Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Dr. Sears, WTF?

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3 comments:

  1. SteelmanWed Apr 22, 04:41:00 PM 2009

    Speaking of "autism experts" and nutrition advice, Dr. Thauna Abrin ND will be holding a nutrition seminar for parents and day care providers of special needs children in my area next month.

    My wife, a licensed day care provider, received a full color flyer in the mail from her local state funded organization, which acts as an official liaison between government social service agencies and families in need of child care.

    This lady is listed on the Generation Rescue web site, treats children with chelation and homeopathy, and puts children on a minimum one to three year naturopathic "treatment plan" with an average cost of $300 a month.

    I plan on talking to my family pediatrician about her, and hope he's not a shruggie.

    I also think I should contact the state agencies whose logo is also on the flyer (put there by the local liaison office), and ask them if they are officially endorsing dangerous quackery. I'd better do it anonymously, in case the answer is "yes."

    Ah, jeez. Just read from her site: "The National Institutes of Health funded Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) a $1.5 million dollar grant to implement a new four-year curriculum in complementary and alternative medicine for medical students at OHSU."

    I'm not in Oregon (the location of her alma mater, the National College of Naturopathic Medicine), but since this stuff is being endorsed by the federal government my state can't be far behind - or already involved.

    How can Obama "restore science to its rightful place" when the momentum of marketable pseudoscience seems to be building by the day?

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  2. Dr BenwayWed Apr 22, 09:15:00 PM 2009

    As a non-doctor, Steelman, you have some rhetorical advantages. You don't have to know all the science cold. You merely have to raise a question about something you heard. It's up to the expert to explain what *you* are talking about.

    Example:

    "Dear Editor,

    "I heard that NCCAM shut down its study of chelation in autistic kids after it was discovered that chelation causes brain damage in rats. Other doctors have told me that chelation for autism is based on pseudoscience ideas rather than real science.

    "I don't understand how this could happen. Why are therapies being promoted before there's good research on safety and effectiveness?

    "I'm old enough to remember when quackery about "toxins" and enemas and vitamins wasn't so cool and popular. What happened?"

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  3. Michael SimpsonThu Apr 23, 11:51:00 PM 2009

    Isn't it funny that the vaccines that being derided by Jenny and her main squeeze undergo probably 7-10 years of testing, clinical research, and analysis before being released to the market. After they are on the market, every single adverse report is reviewed and studied. The companies do this because it's ethical, legal, and moral. It's the right thing to do.

    On the other hand a Playboy playmate and a c-list rate actor (I haven't actually watched a Jim Carey movie in years, because they are so bad) without so much as 1 day of clinical research and review, are telling people to stop using vaccines, in effect, condemning a wide swath of children to possible severe injury from childhood diseases.

    This makes no logical sense to me. I'm really going to start drinking or something. Dr. Benway, can you prescribe something strong that will keep me blissfully unaware of the stupidity in the world?

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