Venus TV, a UK satellite channel aimed at the Asian community, has had its knuckles severely rapped by Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority – to the tune of £35,000 – over ads for highly questionable products and services. The channel breached the advertising code …
Dr Ben Goldacre in Saturday’s Guardian and in his excellent blog details the inaccuracies contained in the BBC’s reporting of the Down syndrome story last week. There has been a small rise in Down’s babies being born. But BBC Radio 4, in a half-hour show …
Here’s a lesson for any “debunking” website thinking about employing Google AdSense. We switched AdSense on this afternoon (you may have noticed it in the far right-hand column on the homepage), only to discover that Counterknowledge.com was now advertising Bio Protective Systems’ “Green 8″ Phone Harmonizer, …
Academics at the University of Central Lancashire are fighting a last-ditch battle to stop it offering “science degrees” in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Here’s the story, courtesy of the Times Higher Education Supplement. Plans to offer new science degrees in acupuncture and Chinese herbal …
Here’s literature from a radical New Age healer who’s made some pretty radical discoveries. “We are energetic beings. Numerous energetic processes in us, on which all the functions of our body are dependent upon, are caused by the energy of the higher source (cosmic energy, …
A quick reminder to opponents of counterknowledge to keep a close eye on the Andrew Wakefield case. Latest development, according to the Press Association yesterday: The doctor at the centre of the MMR vaccine row had limited experience of the medical ethics surrounding paediatrics, a …
Homeopathy is building an empire. A registered charity based in the UK, called Frontline Homeopathy, exports this alternative “medicine” to the poorest parts of the world to “promote homeopathy as an effective, low cost primary health care system in communities disadvantaged by social, economic and …
The CIA created Facebook and is using it to spy on students. This claim is made by a Facebook group with 776 members worldwide. There are 84 others with similar claims – a combined membership of 7,656. But, says the group’s founder, a US student: …
Does the University of Teesside monitor the rulings of the Advertising Standards Authority? If so, it might be interested in a recent ruling against Health Products for Life (HPFL), a company founded and endorsed by its visiting professor of nutrition, Patrick Holford. HPFL was taken …
Fresh off the heels of promoting counterknowledge themselves, the Daily Telegraph today lambasted celebrities for “promoting fads” (i.e., counterknowledge). Their condemnation followed a report by the charity Sense About Science, who are concerned that “public figures may confuse people with endorsements for products or theories based on poor understanding of …