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Orac wants you to join the Society for Science-Based Medicine
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/01/07/orac-wants-you-to-join-the-society-for-science-based-medicine/Because of my involvement in this organization, I am hijacking my own blog for one day for my own nefarious purposes. To that end, I am republishing an announcement that originally appeared yesterday at a blog that a significant fraction of you are familiar with, but nowhere near all of you. And I want all of you to know about this, because I hope that some of you will join our cause.
I’m also going to add a few words of my own, because I can’t help it. (As Hans Solo once said, “Hey, it’s me.”) The reason this new organization, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, is so needed is because, quite frankly, in the skeptical movement SBM is but one area of many areas of concern, and, in my estimation, one that doesn’t receive attention proportional to the real societal damage done by quackery. That has changed a bit (this year’s TAM featured two talks on Stanislaw Burzynski, and the skeptical movement has shown a gratifying movement towards combatting the antivaccine movement over the last few years), but, even so, I don’t think I exaggerate too much when I say that, even now, SBM tends not to be as prominent a concern in organized skepticism as other brands of pseudoscience and unreason, in particular creationism, religion, and the paranormal. This viewpoint should be nothing new to regular readers of this blog; I’ve made no secret of my opinion. It should also come as no surprise that I tend not to be an anti-theism warrior, if ever I was. I’m perfectly happy to let others fight that battle. These days, the only time I ever address such issues tends to be when they intersect with medicine, as in the case of Sarah Hershberger or Christian Science believers using prayer instead of medicine to treat diabetes in children. Nor should it surprise anyone that I write much less about evolution and the paranormal than I used to do back in the early years of this blog, although I do still occasionally wander back to revisit those territories from time to time, particularly when evolution intersects with medicine, as it does so much in cancer.
No, these days I’ve pretty much specialized, and that’s what’s needed in medicine, a specialization in promoting science and combatting pseudoscience in medicine, hence the need for a new organization. SBM and how pseudomedicine threatens public health are my main topics now. The harm pseudomedicine does is undeniable; it is direct and indirect; and it is often immediate. Worse, as I’ve described time and time again, both here and at my not-so-super-secret other blog, it is invading and metastasizing throughout the field of medicine, in particular in medical academia, a phenomenon I like to refer to as quackademic medicine. Those of us who try to slow or block the rise of pseudomedicine are scattered, outgunned, underfunded, and beset by a profound apathy in the medical profession, also known as the “shruggie” phenomenon. It’s a rag tag band against Dr Oz and his media empire. Skeptical organizations, on the other hand, have segments of their membership who are interested in combatting quackery, but they tend to lack the expertise, with relatively few physicians and other medical professionals available. The problem is that so few physicians actually know what “complementary and alternative medicine” is, why “integrative medicine” is the “integration” of pseudoscience with SBM, and what the basis of much of CAM really is, and fewer still have an interest in skepticism.
A new organization is needed to counter unreason and pseudoscience in medicine. That is why the Society for Science-Based Medicine is being founded. That is why I want you to join us.
For more details, please read Mark Crislip’s announcement and, if the idea of such an organization appeals to you, join:
We are proud to announce a new organization: The Society for Science-Based Medicine.
A Society for a community of like-minded individuals, both in and out of health care, who support the goals of Science-Based Medicine.
People should not suffer, die, go bankrupt, and lose time and hope because of complementary and alternative pseudo-medicine.
The mission of the Society for Science-Based Medicine includes, but is not limited to,
I’m also going to add a few words of my own, because I can’t help it. (As Hans Solo once said, “Hey, it’s me.”) The reason this new organization, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, is so needed is because, quite frankly, in the skeptical movement SBM is but one area of many areas of concern, and, in my estimation, one that doesn’t receive attention proportional to the real societal damage done by quackery. That has changed a bit (this year’s TAM featured two talks on Stanislaw Burzynski, and the skeptical movement has shown a gratifying movement towards combatting the antivaccine movement over the last few years), but, even so, I don’t think I exaggerate too much when I say that, even now, SBM tends not to be as prominent a concern in organized skepticism as other brands of pseudoscience and unreason, in particular creationism, religion, and the paranormal. This viewpoint should be nothing new to regular readers of this blog; I’ve made no secret of my opinion. It should also come as no surprise that I tend not to be an anti-theism warrior, if ever I was. I’m perfectly happy to let others fight that battle. These days, the only time I ever address such issues tends to be when they intersect with medicine, as in the case of Sarah Hershberger or Christian Science believers using prayer instead of medicine to treat diabetes in children. Nor should it surprise anyone that I write much less about evolution and the paranormal than I used to do back in the early years of this blog, although I do still occasionally wander back to revisit those territories from time to time, particularly when evolution intersects with medicine, as it does so much in cancer.
No, these days I’ve pretty much specialized, and that’s what’s needed in medicine, a specialization in promoting science and combatting pseudoscience in medicine, hence the need for a new organization. SBM and how pseudomedicine threatens public health are my main topics now. The harm pseudomedicine does is undeniable; it is direct and indirect; and it is often immediate. Worse, as I’ve described time and time again, both here and at my not-so-super-secret other blog, it is invading and metastasizing throughout the field of medicine, in particular in medical academia, a phenomenon I like to refer to as quackademic medicine. Those of us who try to slow or block the rise of pseudomedicine are scattered, outgunned, underfunded, and beset by a profound apathy in the medical profession, also known as the “shruggie” phenomenon. It’s a rag tag band against Dr Oz and his media empire. Skeptical organizations, on the other hand, have segments of their membership who are interested in combatting quackery, but they tend to lack the expertise, with relatively few physicians and other medical professionals available. The problem is that so few physicians actually know what “complementary and alternative medicine” is, why “integrative medicine” is the “integration” of pseudoscience with SBM, and what the basis of much of CAM really is, and fewer still have an interest in skepticism.
A new organization is needed to counter unreason and pseudoscience in medicine. That is why the Society for Science-Based Medicine is being founded. That is why I want you to join us.
For more details, please read Mark Crislip’s announcement and, if the idea of such an organization appeals to you, join:
We are proud to announce a new organization: The Society for Science-Based Medicine.
A Society for a community of like-minded individuals, both in and out of health care, who support the goals of Science-Based Medicine.
People should not suffer, die, go bankrupt, and lose time and hope because of complementary and alternative pseudo-medicine.
The mission of the Society for Science-Based Medicine includes, but is not limited to,
1 Educating consumers, professionals, business people, legislators, law enforcement personnel, organizations and agencies about Science-Based Medicine.
2 Providing resources and information for information concerning all aspects of Science-Based Medicine.
3 Providing a central resource for communication between individuals and organizations concerned about Science-Based Medicine.
4 Supporting sound consumer health laws for the practice of Science-Base Medicine and opposing legislation that undermines Science-Based Medicine.
5 Encouraging and aiding legal actions in support of the practice of Science-Based Medicine.
Sid
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
me too
Sid
sorry, it sounds like that cruise ship fiasco last year with the backed up toilets, etc.
