Friends of Science in Medicine
Watch what you’re saying: “A statement from AHPRA issued on the Pharmacy Board website said: ‘While the vast majority of health practitioners are responding professionally to the COVID-19 emergency and focusing on providing safe care, AHPRA and National Boards are seeing … [Read more...]
JOHN DWYER. Understanding the public health imperatives required to minimise infections with the coronavirus. (Part One): “It is reasonable, at the moment, to suggest that older Australians limit unnecessary exposure to the broader community (meetings, travel, shopping centres etc), while special … [Read more...]
Secret ingredients in herbal medicines – toxins, pharmaceuticals, allergens: “Despite current monitoring approaches, contaminated and adulterated products are still reaching the consumer. We suggest that a better solution is stronger pre-market evaluation.”
Health professionals and complementary therapies: what can consumers reasonably expect? The Medical Board of Australia is developing guidelines for the use of complementary therapies by health practitioners. Under standard guidelines, recommending complementary therapies might constitute unprofessional conduct, as these therapies … [Read more...]
New head for Health Watchdog: We welcome our incoming president, Ken Harvey! Professor Harvey is a well known and prolific public health and consumer rights advocate. He was made a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of … [Read more...]
WHO – Vaccine hesitancy top health threat: “Recent studies have shown that those with anti-vaccine views are particularly susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect: ‘More than a third of respondents in our sample thought that they knew as much or more … [Read more...]
Blackmores vitamin chief says $10m for naturopathic centre at university will not influence research: “Blackmores is a company that’s made a fortune capitalising on the poor health of Australians and convincing them they need a whole lot of supplements and … [Read more...]
Acupuncture and the placebo problem: “When the advocates of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) push back against critics, they often point to the big CAM “successes.” The argument usually goes as follows: the heartless science-informed cynics have long said acupuncture … [Read more...]
Clinical trials review shows fish oil supplements not beneficial against cardiovascular disease: Fish oil – at least in supplement form – has less preventative power than previously thought. “We often find that positive results in initial trials are often not confirmed,” [Ken Harvey] said. … [Read more...]