Sunday, April 04, 2010

Bad Science

I was given some WH Smiths tokens for Christmas. One of the books I purchased with the token was "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre. Goldacre writes a column in the Guardian that debunks the poor and misleading use of scientific arguments. All the examples are in medicine or nutrition, not surprising because Goldacre is a doctor.

The book made me very angry. In particular what happened in South Africa, where people were told to take vitamins rather than anti-AIDS drugs. There is a also a chapter on the MMR hoax, where the Blairs as usual show they are too stupid to understand evidence, but clever enough to exploit their children in an autobiography.

On a similar theme I was happy to see that Simon Singh had won a libel case brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association.