Category Archives: General

CAM proponents often engage in the rhetorical fallacy known as special pleading. Wikipedia’s definition of this is adequate: “a form of spurious argumentation where a position in a dispute introduces favorable details or excludes unfavorable details by alleging a need … Continue reading →

CAM proponents are very fond of citing the antiquity and lineage, fictional or not, for their methods. Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and many herbal nostrums are promoted as “time-honored,” with the implication or explicit statement that anything people have been … Continue reading →

Good eveni…Is this on? Can you hear me in the back? Good, ok. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 129th meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle. I’m SkeptVet, and I’ll be your MC this evening. Sorry, it’s my … Continue reading →

Mark Crislip at Science-Based Medicine recently discussed Hill’s Criteria of Causation, but after looking at Dr. Hill’s original paper I felt obliged to examine the subject here as well because it is central to science-based medicine, and key in differentiating … Continue reading →

I really shouldn’t be giving this guy so much attention, but after our little tiff I’ve taken to checking in on his blog, and the vicious and self-serving marketing strategy is offensive enough to stimulate a response. Dr. Shaw Messonnier … Continue reading →

I notice that Dr. Messonier has deleted  my response to his blog post defaming me. I guess polite, reasoned criticism is intolerable to him. He has also written another post full of strawmen and cliches. He begins by trying to make … Continue reading →

Dr. Shawn Messonier, a highly visible alternative medicine veterinarian with a blog, radio program, and a couple of books, recently wrote an opinion piece for the online edition of USA Today claiming that changing vaccine recommendations were validation of his … Continue reading →

For all that CAM proponents like to claim their methods are philosophically different from (and of course superior to) mainstream medicine, they also can never resist claiming scientific legitimacy or popularity among mainstream health care professionals. “Integrative medicine” is the … Continue reading →

There was a thoughtful and cogent essay on the Kevinmd Blog today about a key element in doctor/patient (or in the veterinary case doctor/client) relationships: what happens to the relationship when you say “No” to people. This is certainly a … Continue reading →