Will COVID End the Anti-GMO Movement?
https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/11/17/wil...ment-15161
EXCERPTS: Opposition to the use of biotechnology to enhance agriculture was always based on junk science, but now these anti-GMO activists look downright silly as cutting-edge biomedical science rescues us from COVID. [...] Like all conspiracy theorists, anti-GMOrons just won't go away. But now it appears that they have been marginalized thanks to companies like Pfizer and Moderna, which are using biotechnology to help rescue us from the COVID pandemic. Both companies are using RNA (which has been genetically edited or modified in some way) as the key ingredient in their coronavirus vaccines. The recent news [is] that their vaccines are 90% and 95% effective ... Americans love to hate Big Business, particularly Big Pharma and Big Ag. But when we need them to rescue us, we run to them for help. They usually deliver. Let's hope the new vaccines are so successful that they are able to end not only the coronavirus but anti-GMO ideology, as well... (MORE - details)
When doctors refuse to believe evidence: 19 refutations
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/when-do...-evidence/
INTRO: Science-based medicine is all about testing medical ideas against reality. If there is abundant evidence from well-designed controlled clinical trials that a treatment is safe and effective, science-based doctors can feel justified in using it. If the evidence shows that the treatment doesn’t work and does harm rather than good, they abandon it. At least that’s what they logically should do. But all too often, that’s not what actually happens. Sometimes doctors refuse to believe the evidence and persist in doing things that don’t work and cause harm, including popular surgeries, medications, and screening tests. You might think that’s a rare occurrence; but it’s actually very common, as Paul Offit shows in his new book Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far.
He covers 19 common beliefs that aren’t true, that have been repeatedly been disproved by good scientific studies. He explains how and why the false beliefs arose and why they have persisted, describes the many studies that have produced good evidence that the beliefs are false, explains why some studies have produced different results, and explains the science behind why a treatment works or doesn’t work, and ends by offering suggestions to overcome typical arguments for the persistence of false beliefs and suggestions about how to improve medical practice. [...] For some of these items, you will say “I knew that.” Others may surprise you or strike you as wrong; but strong supporting evidence is provided in the book... (MORE - details)
THE ITEMS REFUTED:
https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/11/17/wil...ment-15161
EXCERPTS: Opposition to the use of biotechnology to enhance agriculture was always based on junk science, but now these anti-GMO activists look downright silly as cutting-edge biomedical science rescues us from COVID. [...] Like all conspiracy theorists, anti-GMOrons just won't go away. But now it appears that they have been marginalized thanks to companies like Pfizer and Moderna, which are using biotechnology to help rescue us from the COVID pandemic. Both companies are using RNA (which has been genetically edited or modified in some way) as the key ingredient in their coronavirus vaccines. The recent news [is] that their vaccines are 90% and 95% effective ... Americans love to hate Big Business, particularly Big Pharma and Big Ag. But when we need them to rescue us, we run to them for help. They usually deliver. Let's hope the new vaccines are so successful that they are able to end not only the coronavirus but anti-GMO ideology, as well... (MORE - details)
When doctors refuse to believe evidence: 19 refutations
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/when-do...-evidence/
INTRO: Science-based medicine is all about testing medical ideas against reality. If there is abundant evidence from well-designed controlled clinical trials that a treatment is safe and effective, science-based doctors can feel justified in using it. If the evidence shows that the treatment doesn’t work and does harm rather than good, they abandon it. At least that’s what they logically should do. But all too often, that’s not what actually happens. Sometimes doctors refuse to believe the evidence and persist in doing things that don’t work and cause harm, including popular surgeries, medications, and screening tests. You might think that’s a rare occurrence; but it’s actually very common, as Paul Offit shows in his new book Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far.
He covers 19 common beliefs that aren’t true, that have been repeatedly been disproved by good scientific studies. He explains how and why the false beliefs arose and why they have persisted, describes the many studies that have produced good evidence that the beliefs are false, explains why some studies have produced different results, and explains the science behind why a treatment works or doesn’t work, and ends by offering suggestions to overcome typical arguments for the persistence of false beliefs and suggestions about how to improve medical practice. [...] For some of these items, you will say “I knew that.” Others may surprise you or strike you as wrong; but strong supporting evidence is provided in the book... (MORE - details)
THE ITEMS REFUTED:
- Fever doesn’t need to be treated
- Finishing a course of antibiotics is often unnecessary
- Antibiotic drops don’t treat pinkeye
- Vitamin D supplements are rarely necessary
- Supplemental antioxidants don’t lower the risk of cancer and heart disease; they increase it
- Testosterone for “Low T” is dangerous and unnecessary
- Baby aspirin doesn’t prevent first strokes or heart attacks and it can cause bleeding complications
- If allergenic foods are introduced to infants at an early age, they will be lesslikely to develop allergies
- Reflux medicines for fussy babies should be avoided
- Sunscreens offer false security
- Prostate cancer screening programs do more harm than good
- Thyroid cancer screening programs don’t save lives
- Breast cancer screening programs aren’t exactly as advertised
- Heart stents don’t prolong lives
- Surgery for knee arthritis is unnecessary
- Mercury dental fillings should not be removed
- Vitamin C doesn’t treat or prevent colds
- The standard advice to treat sprains with RICE (rest, ice, compression, & elevation) may do more harm than good
- Teething doesn’t cause fever