Posts Tagged ‘health canada’
Today’s post is a guest contribution from a Canadian pharmacist who is writing under the pseudonym Sara Russell: Every morning I open up Facebook and expect to see the usual sharing of my friends’ latest adventures in pseudoscience, but it wasn’t until this morning that I felt compelled to write about something. A friend had […]
Filed under: guest post | 3 Comments
Tags: health canada, homeopathy, insect repellents, mozi-q, natural health products directorate
Weekend Reading
Here’s what’s keeping this pharmacist engaged and sometimes outraged: Health Canada explicitly puts the financial interests of homeopathy manufacturers above broader public health goals. From the BC Medical Journal, Health Canada licenses homeopathic vaccines: Remarkably, at the same time as Health Canada focuses on influenza education, flu shots, and other proven prevention measures, that same […]
Filed under: Weekend Reading | 1 Comment
Tags: CCSVI, GMOs, health canada, homeopathy, naturopathy, public health, vaccines
Weekend Reading
It’s Family Day weekend in several provinces in Canada, and President’s Day weekend in the United States. Here’s what I’ve been reading:
Filed under: articles, Weekend Reading | 2 Comments
Tags: fluoridation, health canada, homeopathy, natural health products directorate, transparency
Thermography: Worse than useless
Earlier this spring, I described the Choosing Wisely campaign in the United States, an initiative designed to redirect resources away from medical treatments that are useless or harmful. In the spirit of the campaign, I suggested Five Things Pharmacists and Patients Should Question. My list included unvalidated IgG food intolerance blood tests like Hemocode, dubious […]
Filed under: articles | 5 Comments
Tags: breast cancer, health canada, medical quackery, pseudoscience, thermography, useless tests
Science-based health professionals hold the scientific method is pretty high regard. We advocate for evaluations of treatments, and treatment decisions, based on the best research. We compile evidence based on fair tests that minimize the risks of bias. And we consider this evidence in the context of the plausibility of the treatment. The fact is, […]
Filed under: articles | 1 Comment
Tags: clinical trials, health canada, open access, transparency
For a blog established to examine the role of science in pharmacy practice, I’ve given a disproportionate amount of attention to homeopathy. Which is frustrating, because homeopathy is not something that pharmacists, or the pharmacy profession, should even need to discuss. Unlike herbal remedies, and some supplements, there isn’t even any science to discuss. As […]
Filed under: articles | 18 Comments
Tags: health canada, homeopathy, natural health products directorate, pharmacy ethics, pharmacy practice, pharmacy regulation, university of Toronto
Given their visibility in the pharmacy, a recurring topic of this blog are the category of products deemed “natural health products”. My philosophy towards their uses has changed over the years, and what was an “evidence-based” approach is now firmly a “science-based” approach. A central principle to science-based medicine or pharmacy is that all health […]
Filed under: articles | 5 Comments
Tags: dietary supplement health and education act, health canada, insect repellents, mozi-q, natural health products directorate, natural health products regulations
Is is safe to take expired drugs? Are they still effective? Consider this scenario: You’re in good health and take no prescription drugs. You use the following remedies occasionally: Excedrin for the rare migraine Arnica 30CH for bumps and bruises Echinacea capsules, when you feel a cold coming on Today you look in your cupboard, […]
Filed under: articles | 5 Comments
Tags: expiry dates, health canada, herbal medicine, homeopathy, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, pseudoscience
All the best effort to practice science-based medicine are for naught when the optimal treatment is unavailable. And that’s increasingly the case – even for life-threatening illnesses. Shortages of prescription drugs, including cancer drugs, seem more frequent and more significant than at any time in the past. Just recently manufacturing deficiencies at a large U.S.-based […]
Filed under: articles | 1 Comment
Tags: drug regulation, drug shortages, fda, health canada
As has been repeatedly pointed out on this blog, homeopathy is an elaborate placebo system, with most remedies diluted so greatly that not a single molecule of the original material remains. The final product sold to consumers is quite literally, water – drops of which are dried on sucrose or lactose tablets. The fact that […]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments
Tags: cbc marketplace, health canada, homeopathy, hyland's, hyland's teething tablets, natural health products directorate
