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I like it when people on TV are right. :) I’ve already talked about Germ Theory Denial in a previous post, more of the here, but P&T do a great job on destructing and deconstructing the foolishness that people engage in.
Orac has a few qualms, but agrees mostly with what P&T have to say.
Look at me I'm popular and crazy! Anti-Vax/Germ Theory Denialist Mr.Bill Mahr
The Internet is full of stupid. Heck, I contribute the odd time as well, but just when you think it cannot get any worse cue the Peddlers of Woo for that next rung lower on the Ladder of Fail. People who believe that the chain of causality is wrong in the following example:
You are exposed to a microorganism—>you get sick….
They actually argue for the opposite.
You get sick—>and from your sickness comes the microorganism.
Concordance does a masterful job of describing exactly how deep this particular rabbit hole of crazy goes.
Once again, the CBC to the rescue.
Or do not.
C0nc0rdance from ytube does a good job of showing that we should not abandon the reasoned evidence based approach to medicine because of the amoral behaviour of some pharmaceutical companies.
Concordance makes great videos. This one on Homeopathy is a brilliant take down of the woo-peddlers of water.
Well as usual the snake oil sales people are shocked and surprised when their vaguely tested and potentially dangerous concoction gets put up to the scientific rigour and scrutiny other drugs must be subjected to.
A herbal diet product sold in Canada contains two potentially risky ingredients and can lead to serious heart problems, Health Canada says.
Herbal Diet Natural has been found to contain an ingredient similar to sibutramine, a prescription drug used to treat obesity but only under the guidance of a medical professional, Health Canada said Thursday.
Whoops! No problems with not listing active ingredients. Oh wait.
Herbal Diet Natural isn’t authorized for sale in Canada, but the product, without listing sibutramine as an ingredient, has been found on the market, the department says.
Sibutramine can cause side-effects such as increased blood pressure, chest pain, a higher risk of stroke, as well as dry mouth, trouble sleeping and constipation.
Just little things like higher risk of stroke and chest pain, take that Flabby Tummy! Oh, you can also choke to death or create an intestinal blockage that will brighten your day.
“In January 2010, Health Canada advised Canadians that natural health products containing the ingredient glucomannan in tablet, capsule or powder form, which are currently on the Canadian market, have a potential for harm if taken without at least eight ounces of water or other fluid,” the advisory says.
“The risk to Canadians includes choking and/or blockage of the throat, esophagus or intestine.”
Fantastic. This stuff is worse than homoeopathy because it can actually harm you, unlike well… water. Avoid the quackery folks, if you wish to lose weight decrease your caloric intake and increase your activity level.
I look southward and see the swirling Health Care debate in the United Stated and (still) marvel at the public system 
we have set up here in Canada. Yet, the Alberta Tories seem to think that Health Care is a bad thing. I quote from David Eggen’s Op-Ed from the Edmonton Journal:
“ […] As it happens, health expenditures in relation to gross domestic product in Alberta have stayed at between five and seven per cent for the last 15 years. We continue to compare favourably to other jurisdictions. The Canadian average is about 10 per cent, France and Switzerland are at about 11 per cent and the United States is at 15 per cent. To me, this sounds pretty sustainable.
This helps to reveal the real agenda behind Liepert’s and Duckett’s draconian actions. It is not about “saving medicare” or responding to the recession. People don’t stop getting sick when the economy is weak.
The Alberta government’s real plan is to destabilize our health-care system so it can implement private, for-profit experiments to “fix” medicare. They are purposefully breaking the health-care system so they can hire private contractors to repair it at inflated prices. […]”
Eggen is right on the money when it comes to the model of first breaking the public system, and then rebuilding it 
with private contractors reaping the profits. They tried that in Bolivia; it did not work out so well.
The problem here is the Zombie Electorate which would happily vote a frakking can of beans into office as long as it represented the Progressive Conservatives.
If you would like a non governmental view of what is going on with the Health Care system in Alberta check out the Friends of Medicare Web page.
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