Then ask a doctor to remove it. The exact opposite is true. We invented shoes because it protects our MN feet from injury and infection. Tell the neighbor- hood hippies to put their sandals back on. OP Electromagnetic hypersensitivity A tiny number of people claim that electromagnet- ic fields like Wi-Fi make them sick.
QR A study in Bioelectromagnetics found that people cannot tell the difference when an electromagnetic field is turned on or off The sort of electromag- netic fields that we encounter in everyday life can ST neither cure nor harm you.
There are a lot of those. The organization is vehemently an- ti-farming. Environmentalism MN Environmentalism has morphed from a legitimate concern for the welfare of the planet into a sci- ence-free religion.
Ironically, many policies fa- OP vored by environmentalists e. QR Epigenetics Epigenetics, which involves changes in DNA with- out changing the actual DNA sequence, is the sexy ST new field in biomedical science that has been used for very unsexy things, like inventing vague causes for everything from cancer to obesity. While epi- UVW genetics plays a role in gene expression and pos- sibly short-term adaptation, there is no reason to.
The field is interesting and important, but beware hype. Like many plant extracts, essential oils may contain useful compounds, such as nat- ural food preservatives and antimicrobials De- IJ pending on the plant, they also might smell nice. Beware essential? KL Evolutionary psychology The primary theme of evolutionary psychology is that everything humans do is driven ultimately by MN sex and survival.
Why do men hunt and buy sports cars? To get mates. Why do women wear lipstick? Why do people donate to charity? OP To signal how much money they have… so they can get mates. See a pattern? A lot of these dates are arbitrary.
A box of crackers may be a little stale past its expiration date but still safe. UVW The same is true of many medicines, though some really do expire by losing their effectiveness. A few. Be sure to ask your doctor if you want to use old pills. CD Fad diets To lose weight, consume fewer calories than you burn. Giving up particular types of food e. There is no F miracle diet. As the saying goes, lies can spread around the IJ planet before the Truth gets its shoes on.
Fake news is fueled by social media leveraging a culture that has become hyper-partisan, uncivil, and trib- KL al We have provided tips to detect fake news on our website, ACSH It is popular with political pundits and OP internet commenters who try to give their double standards and hypocritical arguments a veneer of intellectualism. QR Flame retardants Because furniture contains them, flame retar- dants like polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PB- ST DEs can be detected in pretty much everybody, which is why environmentalists can scare people about them.
The benefits of preventing explo- UVW sive fires greatly outweigh any risks, which so far are still zero. It was not caused by EF natural gas hydraulic fracturing - fracking. F Fluoridation Following a massively successful water fluoridation GH project to improve dental hygiene in Grand Rap- ids, Michigan in , cities all over the country followed suit. Fluoride is good for your teeth and, IJ contrary to claims in some junk science circles, does not result in mind control. Bacteria, however, love them — and can convert them into gases which make some people feel bloated and terrible.
ST Food colors or dyes and preservatives are perfect- ly safe. That rules out dihydrogen monox- ide. She also promotes and receives commissions from products that have the very same chemicals she warned her readers not to eat Irradiating more of our food would kill pathogens, like E. Food irradiation does not change the nutritional value of KL food, nor will it make your food radioactive Food labeling Food labels contain important dietary informa- MN tion, such as calorie and nutritional content.
They should not contain political propaganda, such as warnings about GMOs based on junk science. OP Food preservatives Processed food often contains preservatives, which QR maintain freshness, increase shelf-life, prevent foodborne illness, and reduce food waste. Pre- servatives are safe, and many come from natural sources, particularly fruits CD According to the Innocence Project, shoddy foren- sic science is the second most common contribu- tor to wrongful convictions EF Formaldehyde F Formaldehyde is found everywhere, even in fruits and vegetables.
Our bodies produce it during ami- GH no acid metabolism. But since it is used as em- G balming fluid, environmentalists have tried to cre- ate scares about trace amounts of formaldehyde in IJ clothing or food. But environmentalists who OP embraced natural gas for decades turned on it, claiming that fracking QR causes earthquakes and pollutes water. Neither is true. Wastewater injec- ST tions near fault lines may trigger small earthquakes, not fracking itself. And fracking occurs below the water table.
Anti-science activists, however, have abused the law to harass law-abid- EF ing academic scientists. It should be seen as a form of cy- berbullying. However, modern nuclear power plants KL have been redesigned to be meltdown-proof.
Fear and panic were far worse for the health of Japanese people than exposure to radiation, which was quite MN low. But there have been no deaths or sickness from direct exposure to radiation. Though your DNA contains information about your biogeo- graphic ancestry, some commercial genetic ances- ST try tests may be little more than horoscopes If you want to predict whether you will like cilantro or not, they are fine.
UVW Genome-wide association studies The goal of genome-wide association studies is. This is perfectly legiti- CD mate research, but it is often hyped in the popular media. The data are rarely as exciting GH as portrayed in the news. G G Geomagnetic reversal Much to the dismay of doomsday prophets, Earth IJ is still here, despite annual proclamations of de- mise due to various causes. MN Apocalypse watchers can worry about something else in the meantime, like Y3K.
Bacteria and viruses are everywhere: QR Your skin, doorknobs, even the very air you breathe. Our bodies are equipped with ruth- lessly efficient immune systems that handle ST these everyday assaults.
His methods were severely flawed, and his claims are consistently in defiance of the sci- entific literature. Gluten G Very few people have problems metabolizing glu- ten. A tiny percentage of people are allergic to it, IJ and another tiny percentage have Celiac disease. Though some people might have non-Celiac glu- ten sensitivity, gluten-free diets are a fad. People KL who report improved health after going gluten-free probably feel better due to eliminating excess car- bohydrates from their diets, such as FODMAPs.
All legitimate scientific regulatory bod- QR ies dismiss activist claims that glyphosate causes cancer, even the notoriously risk averse European ones Similar to antibiotics, the only problem ST with glyphosate is that there has been an increase in glyphosate-resistant weeds. It has allowed the creation of insect-resistant crops which require fewer in- secticides , fast-growing salmon that will reduce GH overfishing , non-browning apples, and rice that provides extra vitamin A to malnourished people.
GH Everyone who cares about feeding people with the smallest possible environmental footprint embrac- IJ es this technology. How does CD a little rubber band do all of that?
If a person wearing one feels bet- ter, the result is entirely due to the placebo effect. The ones that do work are now called med- h icine rather than alternative medicine. If inhaled, chromium-6 can cause lung cancer, but there is no reason it causes MN cancer when ingested.
OP High-fructose corn syrup Table sugar sucrose consists of two sugars linked QR together: glucose and fructose. As its name im- plies, high-fructose corn syrup contains more fruc- tose than glucose.
But so does honey, which has roughly the same ratio of fructose to glucose Chemically, the solutions are often so dilute that the original substance is no longer present. CD Homeopathic products are a scam. There is evidence to suggest that our bod- ies, when exposed to minor assaults e. This is known as hormesis. This has been flipped by those IJ who claim that low concentrations of environmen- I tal pollutants are bad, while high doses are safe.
Treat such research with skepticism, especially if KL coupled with talk of endocrine disruptors. Hormone replacement therapy Hormone replacement therapy HRT involves MN the replacement of estrogen and progesterone in women who are post-menopausal, either due to aging or ovary removal.
It was once recommended OP for most menopausal women but is now recom- mended only for women with severe menopausal symptoms. For men, there is little reason to believe QR that testosterone supplementation is worthwhile. Extra testosterone may instead ST cause health problems.
They claim. The CD trouble with this argument is that evolution can ex- plain structures that appear irreducibly complex. Science cannot be used to prove the existence or EF absence of God. Ketogenic diet MN Any diet that is very low in carbohydrates will be ketogenic, which means the body will produce molecules called ketone bodies as it burns fat. The initial weight loss can be substantial but is mostly OP water.
ST Lead and the Flint water crisis Lead is an element on the periodic table, and it is toxic to humans. Environmental contamination UVW has decreased considerably since we banned lead from gasoline and paint. The contamination of. EF Marijuana Though smoking marijuana is probably safer than smoking cigarettes, inhaling anything into your GH lungs other than oxygen is not a good idea and will almost certainly have long-term health conse- quences.
Medical marijuana could be beneficial in IJ treating pain and reducing opioid use but due to its classification it has not been studied enough to make that determination. Avoid his recommenda- MN tions. There are no health effects due to it. Wiping them out would make the world a EF much healthier, safer place, despite junk science claims about GH ripple effects in the eco- system.
This technique produced fungus-resistant peppermint and improved many other crops, MN such as rice and wheat Natural gas has reduced pollution and kept energy cheap, regard- EF less of the fact-free claims made by modern activists. Smallpox, HIV, arsenic, poison ivy, IJ rattlesnakes, and scorpions are all natural, while many beneficial medicines are not.
Like most en- vironmentalist organizations, they blindly endorse organic food, even though science does not sup- ST port organic over conventional agriculture. They wholeheartedly reject Western medicine and modern science. At its worst, naturopathic CD remedies can kill you. Nicotine EF Like caffeine, nicotine is made by plants as an in- secticide. In humans, the molecule can be addic- tive, which is why smokers have such a hard time quitting cigarettes.
By itself, nicotine may be no GH more dangerous than caffeine. Ignore junk science claims that nicotine replacement solutions e. IJ Nocebo effect Imagine participating in a study, and you are told KL that the pill you take will make you woozy.
A few minutes later, you are feeling a bit woozy, but then you find out you just took a sugar pill. Such is the power N of the nocebo effect. It explains why some people claim that Wi-Fi makes them sick. Essentially, the OP nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. Nuclear power QR Nuclear power is clean and efficient, albeit expensive due to gov- ST ernment regulations.
China is. France recycles some waste from nuclear power plants, and other waste can be stored safe- ly for millennia. Decades of study showed Yucca EF Mountain in Nevada was the ideal waste storage facility, but political interests shut it down. Nutrition GH Far too much of what passes for nutrition research is conducted using surveys, which are notoriously unreliable.
If the number of calories you consume is less than the number of calories you burn, you will QR lose weight. Opioids The ongoing opioid epidemic is complex. Prescrip- ST tions for a small amount of opioids, like Vicodin or OxyContin, rarely lead to addiction.
The ma- jor culprit is likely to be recreational users, such as UVW drug addicts who turn to heroin when pills are un- available Heroin is more dangerous when adul-. CD Organic food Organic food is a gigantic scam. Organic farmers also use pesticides, though they are quite content letting the public believe otherwise. Be- GH cause organic farming is inefficient, we could not feed the world using it alone IJ Osteopathy In the United States, osteopaths are nearly iden- tical to medical doctors, but in other parts of the KL world, they are basically chiropractors This culture of victimhood has been enabled by psychology with O its latest edition of DSM-5, in which just about any QR normal albeit odd behavior could be categorized as a mental disorder.
At worst, there is localized overpopulation. Besides, population CD growth is slowing down. Though demographers predict there will be 11 billion people EF on the planet by , the world population likely will peak and eventually decline. Instead, farmers used technology to produce more food on less KL land. Many people still buy into the false belief that the world is overpopulated. Peanuts MN Peanuts cause severe allergies in a small number of people.
Junk science claims that smelling or touching peanuts causes anaphylaxis, and there- OP fore peanuts should be banned from schools. In P reality, the peanut allergen must be inhaled, in- gested, or brought into contact with QR a body orifice, such as the eyes. One solution to some peanut allergies has been earlier introduction in kids, but consult with UVW your doctor. Pesticides IJ Thanks to environmentalists, the public fears pesti- cides. All pesticides currently in use — both synthetic and natural — are safe if applied at approved levels.
You should wash pro- MN duce before eating it. Not because of pesticides, but because of bacteria. Pharmaceutical industry Big Pharma P Big Pharma has produced medicines and vaccines that have saved literally hundreds of millions of QR lives. They have also conducted ethically outra- geous clinical trials, gouged patients on drug pric- es, downplayed dangerous side effects, and ma- ST nipulated the scientific literature.
Demeaning an entire industry due to the actions of a few players throughout history is not constructive. In modern times, generic companies have had similar pricing UVW and ethical issues. Epidemiological stud- ies of possible adverse effects of phthalates have been contradictory while toxicology reports show EF no risk because animal doses were thousands of times higher than possible human exposure. Ig- nore the chemophobic hype.
GH Pipelines Pipelines are the safest way to transport fossil fuels. Compared to rail, pipelines are roughly 4. Opposition to pipelines is based solely on ideological opposition to fossil fuels. KL Placebo effect Imagine you are in a clinical trial for a pill that will make you feel stronger, smarter, and more ener- getic.
It will even increase your libido! A miracle, right? Not if the drug was a sugar pill — a placebo — which is inert. You felt amazing because OP you expected to feel amazing. Just be- UVW cause some animals do it to not attract predators and some celebrities do it a mystery, but claims.
Like fortune cook- ies, its origin in ancient Chinese culture is a myth. A bigger problem for the oceans is the prevalence of discarded fishing nets Politicization of science KL When science meets politics, the result is often junk science.
Neither Left nor Right has a monop- oly on scientific disinformation; politicians from MN both sides of the aisle happily throw science under the bus when it suits their electoral prospects.
Polychlorinated biphenyls PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls are used as insulators for P electric lines. However, they are non-toxic at the levels at which people are typically exposed.
The lethal dose is , times the typical exposure ST Post-election stress disorder Some Americans cannot handle the stress of living in a democracy. For those people, psychologists UVW have invented a fictitious disease: Post-election stress disorder. In reality, they suffer from some im- maturity and puerility As such, it is the ultimate re- jection of knowledge.
Popular in the humanities, it EF is anathema to scientific inquiry. Precautionary principle The precautionary principle is the belief that new GH technologies should be assumed unsafe unless proven otherwise.
It is favored by environmental- ists because it is impossible to ever prove anything IJ completely safe. Europe has enshrined the pre- cautionary principle into law, and we should not emulate that. If there is a one-off study that claims to claim a disastrous effect or miracle benefit no one else OP can find, look at the journal.
Beware journals that P P scientists in the field have never heard of. Prediabetes QR A slightly elevated blood glucose level now has its own diagnosis: Prediabetes. But is it real? Their reasoning is dubious The result is gigantic cancer signs being posted in restaurants, Starbucks, airports, parking garages, EF hospitals, and at Disneyland.
Increasingly, it seems as if the harms e. Widespread screening for prostate IJ cancer is unlikely to be in the best interest of pub- lic health. KL Psychics Nobody can see the future. Anybody who claims to predict the future is either a psychic or an econ- omist, and both have roughly the same track re- MN cord.
Psychology Psychology is import- ant because we need P to know how and QR why people think, feel, and behave the way they do. Unfor- tunately, much of ST what passes for re- search in psycholo- gy is pure garbage The trouble is that many of his ideas have never been verified CD by evidence, and some observers believe he held the field back Experimental psychology can be scientifically rigorous, but the field as a whole still EF produces highly dubious research, such as the idea that political beliefs are genetic.
Perhaps that is why psychology is facing an enormous replica- GH tion crisis. Publication bias Like newspapers, scientific journals want readers. Unfortunately, KL boring research is often more important and bet- ter supported. Unlike Reiki, believers claim this power can PQ be learned. Like Reiki, there is no actual power of any kind. It is just dangerous junk science. Like other grains, quinoa is healthy, but there is nothing magical about it. Regardless, Western de- UVW mand became so high that poor Peruvians and Bo- livians could barely afford to buy the grain their.
Imported junk food was cheap- er Luckily for them the free market intervened. While most basic re- search occurs there, industry performs the bulk of scientific research and development. In , the GH U. Without industry funding, America could not lead the world in science. IJ Race Race is complex. It is a combination of genetics KL and culture. Human history can be traced via ge- netics, and your DNA reveals your biogeographic ancestry. Some genetic diseases are predominantly associated with particular races.
OP Radiation and Radioactivity Radiation refers to electromag- netic radiation, which is all around us. The sun gives off electromagnetic radiation, R as do light bulbs, Wi-Fi, and even our own bod- ST ies. In large enough doses, some radia- tion is harmful e. CD Radioactivity refers to a process in which the nuclei of atoms break down. Depending on the type and EF dose, radioactivity can be either harmless or harm- ful. Radioactive elements are present everywhere, including the air e.
People visit Guarapari beach in Brazil because they be- IJ lieve its radiation is helpful. Raw or unpasteurized food KL There is no reason to eat raw or unpasteurized dairy, juices, eggs, or meat. We pasteurize and cook our food to kill dangerous microorganisms, some of which can be lethal. Junk science claims that pas- MN teurization removes nutrients.
In reality, the only thing pasteurization removes is a larger risk of illness. OP Recall bias If you get diagnosed with a scary or rare disease, you are likely to remember your life differently than people without the disease.
This is a well- QR known phenomenon called recall bias, and it ex- R R plains why some epidemiological studies are inac- curate. Reproducibility Replication UVW Biomedical science and psychology are facing a reproducibility replication crisis, it is said.
Reproducing — replicating - an experi- ment is more complex than it sounds. If you find a CD drug that may help with a disease, other scientists replicate it but the results may not be exact be- cause of the complexity of organisms. Reproduc- EF ibility and repeatability are reported as standard deviation. But any MN claims about a real-life Ju- rassic Park are based on junk OP science, as the DNA from dino- saurs is too old and degraded for this to be a realistic possibility.
R Relative risk ST Humans are fundamentally bad at understand- ing risk. Unlike Absolute Risk, the important risk is relative — such as your exposure to a hazard.
The truth is EF that common, boring things are much more likely to kill you than exotic hazards. Sample size GH For scientific research to be accurate and statisti- cally meaningful, it needs to have adequately large sample sizes. Many studies, however, fail to meet IJ this requirement. Small sample sizes are one of the reasons why there is a reproducibility crisis in bio- medicine and psychology. KL Science education Every so often, people fret that the American ed- ucation system is failing compared to other coun- MN tries, based on standardized tests.
The proposed solution is always the same: Throw more money at the government, even though we outspend almost OP every country on K education. Our higher education is the best in the world, and we dominate in scientific output and technological ST achievement.
While governments, foundations, corporations, and individuals pro-. What matters is not the funding source but the quality of the science. Science journalism Journalism is permeated with political ideologies, GH half-truths, double standards, and outright fabrica- tions. Science journalists have even more political bias than regular journalism, and they will embrace IJ any weak observational claim. Scary chemicals and miracle vegetables are common.
Journalists are how junk science claims get so much traction. KL Screening tests Junk science claims are that every person should be screened for as many diseases as possible. False positives a person is told OP they have cancer when they do not causes psy- chological trauma as well as large medical bills. Second-hand smoke S Cigarette smoke is many things: Obnoxious, smelly, gross, dangerous.
It does not, however, UVW cause cancer if a person is only exposed to it sec- ond-hand in restaurants or bars. Chronic exposure. CD While smoking bans have made life much more refreshing for non-smokers, the public bans were justified largely on hype Smoking, however, kills.
EF Sex differences Culture seems to be confused about the sexes. Bi- ology has taught us that men and women are dif- GH ferent, not just in basic plumbing, but physiologi- cally and psychologically as well.
Even our immune systems can differ from each other. Celebrate that IJ diversity. Sex education KL Parents want to believe their kids will never have sex, and many teach them to be abstinent until marriage. That is a perfectly good and decent mor- al upbringing, but the biological urge and cultural MN temptation of sex may be too difficult for some teenagers and young adults to resist.
And a large review concluded that abstinence-only education did not promote changes in sexual be- QR havior while more comprehensive education did Silent Spring Being mindful of the environment and taking ST measures against polluting it are admirable S S goals, and Rachel Carson deserves recognition for promoting those.
However, her commis- UVW sioned book Silent Spring was an unscientific nightmare, with limited sources and a heavy. Silicone breast implants Many women who received breast implants made GH from silicone had them removed out of fear that the implants would cause cancer. They do not Minimum and maximum levels have been created as guidelines MN due to lawsuits, not science. While reducing sodium intake might be appropriate for some OP people, it does not appear to be a justifiable public health goal for all Coconut oil, palm oil and petroleum are all sources of the same synthet-.
It can be replaced with trans fats in vegetable oil, but SLS is not only safe for skin, it CD can be eaten. Junk science foodies claim nitrates and nitrites cause cancer, but they provide no believable explanation. However, just because a result is EF not a random fluke does not mean it is important or relevant. A lot of junk science claims result from misuse of statistical significance.
IJ Stem cell therapy Stem cells retain the ability to grow into various types of tissues. Adult stem cells can only differen- KL tiate into a small number of tissues, while embry- onic stem cells can grow into any tissue. Though they are likely to play a vital role in regenerative MN medicine, beware junk science.
Many stem cell clinics are dangerous scams run by charlatans. One woman received stem cell injections around her eyes, only to have the cells later turn into bone Sugars are one of the three important food sources we con-. Ironically, a new study in Australia showed that obesity continued to rise even as sugar consumption decreased Sunscreen KL Hyper-conscious parents have been scared by en- vironmentalists into believing that sunscreen may be more dangerous than baking in the sun.
Melanoma and other skin-related cancers have gone up because cancer takes time to devel- op and sunscreen was not used in the past, tanning oil was. Sunscreen is perfectly safe. The cause of ST wine-induced headaches is unknown. It does not but they suggest that because talc in nature contains natural asbestos that commercial baby powder has EF caused various maladies, even though it has no as- bestos. Or anything else harmful.
In scientific parlance, a the- ory refers to a widely accepted explanation or KL unifying theme that is supported by observation and experiment. Quantum mechanics and gen- eral relativity are examples of theories that make MN up the current scientific consensus in physics. Colloquially, people use the word theory to mean an idea. Activists will claim their paranoia about cell phones causing cancer is a theory, but OP it is just speculation, because it lacks a valid bio- logical hypothesis.
QR Thimerosal Thimerosal, a mercury-containing organic mole- cule used as a preservative in some vaccines, was wrongly blamed by activists for causing autism. In the same way that the fundamental charac- UVW ter of hydrogen and oxygen change when they join to form water, the fundamental nature of mercury.
CD Third-hand smoke Third-hand smoke is a term that refers to tiny specks of particulate matter left behind by smok- EF ers, presumably which leap into the lungs of un- suspecting bystanders to trigger disease.
This is a science-free money grab that seeks to leverage the real harm of smoking for financial gain. GH Three-parent IVF Women who have an abnormality in their mito- IJ chondria the energy powerhouses inside cells may produce sick children who die young. Junk science claims that this is nec- essary to conserve water, even though water is not a scarce resource in most of the United States.
The hype against them is not much different than the EF hype that made them popular, but except for donuts and pie crusts they are mostly out of the food supply. GH Turmeric Turmeric is a spice used in certain foods.
It is not a superfood, despite claims that the active IJ compound curcumin works miracles in arteries. Twin study Twin studies are a clever way to tease apart the MN influence of genes and the environment on vari- ous personal characteristics.
However, twin studies have yielded bizarre results, such as the notion that OP genetics plays a larger role than the environment in shaping political beliefs. The assumptions un- derlying the twin study methodology may not be QR correct, so twin studies should be met with skep- ticism Thanks to vaccines, smallpox which killed million people in the 20th Century alone is eradicated, and other diseases EF like polio, diphtheria, and measles are rarely seen in advanced countries.
Yet, vaccina- tion remains important because GH infants and immunocompromised people rely on herd immunity to protect them. Extremely rare side effects can occur from vac- IJ cines, but the risk of not vaccinating is vastly greater. KL Vaginal steaming Endorsed by ac- MN tress Gwyneth Paltrow, vaginal steaming claims if a woman sits over steaming water made with cer- tain herbs, it will balance her hormones and help her uterus.
Veganism QR Veganism is an extreme form of a vegetarian diet, which eliminates not only animals but animal products, like dairy. People can choose to follow a vegan diet for phil- osophical reasons, but there is nothing magical UVW about veganism.
Earthing is the belief that running around barefoot somehow connects you to Earth's energy, which will improve your health. The exact opposite is true. We invented shoes because it protects our feet from injury and infection.
Tell the neighborhood hippies to put their sandals back on. Liquids go in your mouth, not in your butt. Unless you're constipated, there is no reason to give yourself an enema.
Your body naturally detoxifies itself. You can get the book in one of two ways. You can download a PDF version of the book for free or you can buy a physical copy from Amazon. Of the two, we'd recommend the physical copy, just so you can leave it sitting out where that special someone you know who can use this kind of information will see it!
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