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Category Archives: General
Holistic Vet Asks, “IF CAM doesn’t work, why is it allowed?”
A certain “holistic” veterinarian about whom I’ve written before (here, here, here, and—well, you get the idea) has asked a couple of good questions on his own blog, though not surprisingly I don’t find his answers at all convincing. I’m … Continue reading
Posted in General, Law, Regulation, and Politics
7 Comments
Uncertainty-What It Means and What It Doesn’t
It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn’t get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before … Continue reading
Posted in General
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The Placebo Effect In Song
Happy Birthday, SketpVet! 🙂 Today marks the first anniversary of this blog. Not a momentous event for the world at large, but yet another reminder of the fleeting nature of time for me. Apparently, in the last year I have … Continue reading
Posted in General, Humor
4 Comments
Don’t Be Such a Scientist or The Negating Culture of Science and its Costs
I recently finished reading Randy Olson’s book Don’t Be Such a Scientist, and I definitely recommend it. It is an entertaining read and has a number of useful insights into the perennial problem of communicating complex, nuanced, and incomplete scientific … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, General
4 Comments
Evaluating Medical Advice and Credentials on the Internet
Dr. Susan Wynn, a veterinarian and veterinary nutritionist who promotes “holistic” veterinary medicine, has put up a couple of blog posts recently which I rather liked, so I thought I’d comment briefly on them. I more commonly find myself disagreeing … Continue reading
Posted in General
13 Comments
Therapies to Soothe all Four Legs–From the NY Times
There was a scary article yesterday in the New York Times talking about the popularity of a variety of CAM therapies for racehorses. It is a laundry list of nonsense complete with outrageous prices and weak rationalizations. I also thought … Continue reading
Posted in General, Miscellaneous CAVM
7 Comments
Veterinary Quackery–Circa 1921
I recently ran across an edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association from 1921 which contained a few tidbits that I found interesting concerning the distinction between scientifically trained veterinarians and their “empirical” competitors. Such documents are … Continue reading
Posted in General
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“Holistic Medicine”–It means whatever we say it means
The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA) has a statement on their web site explaining what “holistic” medicine is. I was interested in this because it’s a slippery word, seemingly simple on the surface but hard to pin down. Superficially, … Continue reading
Posted in General
13 Comments
Spinmaster Messonier at it again
I recently discussed, and corrected, some comments Dr. Shawn Messonier made on his blog concerning Alison Averis’ post here illustrating how personal experience can be unreliable in evaluating whether a medical treatment works or not. Dr. Messonier has responded to … Continue reading
Posted in General
2 Comments
Does science affect people’s beliefs? For good or ill?
The fundamental belief underlying this blog is that the truth matters, and that science is the best hope we have of approaching a true understanding of health and disease. I make an effort to investigate and understand the scientific evidence … Continue reading
Posted in General
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