NCCAM's pseudoscience studies may be defunded !

[beam me up scottie]

Cross post from HSF: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x55993

"With a new administration and President Obama's stated goal of moving science to the forefront, now is the time for scientists to start speaking up about issues that concern us," Steven Salzberg, a genome researcher and computational biologist at the University of Maryland, said last week. "One of our concerns is that NIH is funding pseudoscience."

:woohoo:

[Orrex]

1. Hmm...

If I'm reading the dissenting vibe correctly, all research should be funded indefinitely, regardless of its futility, on the off chance that something might somehow and at some time turn into something somewhere.

[beam me up scottie]

2. What are we going to do with you, Orrex?

You should know by now that it doesn't matter if the treatment really works, what's important is that people think it works!

Billions of dollars spent on studying the placebo effect.

Yep, that's the ticket.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Can anyone explain how one would demonstrate the difference between reiki and "sham" reiki?

For example, reiki -- but not sham treatment -- blunted the rise in heart rate, but not the rise in blood pressure, in rats put under stress by loud noise. Therapeutic touch, a different modality, increased the growth of normal bone cells in culture dishes, but decreased the growth of bone cancer cells.

[Orrex]

4. It's simple. Sham Reiki is hawked by this guy:

[beam me up scottie]

5. LOL! Funny!

Not as funny as imagining "scientists" giving sham reiki to rats of course, but it's hard to top something that idiotic.

[TZ]

6. What gets me is how people don't realize most of this stuff

Has been researched to death. As I posted in the original thread, they just keep coming up with excuses why they aren't getting the results they like. I love the people who think that since something has been around for a long time, science has only just NOW decided to investigate...If that junk's been around for so long, what makes you think it hasn't been debunked over and over again?

[beam me up scottie]

7. Not to mention if the treatments really worked, they would be able to duplicate the results.

Every time the results are disappointing they move the goalposts.

Real scientists have to compete for money, why should we just give it to people who refuse to play by the same rules?

[TZ]

8. Yes.

You know what really pisses me off? I have whats called an Orphan disease..there isn't much money for these rare type diseases. I live near NIH, Naval Medical, etc..etc...but to find a true specialist in my area I went to MINNESOTA! I'm lucky I have the income to do that! Meanwhile NIH is not doing any significant research on my bone marrow disorder diseases but it throws money away at testing Reiki on rats! And people wonder why I have an attitude towards altie med?! :grr:

[beam me up scottie]

9. I sincerely hope our new president will continue to champion science.

He won't be very popular among religious fundamentalists, the anti-vaccination lobby and proponents of pseudoscience, but doing the right thing isn't always easy.

[mr blur]

10. As I understand it he's already unpopular among religious fundamentalists

which I've always thought one of his good points.

[progressoid]

11. Ironically one of my right wing relatives wouldn't mind this kind of research.

But just last week was bitching about the Mormon cricket and swine odor research (even more ironic since we live in Iowa with 20 million hogs).

[beam me up scottie]

12. Um, maybe a stupid question, but what do Mormon crickets have to do with swine odor?

Do they give the pigs gas?

[progressoid]

13. Ha! I guess I should have been more specific.

Two separate studies.

Although crickets might give them gas for all I know. They do have a pungent odor!

[beam me up scottie]

14. Ew, crickets are nasty, nothing but just noisy cockroaches with long legs.

Except for Bush Crickets, they're pretty awesome, this guy was on my car:





Steer clear of the Health Scare Forum if you want to discuss scientific studies logically. :crazy:


edit: grammar, bmus is sleep deprived again