Weekend Reading

Thanks to : Refutations to Anti-Vaccine Memes

Columns and posts to challenge, infuriate, and delight the SBP fan…

Weekend Reading

Anti-scientific, Anti-GMO Propaganda

Summer feels like it’s finally here in Canada (well, Toronto at least). Here’s what I’ve been reading.

Weekend Reading

An example of #badpharmacy

The photo above is from a pharmacy in Toronto. Acid base nonsense? Check? Cancer quackery? Check. Endorsed by a pharmacist? Check. Send me your own pictures of ludicrous pseudoscience and quackery for sale in a pharmacy, and I may feature it in a future post.

Here’s today’s updates to engage, inspire and possibly infuriate you…

Weekend Reading

It’s the May Long Weekend – in Canada at least. The flower above is the Trillium, commonly seen in cottage country at this time of year.  Here’s some links, articles, and podcasts I enjoyed this week:

Weekend Reading

Keep the heat on Health Canada: http://www.stopnosodes.org

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 body has licensed 10 products with a homeopathic preparation called “influenzinum.”[8] According to providers, in­fluenzinum is for “preventing the flu and its related symptoms.”[9] Homeopathic vaccines are available for other infectious diseases as well. Health Canada licenses homeopathic preparations purported to prevent polio,[10] measles,[11] and pertussis.[12] Health Canada continues to assure Canadians that it tests products for safety and efficacy before allowing them to enter the market. All approved homeopathic products are given a DIN-HM number. The website states, “A NPN or DIN-HM means that the product has been authorized for sale in Canada and is safe and effective when used according the instructions on the label.”[13]

Pharmacist John Greiss compares Health Canada and the FDA and their action on opiates. The results are striking and reiterate the question above: Is Health Canada putting public health objectives above manufacturers?

Weekend Reading

Articles and links of interest to advocates of science, medicine, and pharmacy: