Shoot The Messenger: When Evidence And Policy Clash

The BBC is reporting that home secretary Alan Johnson has sacked Professor David Nutt, head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Curry can cure cancer, say scientists

Well, according to the headline in today’s Metro article they do. The Sun went for “Curry is a ‘cure for cancer’“, while the BBC were slightly more restrained – settling for “Curry spice ‘kills cancer cells’” – as were the Daily Mirror (with “Curry ‘kills cancer cells’ and other health benefits of the nation’s favourite dish“). Did scientists claim that “curry can cure cancer” as the Metro claims? Is curry a cure for cancer, as the Sun tell us?

Dr Briffa on Athletic Ancients

While browsing Dr John Briffa’s blog today, I stumbled upon this recent post. [Backup here: http://backupurl.com/6u8x3z.] Brilliantly, Briffa’s post seems to be based entirely upon a Daily Mail article. No references to research are given and the only source he links to is the Mail.

The Truth About Vaccines: Vaccines And Autism

Part two of my series of posts on Dr Richard Halvorsen’s book focuses on the chapter on vaccines and autism (subtitled “Autism, Allergy, and Auto-immune Diseases“).

Halvorsen: The Truth About Vaccines

Introduction: Liking & Similarity, a Form of the ‘Sceptic’ Gambit, and Spin

This is my first post about Richard Halvorsen’s book. There may be further posts if I can maintain my enthusiasm for writing about Dr Halvorsen’s view of vaccination as I continue to read about it.

Dangerous Nonsense In The Sunday Express

Following the Daily Express’s spectacularly misleadingly-headlined article on the death of Natalie Morton (PARENTS’ REVOLT AFTER GIRL DIES IN CANCER JAB HORROR – a headline written, believe it or not, after it became apparent from a preliminary post mortem that Natalie Morton had actually suffered from an underlying health problem), the Sunday Express have surpassed themselves by writing a new article on the HPV vaccine. This article, despite being written after further facts on the sad death of Natalie Morton were made available, is headlined JAB ‘AS DEADLY AS THE CANCER’.*

Daily Mail Articles On Vaccination

Following my recent post on the Daily Mail’s vaccine article by Dr Richard Halvorsen that served as my opening gambit as I try my hand at guest blogging over at Lay Science, I thought I’d blog my correspondence with the Daily Mail over their articles on vaccination.

Conventional And Alternative Journals

While there are conventional journals that will publish research on alternative medicine, some researchers into alternative medicine seem to prefer to publish their research in alternative journals. Some time ago, I spotted something rather interesting when reading up on food supplement research. It involved two reviews – one published in a conventional journal, and one in an alternative journal. Here are the PDFs: Annals Internal Med EPO review and AltMed EPO review.

BBC Still Linking to JABS

Having previously complained to the BBC about their linking to JABS and read with interest the opinions of the author of Lay Science Martin Robbins, I was disappointed to note that the BBC are still linking to the site even now. So I sent in another complaint. This time, I have read the guidelines on impartiality in an attempt to pre-empt any defence of “balance”. Here’s my complaint:

Science Journalism

The recent debate between Dr Ben Goldacre and Lord Drayson (video currently available here) has led to this blog post. I feel that media coverage of scientific research could be a lot better than it currently is. I also have one or two suggestions as to how it could be improved.