[News] "Bad Pharma"

[Nakamova]

There's a new book out by Ben Goldacre called "Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors And Harm Patients."

His previous book was "Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks".

I hope to read both books soon. They seem pretty relevant...

For folks who want a sample of what they're about, here's Goldacre's TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html

 

[Cint]

Thanks Nakamova. I saw this the other day on some website (?).

 

[KarenB]

Ha ha! What I love is when parents ask their child's neurologist about the Ketogenic Diet, they are told it "isn't healthy."

Well, let's see...so far, seizure medications in our child have caused...
1) loss of spoken language
2) liver and pancreas damage
3) bone marrow disease
4) metabolic acidosis
5) depression
6) severe aggressive tendencies
7) psychotic episodes
8) failure to sweat (which could lead to heat exhaustion or stroke)
9) extreme hyperactivity
10) loss of bowel and bladder control
11) cognitive fog
12) attention deficit
13) hand tremors

Yeah, THAT'S really healthy. Especially since most of them didn't do a damn thing for the seizures.

 

[Bernard]

I wonder how many footnotes he includes that were also referenced here.