Weekend Reading

Winter has now fully descended across most of Canada, giving views like the the one above. Here are some links of interest to SBP readers:

This is wonderful. An anti-GMO campaigner, Mark Lynas, discovers science and renounces his old views:

I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment. As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counter-productive path. I now regret it completely. So I guess you’ll be wondering – what happened between 1995 and now that made me not only change my mind but come here and admit it? Well, the answer is fairly simple: I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist.

This speech has gone viral, so here’s another link if the one above doesn’t work.

Spotted:

• How to become a charlatan. Recommended.
• Homeopaths continue their campaign to harm as many Africans as possible, promoting homeopathy for HIV.
• Big Pharma versus little “natural” supplement maker? Hardly. Bayer to acquire Utah vitamin maker Schiff for $1.1 billion. For more on the market size of the supplement industry, see this Canadian review.
• Dr. Oz’s Miraculous Medical Advice. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Recommended.
• In Hopes of Healthier Chickens, Farms Turn to Oregano. Look who is quoted with a skeptical perspective! The facts about oil of oregano.

From Science-Based Medicine:

• The Great and Powerful Oz versus science and research ethics
• Beyond Informed Consent: Shared Decision-Making “Patient autonomy is good, but shared decision-making is better.”
• 780.6 – On the fallacies associated with fever.
• Naturopathy Embraces the Four Humors – “Well, as it turns out, humorism is alive and well in that most inclusive of all CAM practices, naturopathy.”
• Why Do People turn to Alternative Medicine – A provocative post, and the discussion continues in the comments
• Fever Phobia – Another excellent post on fevers. Recommended.
• Disingenuous: Deconstruction of a naturopathic white paper – “The naturopathic education at my local school includes hydrotherapy, homeopathy, qui dong, colonics, the nature cure, herbs, and botanicals. Anyone who thinks homeopathy is an appropriate therapy for anything but thirst is in my opinion, unfit to care for others.  They are divorced from reality as I understand it.”

Other great posts:

• CAM practitioners versus preventive medicine from Respectful Insolence
• An End To The BPA Controversy? Toxic Effects Not Reproduced
• Weekend Diversion: My Love Letter to Winnie Cooper. On GMOs
• America Cancer Center Making a Profit from Offering Ineffective Therapies to Cancer Patients
• From the most excellent Julia Belluz: 2012: Outrageous attacks on science and  7 key health trends for 2013
• My post over at Skeptic North: Ten Books for Skeptics
• How I lost 40 lbs doing everything wrong from Erik Davis at Skeptic North. Recommended.
• Ten Lessons On Fighting Disease From Michael J. Fox from the excellent Matthew Herper at Forbes.

Long Reads – Perfect for your ebook or Instapaper:

• A great long read about the physiology of (almost) freezing to death.
• How personal-health journalism ignores the fundamental pitfalls baked into all scientific research and serves up a daily diet of unreliable information. Recommended.
• Zero to do with pharmacy or health, but a recommended, remarkable read: The Innocent Man. “On August 13, 1986, Michael Morton came home from work to discover that his wife had been brutally murdered in their bed. His nightmare had only begun.”

Photo from flickr user Shreyans Bhansali used under a CC licence.