OCTOBER 2023 NEWS
Featured topic: coronavirus
On Science-Based Medicine,
Scott Gavura posted:
“Misinformation, trust, and non-evidence-based COVID-19 treatments.” “Misinformation drove 1 in 20 Americans to use useless therapies like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 infections.” See also item by Edzard Ernst reported in SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWS.
David Gorski posted:
Two items about “turbo cancer.” The first was “Dr. William Makis and 'turbo cancer': falsely blaming COVID-19 vaccines for cancer.” The second was “He pushed hydroxychloroquine three years ago: Harvey Risch and false claims of ‘turbo cancers’ caused by COVID-19 vaccines.” In a related post on Respectful Insolence, “Orac” wrote “An antivaxxer interviews a respected oncologist about ‘turbo cancer’.” Wafik El-Deiry was discussed.
“Has MSU economics professor Mark Skidmore been ‘exonerated’ over his retracted paper claiming that COVID vaccines killed 278,000?” “In reality, Skidmore just republished a revised version of his retracted paper in an antivax journal after the MSU IRB [institutional review board] failed miserably in its oversight duties.”
“Study laundering: IPAK, antivax ‘scientists,’ and the return of living dead antivax studies.” “Antivaxxers don’t like it when one of their crappy studies that they somehow managed to sneak into a decent peer-reviewed journal is deservedly retracted, as happened to Mark Skidmore’s paper that estimated that 278K people might have died from COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately for Skidmore and others, there exist fake journals that will launder their study by republishing it so that antivaxxers can continue to claim the work has been published in a ‘peer-reviewed journal’.”
Jonathan Howard posted:
“Overhyping vaccines wasn’t pro-vaccine. It was pro-stop-worrying-about-COVID.” “Overselling the vaccine in 2021 was not being pro-vaccine. It was pro-stop-worrying-about-the pandemic, from the doctors who assured us herd immunity was imminent.”
On Respectful Insolence, “Orac” posted:
“Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman win the Nobel Prize and antivaxxers lose it.”
“’The midwit effect’? Antivaxxers are irritated by a study on intelligence and vaccines.”
“VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System] and plasmid DNA ‘contamination’ of COVID-19 vaccines: The nonsense continues.” “This week, a new preprint made the social media rounds falsely claiming a correlation between ‘contamination’ of COVID-19 vaccines with plasmid DNA and VAERS reports of adverse events…In the end, this is yet another awful study that, even if taken at face value and assuming the methodology was valid and analyzed correctly, doesn’t show what the authors claim that it shows. Add the methodological questions and the lack of some key controls, and it’s not only not good evidence for harm from residual plasmid DNA left in COVID-19 vaccines, but it’s downright uninterpretable.”
“Deluded tech bro Steve Kirsch claims COVID vaccines have killed 3.5X more people than COVID-19.” “I thought that Prof. Skidmore’s survey, from which he extrapolated an estimate of 278K killed by COVID-19 vaccines was the worst survey ever. I was wrong. Steve Kirsch has Skidmore beat by a country mile.”
Edzard Ernst posted:
“A systematic review of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) for 'long COVID'.” “Once we do come around looking at the methodological quality of the primary studies we realize that it is mostly miserable. This means that the conclusions of the review are not just irritating but plainly misleading. Responsible researchers should have concluded along the following lines: The quantity and the quality of the evidence are both low. Therefore, the effectiveness and safety of SCAM interventions for long COVID remains unproven...Shame on the authors, journal editors, peer-reviewers, and funders of this dangerous nonsense!”
October 18 – Michelle R. Smith and Ali Swenson wrote “RFK Jr. spent years stoking fear and mistrust of vaccines. These people were hurt by his work.” “Not long after their 12-year-old son’s death, Gina and Padrig Fahey got more shocking news: His photo was plastered on a book, backed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that falsely argues COVID-19 vaccines caused a spike in youth deaths…’The real consequence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is we have dead children, and we have people who are in good faith doing their best to try to protect people, including children, who are basically being threatened and even assaulted because of his rhetoric and his lies…’”
October 24 – “FTC takes action against makers of an 'invisible mask' they falsely claimed protected users from COVID-19.” The product “purportedly creates a three-foot barrier of protection against 99.9 percent of all viruses and bacteria, including COVID-19” using “quantum theory technology.”
Other topics
Best of the blogs, October – on Science-Based Medicine,
David Gorski:
Wrote “Alternative medicine and antivax: Two crappy tastes that taste crappy together—particularly when among physicians.” “A recent study reaffirms the high degree of correlation among physicians between antivax views and an embrace of quackery. This is an old finding that needs to be documented periodically and shows why the acceptance of non-science-based treatments by physicians endangers vaccination efforts.” Edzard Ernst also discussed the study.
Steven Novella:
Posted “Placebo effect revisited.” “In a recent editorial for The New York Times, researcher Ted J. Kaptchuk, who directs placebo studies at Harvard, gives his summary of the current state of research (much of it his own) into placebo effects. While much of what he says is true, or at least uncontroversial, in my opinion he shoehorns the facts into his preferred narrative – a popular narrative that can be counterproductive and feeds into unscientific medical treatments.” “Orac” also discussed the story on Respectful Insolence. Kaptchuk claims that placebo effects remain even if they are given without deception, but in his studies purporting to demonstrate this participants are primed by being told that placebos produce powerful mind-body interactions.
Wrote “IgG food sensitivity tests not valid.” IgG levels may increase after eating certain foods, but there is no evidence that this is related to symptoms of allergies or sensitivities.
Edzard Ernst:
Posted “Indian homeopathic practitioners treat patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).” “Let’s be clear: there is no reliable evidence that DM – a life-threatening disease – can be effectively treated with homeopathy. And let’s be blunt: HPs [homeopathic practitioners] who claim otherwise are in my view criminal.”
Criticized a study on auriculotherapy (ear acupressure) for controlling weight gain during pregnancy. “It seems clear, therefore, that the patients were NOT blinded and that the verum patients received different care and more attention/encouragement than the placebo group. This means firstly that the trial was NOT single-blind, as the authors claim. Secondly, it means that the outcomes were most likely NOT due to ear acupressure at all – they were caused by the non-specific effects of expectation, extra attention, etc. which, in turn, motivated the women to better control their weight…I feel that the researchers, supervisors, peer-reviewers, editors should all bow their heads in shame for trying to mislead us.”
Posted “10 monumental 'discoveries' in the history of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) that never happened.”
Wrote “Nutraceuticals for reducing body weight? A systematic review and network meta-analysis of 111 randomized clinical trials.” “In view of the lack of reliability of the primary studies, I feel that the conclusions drawn by the authors are not justified. Even though far from recent, I much prefer our own conclusion of a similar data set: The evidence for most dietary supplements as aids in reducing body weight is not convincing. None of the reviewed dietary supplements can be recommended for over-the-counter use.”
Posted “A new systematic review of homoeopathy reported a positive result – but I can’t take it seriously!” “Personally, I do not find it surprising that these authors bend over backwards to publish something positive about homeopathy (such things happen in homeopathy all the time). However, I do find it astonishing that an allegedly decent journal passes such pseudoscience for publication as though it is serious science.”
Discussed a review of placebo responses to different types of sham acupuncture.
Wrote “Tai chi for essential hypertension? A systematic review and meta-analysis.” “I can well imagine that any form of relaxation reduces blood pressure. What I find hard to believe is that Tai Chi is better than any other relaxing SCAMs [so-called alternative medicines]. The 32 RCTs [randomized controlled trials] included in this new review fail to impress me because they are all from China, and – as we have often mentioned before – studies from China are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Yet, the subject is important enough, in my view, to merit a few rigorous trials conducted by independent researchers. Until such data are available, I think, I prefer to rely on our own systematic review which concluded that the evidence for tai chi in reducing blood pressure … is limited. Whether tai chi has benefits over exercise is still unclear. The number of trials and the total sample size are too small to draw any firm conclusions.”
Posted concerning autogenic training, a relaxation technique for dealing with anxiety and improving psychological well-being. Ernst supported the conclusions of a new review indicating it is useful, but also notes that the method was invented by a Nazi.
Discussed a study showing that “Diabetics who use so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) have a lower quality of life.” Noting that studies of alternative medicine and quality of life for different conditions have had mixed results, Ernst wrote that “The issue is obviously complex. Findings would depend on the type of patient and the form of SCAM as well on a multitude of other factors. Moreover, it is often unclear what was the cause and what the effect: did SCAM cause low (or high) QoL or did the latter just prompt the use of the former? In view of this confusion, it is probably safe to merely conclude that the often-heard blanket statement that SCAM improves QoL is not nearly as certain as SCAM enthusiasts want it to be.”
Posted twice on mistletoe, a cancer treatment from anthroposophic medicine. The first was “A systematic look at mistletoe prescriptions used in clinical studies.” “All in all, despite several decades of clinical mistletoe research, no clear concept of usage is discernible and, from an evidence-based point of view, there are serious concerns on the scientific base of this part of anthroposophical treatment…I would urge every cancer patient to stay well clear of mistletoe and those practitioners who recommend it.” The second post was “A cancer patient died after taking a herbal mixture containing mistletoe.”
Wrote “A TCM [traditional Chinese medicine] mixture improves the prognosis of heart attacks? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!” “So, should we believe the new study with its remarkable findings? On the one hand, the trial seems rigorous and is reported in much detail. On the other hand, the study (as all previous trials of this mixture) originates from China. We know how important TCM is for that country as an export item, and we know how notoriously unreliable Chinese research sadly has become. In view of this, I would like to see an independent replication of this study by an established research group outside China before I recommend Tongxinluo to anyone.”
On McGill Office for Science and Society, Joe Schwarcz:
Wrote “Rooting out curcumin problems.” “Curcumin, a compound found in turmeric, has some potential benefits. But its use, particularly intravenously, raises some questions... There is absolutely no evidence in the published literature for the use of intravenous curcumin for any condition but there are examples of its use resulting in tragic consequences.”
October 9 – Katie Suleta published “Chiropractors aren’t the solution to the primary care shortage.” “...chiropractors are not trained in pharmacology. They cannot prescribe medications. If you have strep throat, your chiropractor's PCP [primary care provider] cannot prescribe penicillin for you. Even if they refer you to a medical professional with a prescription pad, this has delayed your care.”
October 18 – Liz Szabo wrote “Suzanne Somers' legacy tainted by celebrity medical misinformation.” Somers advocated bioidentical hormones and Stanislaw Burzynski’s cancer treatments.
October 31 – Nick Tiller wrote “Phelps dives deeper into the pseudoscience of cupping.” Michael Phelps is now marketing a handheld cupping device.
Addition to previous month
September – The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy issued a position paper, “Key considerations to support evidence-based cell and gene therapies and oppose marketing of unproven products” (Ikonomou et al. Cytotherapy. 2023 Sep;25(9):920-929 Paper). “The field of regenerative medicine, including cellular immunotherapies, is on a remarkable growth trajectory. Dozens of cell-, tissue- and gene-based products have received marketing authorization worldwide while hundreds-to-thousands are either in preclinical development or under clinical investigation in phased clinical trials. However, the promise of regenerative therapies has also given rise to a global industry of direct-to-consumer offerings of prematurely commercialized cell and cell-based products with unknown safety and efficacy profiles.”