A court case and a mathematical model expose the risk of TB in South African prisons
Feb. 29, 2012, 5:24 p.m.
|
Dudley Lee's case reveals how overcrowding and a struggling court system are fuelling a TB epidemic. |
MCC and a decade of deliberate deception
Feb. 22, 2012, 10:07 a.m.
|
This is a statement by the South African Association for Responsible Health Information and Advertising (ARHIA). It has been released on the 10th anniversary of a notice in the government gazette that has undermined the scientific governance of medicine in South Africa. |
Are we really getting happier?
Feb. 16, 2012, 10:31 a.m.
|
Headlines across the internet last week proclaimed things like ‘World is happier than in 2007’ and ‘Indians among world’s happiest people: poll’. The source of all this media merriment was a survey conducted by the market research company Ipsos Global. |
ASA lets Solal off the hook, but scolds its behaviour
Feb. 8, 2012, 1:45 p.m.
|
The Final Appeals Committee of the Advertising Standards Authority has overturned a ruling that an advertisement by Solal was in breach of Appendix F. The advert in question implied that a Solal product containing Omega-3 reduced the risk of heart disease. The original ASA ruling, following a complaint from Kevin Charleston, found that the advert breached Appendix F. This appendix limits what advertisers can say about a range of medical conditions, including heart disease. In ... |
ASA rules against Patrick Holford
Feb. 2, 2012, 4:15 p.m.
|
The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered Patrick Holford to withdraw the claim that Mood Food supports mood and mental vitality. |
How Celia Farber tried to sue an AIDS activist - and lost
Jan. 31, 2012, 6:59 a.m.
|
AIDS denialist Celia Farber sued Richard Jefferys for calling her a liar. In November, the Supreme Court of New York dismissed Farber's action. Quackdown interviewed Richard about the case. The interview is fascinating because Richard crisply describes the web of lies, homophobia and madness in the world of AIDS denialism. |
Heart-felt testimonials are not good enough
Jan. 25, 2012, 3:44 p.m.
|
Every now and again someone calls the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) office hoping to enlist our help in promoting some new miracle HIV treatment. Obviously we’re the wrong people to call. Our standard response is to ask for the published evidence. Sometimes we’ll be e-mailed some trial findings that invariably fall short of substantiating their claims. Most of the time though, all we get is testimonials. |
What do we know about AIDS deaths in South Africa?
Jan. 16, 2012, 9:10 a.m.
|
The obscure Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology has published an article by AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg packed with errors. It claims that data from Uganda and South Africa shows that there is no evidence of an HIV epidemic. This journal, whose title indicates no expertise in HIV, has a track record of publishing peer-reviewed AIDS denialist nonsense. |
Improvements to Quackdown
Jan. 12, 2012, 10:58 p.m.
|
|
We hope to publish our first article for 2012 next week. In the meanwhile, we've made some improvements to the site. |
Solal Technologies' astonishing letter of demand
Dec. 19, 2011, 2 p.m.
|
|
Last year Solal Technologies sent letters of demand threatening to sue Roy Jobson and one of us (Steinman) for defamation. They have not carried out that threat. Now the company is once again trying to intimidate those who criticise it. |
