24 May 2013 by Scott Gavura
Are sugar pills effective substitutes for vaccines? That’s what some are asking about Health Canada’s decision to approve 82 homeopathic “nosodes” which are sold by homeopaths as vaccine alternatives. Homeopathy is an elaborate placebo system of sugar pills. Of all alternative medicine, homeopathy is the most implausible of them all. Based on the absurd notion [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Health Policy, Skepticism, Vaccines5 Comments
05 February 2013 by Scott Gavura
Ben Goldacre, author of the excellent books Bad Science and Bad Pharma, is coming to North America. If you read this blog, you’re probably familiar with Goldacre and his work. A physician by training, Goldacre started writing for The Guardian several years ago, eventually writing Bad Science, and most recently, Bad Pharma. Here are some [...]
Posted in AnnouncementsComments Off
12 December 2012 by Scott Gavura
There are probably as many paths to becoming a scientific skeptic as there are skeptics. Admittedly my framework for skepticism was in the background for decades, but it’s only been over the past several years that I’ve started to really understand skepticism as a way of thinking. It was driven by my work as a [...]
Posted in Cognition, Critical Thinking, Logic and Fallacies, Probability and Statistics, Reviews, Skepticism, Social Sciences16 Comments
21 October 2012 by Scott Gavura
Tonight at 9pm EDT (find your time/date) will be first Skeptic North Google+ Hangout. Join us for a discussion of skepticism and science, with our endearing Canadian accents. You can watch the Hangout live here, and if you missed it, it’s embedded below: More questions? See our Google+ page. To interact with contributors during the [...]
Posted in Announcements, Skeptic North NewsComments Off
17 October 2012 by Scott Gavura
This Sunday night at 9pm EDT (find your time/date) will be the first Skeptic North hangout. Several contributors will be joining to talk about moose hunting, butter tarts, and poutine. Or more likely, skepticism and science, with a Canadian accent. The link to view the hangout will be embedded below before the event – or [...]
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28 September 2012 by Scott Gavura
The following is a cross-post from Science-Based Pharmacy, contributed by a Canadian pharmacist who blogs under the pseudonym “Sara Russell”. In my last post, I introduced myself as a pharmacist in a small-ish town, eager to combat the growing acceptance of pseudoscience into the mainstream. I love living where I live for a multitude of [...]
Posted in Canada, Culture, Environment, Featured, Guest Post, Pseudoscience, Skepticism3 Comments
22 June 2012 by Scott Gavura
A recurring focus of this blog has been to examine the implications and consequences of the uniquely Canadian approach to regulating the consumer market for what are termed “natural health products”. One of the triumphs of the Canadian natural product and supplement industry was the 1990′s decision to create different regulatory standards for the evaluation [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Health Policy, Skepticism15 Comments
10 April 2012 by Scott Gavura
This is the first of a series of posts adapting a presentation made at The Ontario Public Health Convention in April, 2011. The presentation, “Fighting in the Trenches: Countering Anti-Vaccine Sentiment with Social Media” was a panel discussion from Skeptic North contributors Scott Gavura and Kimberly Hébert: One of the best parts of the infectious [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Health, Skepticism, Vaccines8 Comments
09 February 2012 by Scott Gavura
I’m a runner, and have been actively running for over a decade. Since I started running, I’ve consumed Gatorade Lemon-Lime almost exclusively as my as my rehydration fluid of choice. Whenever my run will last over about an hour, I carry and consume Gatorade to offset fluid loss and give me some carbohydrate. The formulation [...]
Posted in Diet and Nutrition, Health25 Comments
06 January 2012 by Scott Gavura
Generic drugs are popular in Canada, with over $22 billion in sales and 57% of prescriptions by volume. And more generics are on the way. Lipitor, one of the most popular Canadian prescription drugs, recently lost patent protection. And more blockbusters will lose their patent protection over the next few years. It’s been called a [...]
Posted in Health, Health Policy, Medicine, ScienceComments Off
Scott is passionate about improving the way drugs are used. A pharmacist by background, Scott has a professional interest in improving the cost-effective use of drugs at the population level, while helping consumers make more informed decisions about their health. He blogs about pharmacy practice and questionable science at Science-Based Pharmacy and Science-Based Medicine. All views expressed by Scott are his personal views alone, and do not represent the opinions of any current or former employers, or any organizations or associations that he may be affiliated with. All information is provided for discussion purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for consultation with a licensed and accredited health professional.
