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, Vaccines0 Comments
17 May 2013 by Michael Kruse
A few weeks ago, my post on the anti-vaccination bias in the alternative medical community raised the ire of some readers when I suggested that chiropractors have been culpable in the spread of dangourous anti-vax rhetoric. Some were incredulous at the suggestion that chiropractic as a practice originally included a denial of the germ-theory of [...]
Posted in Skepticism0 Comments
16 May 2013 by Karl Mamer
Is there any evidence for the claim? The short story: very little. Many skeptical of the claim have a very hard time believing a person can forget to speak English. Oddly this is the most believable and easy to verify of all the claims made by the movie. First language attrition is a real phenomenon. Anecdotally, [...]
Posted in Conspiracy Theories, History, Skepticism0 Comments
15 May 2013 by Karl Mamer
The known facts: John Hartley Robertson went down in a chopper crash in Laos. Over flight suggested no one could survive the crash and burn. Over flight by other Green Berets saw no survivors and the crash did not look survivable. JHR was declared MIA, presumed KIA. His name is on the memorial wall as [...]
Posted in Conspiracy Theories, History, Skepticism0 Comments
14 May 2013 by Karl Mamer
A man approaches you and claims he has a box with a dragon in it. He offers to sell you the box with the dragon. There is one caveat. You cannot open the box to see if there’s an actual dragon in it. You can hold the box. Shake the box. Smell the box. Weigh [...]
Posted in Conspiracy Theories, History, Skepticism0 Comments
25 April 2013 by Erik Davis
About a year ago, I had my first attack of gout. It sucked. It came on during the weekend we were moving into our house, and I was convinced I’d somehow broken my big toe in the move. I’d dropped a box on it or rolled a dolly over it or something — I must [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Diet and Nutrition, Featured, Health, Medical Conditions, Skepticism4 Comments
24 April 2013 by Michael Kruse
It’s National Immunization Awareness Week in Canada and across the world, and UNICEF is reporting the failure of Canada to achieve the 95% immunization rate required to protect the community from resurgences of deadly and debilitating infectious disease. At 84%, we are even below the UK, which is experiencing a severe measles outbreak, and we [...]
Posted in Canada, Health Policy, Skepticism, Vaccines3 Comments
05 April 2013 by Ethan Clow
Update! – Victoria is now on-board! Update! – Winnipeg is now on-board! Update! – Halifax is now on-board! The time has finally come. It is time to figure out who are the biggest skeptical know-it-alls in Canada. That’s right, it’s time for the Cross-Canada Skeptical Smackdown Pub Quiz!! This year I have the honour of [...]
Posted in Announcements, Canada, Skepticism4 Comments
05 April 2013 by Michael Kruse
After months of research and hard work from all of our volunteers at Bad Science Watch, we have launched the public phase of our campaign to stop the sale of homeopathic nosodes sold as “vaccine alternatives” in Canada. The website www.stopnosodes.org explains the position of Bad Science Watch and lays out the total lack of [...]
Posted in Canada, Health Policy, Skepticism2 Comments
20 March 2013 by John Underhay
Regulation and licensing of businesses is considered a normal part of government bureaucracy. Some libertarians may disagree with any form of government interference in commercial activities, however, it is generally accepted that regulation is a proper government function, even if the type or level of regulation is controversial. One area that has created some discussion [...]
Posted in Paranormal, Pseudoscience, Skepticism10 Comments
More consequences of calling sugar pills “safe and effective”
Crack Your Back instead of a Vial of Vaccine?
Toronto Media, false balance, and the lack of evidence for claims about MIA vet John Hartley Robertson
How Western journalists in Vietnam and POW NGOs were not fooled by tales of MIA Vet back from the dead
Did a Canadian filmmaker find a left behind Vietnam vet or did credulous Toronto media give new life to an old scam?
