Category Archives: Law, Regulation, and Politics

Get Involved: Tell the Washington Veterinary Medical Board to Protect the Public from Alternative Medical Nonsense

Posted on September 6, 2016 by skeptvet

Dr. Harriett Hall has posted an article on the Science-Based Medicine blog informed by a colleague of mine who is trying to fight the infiltration of pseudoscience into veterinary medicine in Washington State. In the United States, each state regulates … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | 1 Comment

Science & Reason Triumph Over Fear and Misinformation in California: Again!

Posted on October 13, 2015 by skeptvet

Examples of the victory of fear and misinformation over science and reason in public policy are easy to find, and I find myself writing about them often. But occasionally the pendulum swings in the right direction for a bit, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | 1 Comment

FDA Might Regulate Stem-Cell Therapies for Dogs & Cats: But Probably Not

Posted on September 9, 2014 by skeptvet

I’ve written extensively, though not lately, about veterinary stem-cell therapies (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). These are treatments in which stem cells are injected into an animal to treat some disease. The most common current use is to inject stem … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | 5 Comments

BSAVA Statement on Complementary & Alternative Medicine

Posted on June 20, 2014 by skeptvet

Organizations representing veterinarians are fundamentally political in nature, and their leaders respond to the will of their constituencies. I have often written about the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in the context of alternative therapies and evidence-based medicine. While the … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | 1 Comment

AVMA Homeopathy Resolution Defeated-Politics Trumps Science Yet Again

Posted on January 13, 2014 by skeptvet

In a shock to no one, the resolution before the American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates acknowledging homeopathy is ineffective was defeated by a wide margin. Sources say the vote was 90% against the resolution despite the report of … Continue reading →

Posted in Homeopathy, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 20 Comments

AVMA Leadership Fears Slippery Slope if Homeopathy is Publically Identified as Ineffective

Posted on December 22, 2013 by skeptvet

The leadership of the American Veterinary Medical Asociation (AVMA) has recommended the House of Delegates (HoD) reject a resolution discouraging the use of ineffective therapies and identifying homeopathy as ineffective. While not disputing that there is no clinical evidence to … Continue reading →

Posted in Homeopathy, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 6 Comments

Please Support S. 1425: The Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2013.

Posted on November 20, 2013 by skeptvet

I have written previously about the woefully inadequate regulation of dietary supplements in the U.S. under the Dietary Supplement Health an Education Act (DSHEA). Much has previously been written at the Science-Based Medicine Blog on the subject of the Dietary … Continue reading →

Posted in Herbs and Supplements, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 5 Comments

Australian Government Cracks Down on Bogus Claims for “Black Salve”

Posted on May 19, 2013 by skeptvet

One of my most popular (and unpopular) articles concerns the quack cancer remedy Neoplasene. This is one of a family of herbal derivatives called bloodroot, and it has never been shown to be a safe and effective therapy for cancer. … Continue reading →

Posted in Herbs and Supplements, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 2 Comments

The Ethics of Referring Patients for Alternative Medical Therapies

Posted on March 22, 2013 by skeptvet

I recently ran across an editorial on the subject of the legal and ethical issues associated with conventional doctors referring patients for alternative medical therapies. It does a nice job of highlighting an issue which I think gets too little … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | 7 Comments

Growing Support for the AVMA Resolution Declaring Homeopathy is Ineffective

Posted on January 4, 2013 by skeptvet

As I discussed last month, the AVMA House of Delegates will soon vote on Resolution 3, declaring that all veterinary therapies should be judged by the same standard, the standard of scientific evidence, and that homeopathy has consistently failed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Homeopathy, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 3 Comments