse centuries of progress… In its place would be a constant cacophony of fact and falsity that Wikipedia critics call a “law of the jungle.”[16] Writing for the Huffington Post, journalist Sam Slovick posed a question we might ask ourselves every time we click into Wikipedia. "Has Jimmy Wales' marauding encyclopedic beast finally corrupted the Internet? Has Wikipedia lost all credibility, its purported neutral system compromised by toxic editors?” The most toxic Wikipedia editors now terrorizing the encyclopedia’s pages more often than not are the anonymous non-experts and computer hacks who identify themselves with this extreme militant form of scientific materialism. They also fiercely protect their own Skeptic pages from any citable truths that may cast them in a poor light. Indeed commercial science is constantly attempting to develop new technological solutions through genetic engineering of crops, vaccines and novel patentable drugs, artificial intelligence, 5G wireless technology, etc. These are held up in the public's eyes as great achievements. On the other hand, you will rarely find Wikipedia or the mainstream media ever highlighting these technologies’ flaws and greater risks that undermine their commercial benefits; and certainly private corporations will never leak evidence about these risks and dangers. For example, we accessed Wikipedia pages for each of the vaccines recommended on the CDC's childhood immunization schedule. In every case, adverse effects were undermined and the vaccines’ benefits were inflated. Not a single entry had a complete list of adverse effects as printed on the vaccine maker's manufacturing package insert – literature that is easily accessible on the CDC's website. Nor was there to be found a list of vaccine ingredients, many of which are scientifically shown to be toxic. Consequently a visitor to any given Wikipedia vaccine page accesses a very incomplete and twisted understanding of the vaccines' actual safety and efficacy profile. We are also led to believe that if a scientific invention or a study for a new drug or vaccine appears in the peer-reviewed literature, it represents a gold standard. Consequently it is assumed that any controversy has been settled. A peer-reviewed paper becomes a scientific law unto itself if it favors tendentious interests. However, repeatedly the peer-reviewed journal system has proven to be unreliable. No decisive effort has been made to reform it. It is simply too profitable to disrupt. But the Skeptics’ distorted and biased narratives about medicine and health are only one reason to be deeply worried about the WMF’s long-term mission to bring all medical knowledge to the inhabitable world. By and large, Wikipedia Skeptics are not motivated by financial gain nor is there strong evidence of conflicts of interest with either the pharmaceutical industry or our federal health agencies. Rather the Skeptic movement is more likely motivated by a cult-like ideology that is fanatically embraced by its followers with religious zeal. Yet on the backside, WMF also has deep ties with the pharmaceutical industry and this takes us to its close relationship with Google for over a decade. The Google-WMF association is no secret. There is plenty of evidence confirming Google’s preferential treatment of Wikipedia aside from the millions of daily Google searches that bring users directly to the encyclopedia. Although Wikipedia editors take full advantage of flawed medical literature if the conclusions serve their purpose and agenda, Google, through its algorithmic modeling to censor voices challenging the medical regime’s status-quo, ignores efforts to determine whether the medical literature is bogus or not. Google’s mission is to protect the global medical regime -- not just private drug companies but also government health bodies and international organizations such as the World Health Organization. No longer should Google be perceived solely as a technological platform to promote the pharmaceutical industry’s agenda. It is also a drug company itself. During the past seven years, Google's parent company Alphabet has launched two pharmaceutical companies. In 2013, it founded Calico, headed by Genentech's former CEO Arthur Levinson. Calico operates an R&D facility in the San Francisco Bay Area for the discovery of treatments associated with age-related diseases. Two years later, Alphabet founded Verily Life Sciences (previously Google Life Sciences). Both companies partner with other drug firms, including Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, and vaccine giants Pfizer and Sanofi. In October Verily launched an aggressive multimillion dollar campaign to expand Covid-19 testing in California’s most distressed communities in 28 counties. However, some counties are starting to sever their ties with the company. In order to qualify for the program’s Covid test people are required to have a Gmail account and provide highly sensitive personal information. Alphabet’s drug companies therefore are intricately linked to Google’s ambition to gather, control and own everyone’s personal information. In 2016, Verily collaborated with the European pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to form a third company, Galvani Bioelectronics, for the development of "bioelectronic medicines." Among its initiatives are nanotechnology for drug delivery and the development of “miniaturized, implantable devices that can monitor nerve signals in the body.” Galvani’s Chairman is Moncef Siaoui, Glaxo's former chairman of its global vaccines business who now serves as Trump’s appointed chief science adviser for Operation Warp Speed. Nor should it be forgotten that Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin’s former wife Anne Wojcicki also co-founded the biotech company 23andMe to develop personal DNA testing kits. In 2018 it entered a partnership with Glaxo to expand into drug development. In January 2019, Google's president of Customer Solutions Mary Ellen Coe joined Merck's Board of Directors. Formerly working at the corporate consulting firm McKinsey and Company, her role at Google includes overseeing the firm's global advertising for contracted companies. Merck's chairman Kenneth Frazier remarked in a press release that Coe "will be a significant asset to Merck." To better appreciate the enormity of the global pharmaceutical regime now unfolding, we need to fully acknowledge this nightmarish marriage between the tech and information-based companies, such as Google and the WMF, and Big Pharma. As the world's most advanced search engine, Google has gained control over the internet's most technically sophisticated surveillance systems and algorithms. Therefore the company has positioned itself to perhaps be the greatest potential threat to human health via the flow of information and data viewed on our laptops and mobile phones. During the past five years, the pharmaceutical industry has shown a growing interest in the concept of virtual pharmacies, whereby drug companies can leverage their influence over consumers. Social media, notably Wikipedia, has become the consumer’s most utilized resource for gaining knowledge about disease, drugs and health. In a University of Sydney survey, Wikipedia was the first source of choice for gaining information about unfamiliar health topics, even among medical professionals. According to a 2013 joint analysis of this emerging trend, conducted by the University of Zurich and Johnson and Johnson, drug companies can use these virtual platforms to tackle the challenges they face in the financial market and even within medical communities. However, the analysis also recommended that the best strategy would be for Big Pharma to invest heavily in virtual companies and secure partnerships. This strategy is gaining steam whereby tech and social media companies such as Google and WMF are being absorbed into the pharmaceutical machinery and vice versa. The dire results from this marriage are already being felt as we now witness Wikipedia morphing into another mouthpiece for Big Pharma. If Google's transformation into a drug company is not alone disturbing, the world's largest open source knowledge site is acutely entangled with the Silicon Valley giant and its pharmaceutical agenda. In early 2019, Google dumped $3.1 million into WMF’s coffers, which brings total contributions from Google and Sergey Brin to over $7.5 million. Curiously, the announcement of Google's endowment was made at the World Economic Forum at Davos. The donation also includes Google's intention to provide Wikipedia editors with its high tech learning tools. Wired Magazine published an article that further defines the Google-WMF relationship over the years. With respect to Google's generous contribution, journalist Louise Matsakis writes, "but the decision isn’t altruistic... Google already uses Wikipedia content in a number of its own products.... The company also has used Wikipedia articles to train machine learning algorithms, as well as fight misinformation on YouTube." Now with Jimmy Wales' intention to take on the cause of fighting "fake news" – a cause also aligned to his personal Skeptic ideology as the ultimate arbitrator that determines what is real or fake -- Skeptic editors have free access to advanced algorithmic apps to proceed with their agenda to scrub Wikipedia of content favorable towards alternative medicine or content critical of the pharmaceutical empire. Yet Google’s and Jimmy Wales’ mutual interests go beyond the construction of a pharmaceutical ruled society. Brin and Wales first sealed a close relationship during their early efforts to counter the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Together both executives, among others, signed a joint Open Letter to the federal government opposing SOPA, which was coincidently around the same time as Brin’s half-million dollar donation. In 2014, in a reaction against legal issues over privacy matters, Google created an “Advisory Council.” Wales was one of its founding members. In 2012, Google’s charitable arm, Google.org, initiated a collaboration with WMF’s WikiProject Medicine “to further improve the quality of articles” by recruiting and hiring “professional medical editors.” Dr. James Heilman, a Canadian emergency room physician and a seasoned senior Wikipedia administrator who frequently comes to the defense of Skeptic Wikipedians, sits on the WMF’s Board of Trustees. Heilman is one of the founders of the Wiki Project Med Foundation (WPMF) to advance its mission to give “every single person free access to the sum of all medical knowledge.” WPMF now has collaborative relationships with the National Institutes of Health, Cancer Research UK, Cochrane Collaboration, the University of California at San Francisco, the Wellcome Trust and several open-access medical journals. Recently during the Covid-19 pandemic, WMF has strengthened its ties with the global medical establishment. Last October it entered a collaboration with the World Health Organization to assure that public health information and data about Covid-19 is regulated in accordance with the latest pronouncements made by the anointed authorities in the institutional medical establishment. Wikipedia already contains over 5,200 Covid-related entries in 175 languages and these are largely based upon WHO sources. It is estimated that this content is accessed at least a million times a day. Part of the WMF’s commitment is to monitor and censor “the spread of misinformation” according to the WHO’s criteria. In a New York Times article reporting on the new partnership, if this initial pilot Covid-19 project succeeds, it will be expanded to launch additional efforts “to counter misinformation regarding AIDS, Ebola, influenza, polio and dozens of other diseases.” So where exactly in the cesspool of modern medicine and the toxic food, vaccine and the agro-chemical industries are we to discover truth. Few in the scientific and federal health agencies can be trusted anymore. Most are compromised and this distortion of truth for global leverage clearly extends throughout Google and Wikipedia. Rarely is a mainstream journalist trustworthy, and no one can be certain whether a paper appearing in a peer-reviewed science journal or an medical entry on Wikipedia is reliable or not. Even clinical physicians on the front lines of healthcare work in the dark. It is only after large numbers of injuries and deaths due to Agent Orange, DDT, life-threatening vaccine adverse reactions, a Vioxx scandal, or an epidemic of corporate liable opiate drug overdoses that a light bulb eventually goes on. But only for a limited time before it is quickly forgotten and goes dark again. The reason for American medicine turning into the nation's largest and deadliest battlefield is because scientific corruption is legally protected to proceed with impunity. The Surgeon General, the heads of federal health agencies, drug makers, the insurance industry, medical schools and professional associations, Google and WMF, and the media operate as a single voice that the American health system is the best in the world when it is surely not. Corporate interests and massive profiteering control everything. Modern medicine has morphed into a religious cult that is incapable of self-reflection about its own vulnerabilities and failures. This hubris of power and domination plagues Google and the WMF equally. And numerous patients are being played for fools. The fact is that all players in the architecture of our medical system are vulnerable to corruption. Private industry and government know this perfectly. The checks and balances between private and public interests have collapsed. Today, the medical regime is a single entity. All of its parts are consolidated and entwined into a monolithic behemoth to protect its bottom line. In our opinion Google and WMF have been co-opted to serve as the guardians of this culture of corruption. Therefore they both are equally culpable in the widespread destruction of the nation’s public health. Yet we mustn’t expect that the trajectory of an emerging global pharmaceutical hegemony will experience a collapse anytime soon. Rather, with the aid of Google and WMF, it will increasingly monopolize the medical discourse and define the national policies shaping public health. And this requires greater efforts to censor and silence the medical critics and honest investigative journalists bringing light to the medical and scientific flaws upon which health policies and laws are based through the virtual technological apparatus and information control Google and WMF provides. In short, tech companies now control and dictate orders to the morally-deficient incompetents in Washington. Yet the emergence of a pharmaceutical regime as a natural consequence of humanity being in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is unfolding to the delight of Jimmy Wales and his Skeptic denizens who worship his messianic mission to make all knowledge free to the world’s population. But the question has always been “whose knowledge?” Skepticm’s “pseudo-knowledge,” of course. It is not uncommon to find Skeptics acknowledging Wales as one of their own. Wales has provided plenty of assistance to Skeptics and on occasion has come to their defense in discussion groups. Replying to comments Wales wrote on Quora to offer his assistance to rid the world of homeopathy, the co-founder of Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia Susan Gerbic replied: “Jimmy you have already done more than anyone could possibly dream that can be done. You created the most amazing resource in the world. I mean that, not only in English but in every language possible…. Thank you. Allowing us editors to ‘do our job’ and keep these articles honest and correctly cited is enough. I can’t imagine what else you can do, my brain is teeny tiny compared to your mighty brain, if you come up with something please oh please let us in on it, we want to help.” The pharmaceutical industry has no need to attack the competition of non-conventional and natural medicine on Wikipedia. Nor is there a need to hire or pay off Wikipedians to do this dirty work for them since Skeptics are already doing so freely or involuntarily, and Skeptic administrators receive the perks of being provided with Google’s algorithmic tools and apps to protect their message. It is a completely rigged game and Wales and the WMF seem to have every intention to keep it that way. America’s 21st century technological god with a silicon-crafted body demands the sacrifice of the world’s children and elderly and persons for profit in its furnace of drugs and vaccines. John Milton and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg would surely agree. If alive we might hear Ginsberg howling against this devouring techno-Pharma empire on YouTube. From its humble beginnings, and with the technological resources and generous funding received from Google, Wikipedia has morphed into a chaotic war between truth and falsehoods amusingly ruled over by this postmodern Moloch. The dangerous fallout is that objectivity and ethics are being increasingly sacrificed on a cold virtual altar devoted to a perverted metaphysical realism disguised as medical science and fact.
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We are launching a campaign to reach out to the Foundation's major benefactors and donors and to gratefully request that they discontinue their donations, grants and support to the WikiMedia Foundation. Our motive for taking this course of action has been a last resort because all other efforts and strategies to correct the falsities, inaccuracies and vengeful narrative about our professions have either failed or been ignored. The Foundation has refused to assume responsibility and to be held accountable for the abuse being perpetrated by individuals and groups promoting antagonistic ideologies against complementary and alternative medical therapies and its leading proponents. The consequence has been that the scientific reputations and efficacy of these therapies, and the careers of those practicing them are being seriously undermined and damaged. Based upon the evidence tt is our contention that this is intentional. While countless people around the world have benefitted from the breadth and scope of knowledge the encyclopedia provides, over the years it has come under growing criticism for its bias and lack of objectivity on many subjects that have a direct impact on people's health and well-being. In addition, the culture of harassment that occurs on Wikipedia editing pages, or Talk Pages, has become uncontrollable. In May, the Foundation finally addressed this systemic problem and announced it would begin to ban editors who are charged with abusive behavior towards other editors. Unfortunately this new ruling, as admirable as it is, ignores the volumes of misinformation and libelous language already found on the encyclopedia's pages. Starting around 2006, a group of volunteer Wikipedia editors and organizations that identify themselves as "Skeptics" recognized that the encyclopedia's "open source" and anonymity policies offered an enormous opportunity for them to propagandize their message of radical scientific materialism and could serve as a platform to discredit all forms of non-conventional therapies. This includes Chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy and botanical medicine, energy medicine and energy psychology, nutritional therapies, traditional Chinese medicine, India Ayurvedic medicine, quantum medicine, various modalities of massage and physical therapy, non-drug based supplements, etc. During the passage of years, the presence of and influence of Skeptic editors has increased exponentially. Distinct Skeptic groups, such as Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia and Quackwatch, now dominate and control a large swathe of Wikipedia entries that deal directly with CAM and the biographies of respectable, qualified practitioners and advocates of these natural medical disciplines. Categorically, these entries display extreme bias and a flagrant lack of objectivity that violates Wikipedia's stated editorial standards such as neutrality. Renowned doctors who espouse a complementary approach to medicine and healing are commonly called "quacks" or "charlatans." CAM therapies are described as “pseudoscience” and/or “quackery”. Such derogatory terms are not permitted on creditable encyclopedias. Despite the volumes of peer-reviewed studies and articles cataloged in the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine confirming the efficacy of these non-conventional therapies, Skeptic editors rely solely upon those studies that may be used for censure and defamation. Since Skeptics now control and monitor these heath subjects there is no opportunity for transparency and honest debate to correct gross errors. Skepticism's assault against CAM therapies is contrary to contemporary trends in medicine. In 2019, the World Health Organization reported that “traditional and complementary medicine is an important and often underestimated health resource with many applications, especially for the prevention and management of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and in meeting the health needs of ageing populations.” Most prestigious American medical schools have a department for complementary and alternative medicine or include these subjects in their curriculum. A government survey estimates that 62 percent of US adults use some form of alternative medicine annually. On the other hand, Skeptic organizations have been publicly hostile to this trend and have made their animosity known on Wikipedia. Unlike other legitimate encyclopedias, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Columbia Encyclopedia, there is no oversight or accountability for who can write content and edit on Wikipedia pages. Most Wikipedia editors are anonymous. Their identities and expertise on the subjects they edit are unknown. In the majority of the cases for alternative medicine's entries, senior and administrative editors have no medical-related background whatsoever. Over the years, voluminous complaints have been communicated and/or filed to the Foundation, including lawsuits, about the gross violations in Wikipedia's editorial policies, misinformation and inflammatory and potentially libelous language. Sadly, such requests in almost all cases go unheeded. A conclusion may be drawn that the Foundation may support Skeptics' ideological beliefs. There is some evidence that the Foundation, and/or some of its Board members, endorse Skeptics' tenets and activities, including providing protection and privileges for them to carry out their agenda. SIGN THE PETITION
Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. He operates Quackwatch, a network of Web sites and mailing lists maintained by the Center for Inquiry (CFI), which focus on health frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct. His main goal is to provide quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. CFI also also offers a Health Fraud Discussion List that has more than 600 members and Consumer Health Digest, a free weekly e-mail newsletter that summarizes scientific reports, legislative developments, enforcement actions, and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. Its primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams. Dr. Barrett is also a world-champion swimmer. http://www.quackwatch.org https://quackwatch.org/bio/ https://quackwatch.org/device/reports/zyto/ https://quackwatch.org/health-promotion/immu/facebook-should-do-more-to-combat-vaccine-misinformation/
Follow-up: Quackwatch @2:35 CoronaVirus @3:34 Steven Salzberg has a commonsense warning about alleged treatments The President of the United States thought that the flu vaccine could maybe stop the coronavirus and had to be corrected on live TV. GOP not helping @12:27 South Korean cult @13:10 Trump's Donation @16:18 Trump: Vice President Mike Pence doesn't believe in evolution. He doesn't believe smoking causes cancer. He addressed an HIV epidemic in Indiana by praying it away. Trump has chosen him to lead the United States' task force on the coronavirus. @18:19 Trump praises Modi for religious work @22:21 Is Trump the Antichrist? @28:45 Roger Stone found Jesus. Of course he did. @37:47 2020: Down to 5 @43:00 National News: Oath keepers @58:27 State News: VA - SB 868, the “Virginia Values Act” @1:04:40 NY - the Buffalo Catholic Diocese is filing for bankruptcy @1:05:25 Final story: Doctors commit tax evasion with coins @1:07:24
How can anyone be a competitive bodybuilder and a vegetarian, given all of the nutritional limits? For bodybuilder Wade Lightheart, it’s not being focused on the “isms,” and looking at this nutritional choice as a continuing “experiment.”Wade describes his journey to winning championships and creating a very successful supplements business that began with building his own gym (not unlike the one in Rocky IV) at age 15 in rural Canada in this Living 4D conversation.For Living 4D listeners, Wade is offering a 27 percent discount on BiOptimizer’s Upgraded Digestion package consisting of four products that Paul uses. Use the code CHEK10 at checkout.You can also sign up for BiOptimizer’s Awesome 12-Week Health Program by hitting this link.Connect with Wade on social media via Facebook.Show NotesLife changed in huge ways for Wade at age 15. (9:13)For Wade, living a vegetarian lifestyle is a continuing “experiment.” (17:46)Incorrect assumptions about food can cost you your health and life. (25:48)What really drives high achievers. (33:18)Wisdom allows you to step past rigid definitions and boxes we set up for ourselves and transcend them. (48:19)“A vision of mastery is knowing the right thing to do at the right time.” (58:56)Modern life is so focused on technology that many of us don’t know the basics of survival. (1:10:51)You’ve “made it” if you’re on Quackwatch. (1:15:52)“Everything from thinking to blinking requires an enzyme.” (1:21:38)The protein found in wheat has degraded significantly over the past century. (1:25:18)It’s possible to do well on almost any diet if your ability to digest, absorb and utilize those foods is at full capacity. (1:29:45)Parasite infections are a multifactorial problem. (1:37:13)The connection between drinking coffee and hydrochloric acid production in your body. (1:42:14)If your digestive system is working properly, you should be successful eating nearly any kind of diet. (1:52:07)The benefits of muscle testing. (1:55:14)How and when to use specific kinds of enzymes. (2:07:39)The two forms of probiotics. (2:17:18)Taking enzymes derived from animal-based sources can be challenging from some people. (2:30:46)Would taking enzymes help people handle Ayahuasca or magic mushrooms better? (2:40:18)If you’re having digestive troubles, try Paul’s lemon test to see if you need enzymes. (2:46:47)“Choices are actions that are the product of beliefs.” (3:00:49)ResourcesWade and BiOptimizer co-founder Matt Gallant on Bulletproof Radio with Dave Asprey Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold SchwarzeneggerThe Holy Science by Swami Sri YukteswarPumping IronBill Pearl’s Keys to the Inner UniverseEnzyme Nutrition and Food Enzymes For Health & Longevity by Dr. Edward HowellScience in Agriculture: Advanced Methods For Sustainable Farming by Arden AndersonThe work of Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and
The HOP gang talk about Joe’s colonoscopy, hair plugs, and interview Dr. Stephen Barrett, founder of Quackwatch. Send your questions and comments to hopquestions@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail at 408-444-6623.
Death by Ignorance – Episode 12 – Just a little prickAdditional reading: https://www.amazon.com/Fantasyland-America-Haywire-500-Year-History-ebook/dp/B004J4WNJE https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555 Sherman KJ, Cherkin DC, Deyo RA, et al. The diagnosis and treatment of chronic back pain by acupuncturists, chiropractors, and massage therapists. Clin J Pain. 2006 Mar-Apr;22(3):227–234. Barrett, S (30 December 2007). "Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and "Chinese Medicine"". Quackwatch. http://www.dcscience.net/Ernst-2011-AcupunctAlleviatePainRiskReview.pdf Deare JC, Zheng Z, Xue CC, Liu JP, Shang J, Scott SW, Littlejohn G (May 2013). "Acupuncture for treating fibromyalgia". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 5 (5): CD007070. Seca S, Miranda D, Cardoso D, Nogueira B, Greten HJ, Cabrita A, Rodrigues MA (19 December 2018). "Effectiveness of Acupuncture on Pain, Physical Function and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Evidence". Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine. doi:10.1007/s11655-018-2914-x. PMID 30569405 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3616356 Towler P, Molassiotis A, Brearley SG (October 2013). "What is the evidence for the use of acupuncture as an intervention for symptom management in cancer supportive and palliative care: an integrative overview of reviews". Supportive Care in Cancer. 21 (10): 2913–23. doi:10.1007/s00520-013-1882-8. PMID 23868190. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1466855 Barrett, Stephen. "Auriculotherapy: A Skeptical Look". Acupuncture Watch. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC558023 Cheuk DK, Wong V (May 2014). "Acupuncture for epilepsy". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 5(5): CD005062. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD005062.pub4. PMID 24801225. https://books.google.com/books?id=E6oa37ZyTxEC&pg=PA90 Burke A, Upchurch DM, Dye C, Chyu L. Acupuncture use in the United States: findings from the National Health Interview Survey. J Altern Complement Med. 2006 Sep;12(7):639–648. Wu DZ. Acupuncture and neurophysiology. Clinical Neurology & Neurosurgery. 1990;92(1):13–25. Cheng R, Pomeranz B. Monoamineergic mechanisms of electroacupuncture analgesia. Brain Res. 1981;215:77–92. Hui KK, Liu J, Makris N, et al. Acupuncture modulates the limbic system and subcortical gray structures of the human brain: evidence from fMRI studies in normal subjects. Human Brain Mapping. 2000;9(1):13–25. Park J, Linde K, Manheimer E, et al. The status and future of acupuncture clinical research. J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Sep;14(7):871–881. Vickers AJ. Placebo controls in randomized trials of acupuncture. Eval Health Prof. 2002 Dec;25(4):421–435. Support Death by Ignorance by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/death-by-ignoranceThis podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Thanks for listening. You’re the reason I do this.In Episode 10 we take a good close look into homeopathy. What we see is not pretty.Here are the resources that I refer to in the podcast:This Dr. Stephen Barrett’s website, Quackwatch – if you have never visited, you are missing out on a powerful and important voice in medical skepticism! https://www.quackwatch.org/index.htmlThis Dr. Barrett’s article on the subject of homeopathy – it is solid gold. https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.htmlHere is the Merseyside Skeptics Society – an inspiring organization, and arch-enemy of British homeopathy. This is one place to find Michael Marshall (Marsh) and the home some really awesome skeptical podcasts (“Skeptics with a K”, “Re Reasonable”, and “inKredulous”) http://www.merseysideskeptics.org.ukThis is a link to one of the British Homeopathic Association publications referenced in the podcast. Read with care, it’ll give you a bad headache. https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/evidence/the-evidence-for-homeopathy/This was one of my sources for tracking down the “evidence” for homeopathy. You should read a few of the articles if you want to get a feel for the kind of evidence homeopathy is using. https://homeopathyusa.org/uploads/Homeopathy-Research-Evidence-Base-11-15-2018.pdfThis is one of the articles covering the death of young Francesco Bonifazi https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/belief-in-homeopathy-results-in-the-death-of-a-7-year-old-italian-child/I didn’t use this story from Phil Plait, but it is worth reading. Another sad story that didn’t have to happen. https://slate.com/technology/2009/06/homeopathy-kills.htmlIf you want the complete list of every piece of homeopathic research that I reviewed, shoot me your email address and I’ll send it to you.Thanks again for listening!Support Death by Ignorance by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/death-by-ignoranceThis podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Talk to a Dr. Berg Keto Consultant today and get the help you need on your journey (free consultation). Call 1-540-299-1557 with your questions about Keto, Intermittent Fasting, or the use of Dr. Berg products. Consultants are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 9 pm EST. Saturday & Sunday 9 am to 5 pm EST. USA Only. Take Dr. Berg's Free Keto Mini-Course! In this podcast, Dr. Berg talks about the benefits of snake oil. It has been traditionally used in China for a long time and it is loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids which have EPA and DHA that are essential for the brain, mood, and nervous system. He also explains what quackery means and a website called Quackwatch. Benefits of Snake Oil: • 20% more EPA than salmon oil (Western Journal of Medicine 1989 Analysis) • Joint pain • Arthritis /Bursitis • Supports a healthy Cardiovascular system Quackery – Pretended medical healthcare skills. Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio: Dr. Berg, 51 years of age is a chiropractor who specializes in weight loss through nutritional & natural methods. His private practice is located in Alexandria, Virginia. His clients include senior officials in the U.S. government & the Justice Department, ambassadors, medical doctors, high-level executives of prominent corporations, scientists, engineers, professors, and other clients from all walks of life. He is the author of The 7 Principles of Fat Burning. ABOUT DR. BERG: https://bit.ly/2FwSQQT DR. BERG'S STORY: https://bit.ly/2RwY5GP DR. BERG'S SHOP: https://bit.ly/2RN11yv DR. BERG'S VIDEO BLOG: https://bit.ly/2AZYyHt DR. BERG'S HEALTH COACHING TRAINING: https://bit.ly/2SZlH3o Follow us on FACEBOOK: https://www.messenger.com/t/drericberg TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DrBergDC YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/drericberg123 Send a Message to Dr. Berg and his team: https://www.messenger.com/t/drericberg
Our relationship with microorganisms is *ahem* complicated...mostly symbiotic, but often combative and, yes, fatal. In this episode I speak with a physician on the front lines of the battle to the death between viruses, amoebas, and bacteria and their human victims. Dr. Mark Crisplin in an infectious disease doctor in Portland, OR, and the author of a bi-weekly blog and several books. He is also and app-maker and an award-winning podcaster, creator of the now discontinued QuackWatch series and the Persiflager's Puscast. We speak on a wide range of topics, including which infectious diseases have killed the most people in history, how they did it, which ones are still a threat now and in the future, a virus so deadly that no one has ever recovered from it, whether ebola is a world-historic threat, resistance to antibiotics and the coming post-antibiotic world, Abraham Lincoln's possible syphilis, and the disease that is wiping out Tasmanian Devils. The picture Dr. Crislip paints is in some ways admittedly bleak. He believes that bacteria will develop resistance that renders our current antibiotics obsolete. And worse, he believes that there is no foreseeable pathway to avoiding this future. Prepare for the Zombie apocalypse (which he does not see in the near future)! Look up Dr. Crislip's work: www.edgydoc.com
0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:05:10 Stephen Barrett, M.D from Quackwatch Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. http://www.quackwatch.org/ 0:21:33 Speed Meet the Scientists at the Powerhouse Museum #2 This week, interviews with... Dr Hayley Green - Forensic Anthropologist https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/doctor_hayley_green Dr Katherine Dafforn - Marine Ecologist / Ecotoxicologist http://katherinedafforn.com Alison Luk - Microbiologist https://sydney.edu.au/science/people/alison.luk.243.php 0:37:46 Skeptics Award for Critical Thinking in Journalism Australian Skeptics Inc is adding to its portfolio of annual awards with one for the best piece of skeptical journalism. The award is named for the late Barry Williams, past president and executive officer of ASI who was a regular on Australian media. The Barry Williams Award for Skeptical Journalism will recognise the best piece of journalism (in any medium) that takes a critical and skeptical approach to a topic that falls within our remit, which is the scientific investigation of pseudoscience and the paranormal. https://www.skeptics.com.au/2018/08/20/skeptics-award-for-critical-thinking-in-journalism-nominations-open/ 0:42:12 Maynard's Spooky Action.... The launch of Science Week #3 Maynard heads to Australian Museum to attend the launch of Science Week 2018. Includes interviews with Joanna the Goanna and her keeper Anthony Jess and Mel from Street Science http://www.streetscience.com.au Thomas Jeffries http://jams.org.au/ Ruben Meerman http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/ Also... RSVP for Australian Skeptics FREE Friday night trivia and meetup 12 Oct. https://www.skeptics.com.au/event/national-convention/
If you think religion is in your face here, wait until you hear Rhonda Tyson's experience of working as a nurse student in Ghana. Rhonda is the wife of our friend dr Randy Tyson of The Legion of Reason Diversion podcast and she tells the story of the stronghold of religion in a third world country where poverty is rampant where deplorable conditions doesn't deter the faithful from holding on to false hope religion brings Nancy talks about bodybuilding supplements in Quack Watch https://www.consumerreports.org/vitamins-supplements/15-supplement-ingredients-to-always-avoid/ https://www.vox.com/a/supplements/the-hidden-drugs-in-your-favorite-supplements and we find out that we can now filter genetic diseases..
Join Kevin, Nancy and Scott as they chat with science educator Cara Santa Maria, host of the Talk Nerdy podcast and the Skeptic's guide to the universe. Cara takes us through the tribulations many women still face today when living in a man's world. Is there more balance between genders in the world of science? What is the status of science education in the US? Let's find out Nancy talks about the top 10 most popular scams in Quack Watch and a christian school expells an 8 yr old because...she's not feminine enough
Join Kevin, Nancy, Teresa and Scott as they welcome Sue Hughson of Dying with Dignity. Sue takes us through the procedures, steps and hazzards of choosing to end one's life. She is a passionate advocate who will make you think about this often uncomfortable subject. http://dyingwithdignity.ca http://nidus.ca Nancy exposes Betty Devos in Quackwatch and it sure smells like war in on the horizon in the US, again
Join Kevin, Nancy and Teresa as they welcome Gem Newman of the Life, The Universe and Everything Else podcast out of Winnipeg MB. Gem takes us behind the scenes and what drives him and his crew to bring skepticism to the the people of Manitoba https://winnipegskeptics.com/ Nancy tells us about a dangerous blood treatment in Quack Watch and a holy cake supposedly saves a man from being gay...
Die Amerikaanse waghond wat kwaksalwery dophou, Quackwatch, wys die vinger na Amazon. Die aanlynverkoper-webwerf verkoop volgens Quackwatch duisende hoogs gevaarlike produkte. Anita Visser praat hieroor met ons wetenskap-korrespondent George Claassen.
Interview with Dr. Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch.com.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR: http://www.hellofresh.com (promo code thinkingatheist)It's a topic we've addressed in various forms, but this is an entire show dedicated to medicine. Science-based medicine. Alternative medicine. The names and claims of many so-called "natural" cures. And the charge that medical science should be distrusted in favor of unlicensed "healers" who operate outside the checks and balances of regulatory agencies, and who - in so many cases - are making a pretty penny.Joining us for the show are Dr. Harriet Hall (the "SkepDoc") of Science Based Medicine: https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org, and Dr. Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch.com.Dr. Hall's 10-course lecture series: http://web.randi.org/educational-modules.htmlBOOK: "Inside Chiropractic:" http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Chiropractic-Patients-Consumer-Library/dp/1573926981/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458131680&sr=8-1&keywords=inside+chiropractic
Maria psychoanalyzes a pickpocket, Tim Cook gives the FBI the finger, Manny Pacquiao disparages homosexuals, Justin reveals his “super” powers, and Mike flubs the Pledge of Allegiance. Follow-up “Oh, Reggie, fighting for your country…you’re such a pussy“ ACHOO syndrome: Why some people sneeze every time they see the sun Trumped Up On Apple On the Pope On Planned Parenthood On Rachel Maddow Trump threatens an independent run Poorly Summarized News Apple: a message to our customers Stupid Shit American Loons on “Dr.” Schulze Quackwatch on “Dr.” Schulze Is this a thing? Gay animal sex Nike cuts ties with boxer Manny Pacquiao Headline of the Week Fearing cannibalism, aquarium cancels octopus sex show on Valentine’s Day
Stephen Barrett, M.D. has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is vice-president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Center for Inquiry's Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). The recipient of a number of awards, including the FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery and the Distinguished Service to Health Education Award from the American Association for Health Education, he is the author of 50 books, including The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and seven editions of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Dr. Barrett defines complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the responsibilities of the consumer of healthcare, whether or not CAM is growing in mainstream healthcare, and the types of people who are susceptible to CAM claims. He also explores various CAM therapies including Therapeutic Touch, Chiropractic, myths about water fluoridization, and how a skeptic might most effectively confront family members who are consumers of complementary and alternative medicine. Also in this episode, Lauren Becker shares some thoughts on secular activism and science advocacy for 2008.
Greg and Rob discuss: The Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ (www.digitpress.com), overpriced old Nintendo games on eBay.com, Dr. Phil, the 100 unsexiest men in the world, a Kevin Federline update, Quackwatch (www.quackwatch.org), Peter Cullen being added to the cast of the upcoming Transformers movie, free AOL, The A-Team, a get-rich-quick scheme (a for-profit fire department), "Weird Al" Yankovic's upcoming album Straight Outta Lynwood (www.weirdal.com), and "You're Pitiful." 24 minutes - www.paunchstevenson.com
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