Science-Based Medicine

Science-Based Medicine is a website and blog with articles covering issues in science and medicine, especially medical scams and practices.[2] Founded in 2008, it is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society[3] and run by Steven Novella and David Gorski.[4]

This article is about the website. For the concept, see Evidence-based medicine.

Science-Based Medicine
Type of site
Blog
Available inEnglish
OwnerNew England Skeptical Society
Key peopleSteven Novella, David Gorski
URLwww.sciencebasedmedicine.org
CommercialNo
LaunchedJanuary 1, 2008[1]

History

Started as a skeptical medical blog with five writers, Science-Based Medicine (SBM) launched on January 1, 2008.[5] Steven Novella, a clinical neurologist at Yale University,[2][6] Harriet Hall,[7][8] and David Gorski were founding editors, along with Mark Crislip[9] and Kimball Atwood.[10][11]

Science-Based Medicine is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS),[3] where Novella, the executive editor of SBM, has served as president since its inception. Gorski, a surgical oncologist at Wayne State University, is the managing editor for SBM.[12][13][14]

The blog is affiliated with the Society for Science-Based Medicine (SfSBM),[15] an opinionated education and advocacy group,[16] that registered in 2014[17] as a Florida nonprofit corporation[16][18] led by Mark Crislip.[19] The SfSBM was later absorbed into the Center for Inquiry in 2020,[3] following a period of time where the society had merged with SBM.[20]

Other key contributors have included writer Paul Ingraham (2010–2016) and Wallace Sampson, an editor and regular contributor to SBM until his death in 2017.[21]

Content and format

Science-Based Medicine is a website in blog format that examines controversies in science and medicine,[22] especially medical scams and practices.[2] SBM is known for persistently challenging alternative medicine[23][24][9] and for opposing university funding from advocates of integrative medicine.[25] David Freedman, writing for The Atlantic in 2011, described SBM as "an influential blog that has tirelessly gone after alternative medicine."[23]

Editorial staff say that the best medicine is based on scientific principles, includes prior plausibility, and is not based on evidence alone.[21] Gorski, Novella, and Atwood have argued that science-based medicine differs in focus from evidence-based medicine[26][11] and stress that randomized clinical trials should only be conducted when warranted by ample preclinical evidence to justify the effort, time, and expenses involved.[26] For a science-based approach, Novella supports minimizing or eliminating research on implausible treatments, and points out that decades are often required for clinical research to become supported by rigorous, conclusive trials, during which time decisions must be made, preferably guided by and screened by plausibility criteria.[19]

In a systematic survey of web sites providing material on complementary and alternative medicine from 2018, medical education researcher Annie Chen and colleagues listed Science-Based Medicine alongside WebMD as an example of an "information service" providing articles on health and illness.[27]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Science-Based Medicine collected and debunked misinformation that had spread through social media, such as the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines could cause infertility.[28]

Retractions

On June 15, 2021,[29] Science-Based Medicine published a book review of Abigail Shrier's Irreversible Damage written by founding editor Harriet Hall.[30] In her review, Hall wrote that Shrier's book had raised legitimate concerns about the science surrounding drug treatments for gender dysphoria in children and that there was a lack of quality scientific studies on the subject.[30] Several days after the review was published, Novella and Gorski replaced the review with a retraction notice and responded with a review of their own, the first of six SBM posts rejecting Shrier's claims and addressing the retraction.[4][31]

Skeptic magazine republished Hall's review,[32] and she remained one of three editors at SBM along with Novella and Gorski after the retraction until her death in 2023.[4][33]

Further information: Etanercept § Patents

In 2014, Novella was sued by Edward Tobinick,[16] a doctor claiming to treat neurological conditions, over two blog posts on Science-Based Medicine critical of off-label use of the drug Etanercept by Tobinick's medical clinic.[34] Novella had said that it was "unethical for physicians to practice outside of their area of competence and expertise". The lawsuit, filed by Tobinick against Novella, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, Inc., and SGU Productions, LLC was resolved after the court ruled in favor of the defendants.[35]

See also

References
  1. "Announcing the Science-Based Medicine Blog". Science-Based Medicine. January 1, 2008. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  2. McNamee, David (August 22, 2014). "Why is scientific literacy among the general population important?". Medical News Today. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  3. Gorski, David (August 17, 2020). "Announcement: The Society for Science-Based Medicine is becoming part of the Center for Inquiry". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  4. Williams, Nathan (August 25, 2021). "Ideology-based medicine". The Critic. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  5. Plait, Phil (January 12, 2008). "Medical blog now online". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  6. Stein, Rob (April 20, 2015). "FDA Ponders Putting Homeopathy To A Tougher Test". NPR. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  7. Branswell, Helen (May 26, 2015). "Spurious Lyme disease 'cures' proliferate on web, study finds". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  8. Robertson, Blair (May 18, 2016). "Despite safety benefits, there's no consensus on bike helmets". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  9. Painter, Kim (July 17, 2016). "'Dry needling' for pain therapy is under scrutiny". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  10. Weber, Nina (August 18, 2011). "Asthma-Patienten: Placebo-Studie erzürnt US-Mediziner". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  11. Lilienfeld, Scott (January 27, 2014). "Evidence-Based Practice: The Misunderstandings Continue". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  12. Harvey, Chelsea (January 27, 2016). "How cases like Flint destroy public trust in science". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  13. Walker, Connie; Luke, Marnie (May 7, 2016). "Health Canada investigates Florida spa director's illegal supplements". CBC News. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  14. Bradley, Fikes (January 4, 2016). "Most biomed studies irreproducible, reviews find". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  15. Senapathy, Kavin (June 14, 2022). "Conquering Secular and Skeptical White Supremacy in America". The Humanist. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  16. Volokh, Eugene (April 8, 2015). "Society for Science-Based Medicine is "media defendant" under Florida statute". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  17. "Society For Science Based Medicine - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  18. "Bylaws - Society for Science-Based Medicine". sfsbm.org. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022. records from the State of Florida confirming SfSBM as legally a non-for-profit corporation
  19. Novella, Steven (May 1, 2015). "It's Time for Science-Based Medicine". Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  20. "SFSBM - Society for Science-Based Medicine". www.sfsbm.org. Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022. As of 6/19 the Society is undergoing reorganization with a merger with Science-Based Medicine.
  21. "Editors". Science-Based Medicine. August 18, 2009. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  22. Johannes, Laura (May 19, 2014). "Will Getting Grounded Help You Sleep Better and Ease Pain?". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016. says Steven Novella, a clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and executive editor of the blog Science-Based Medicine, which looks at controversies in science and medicine.
  23. Freedman, David H. (July 2011). "The Triumph of New-Age Medicine". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2017. Novella is a highly respected Yale neurologist, and the editor of Science-Based Medicine, an influential blog that has tirelessly gone after alternative medicine.
  24. Horgan, John (May 16, 2016). "Dear "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Less, Mammograms and War More". Scientific American. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  25. Seltzer, Rick (September 26, 2017). "UC Irvine under scrutiny for taking $200 million for school of health from couple some say back junk science". Inside Higher Education. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  26. "Experts denounce clinical trials of unscientific, 'alternative' medicines". ScienceDaily. Cell Press. August 20, 2014. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  27. Chen AT, Taylor-Swanson L, Buie RW, Park A, Conway M (October 2018). "Characterizing Websites That Provide Information About Complementary and Integrative Health: Systematic Search and Evaluation of Five Domains". Interact J Med Res. 7 (2): e14. doi:10.2196/ijmr.9803. PMC 6231734. PMID 30305254.
  28. Weinzierl MA, Harabagiu SM (December 2021). "Automatic detection of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation with graph link prediction". J Biomed Inform. 124: 103955. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103955. PMC 8598278. PMID 34800722.
  29. Hall, Harriet (June 15, 2021). "Book Review: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier". Science-Based Medicine. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  30. Williams, Nathan (August 25, 2021). "Ideology-based medicine". The Critic. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  31. Novella, Steven; Gorski, David (June 30, 2021). "The Science of Transgender Treatment". Science-Based Medicine. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  32. Hall, Harriet (June 17, 2021). "Trans Science: A review of Abigail Shrier's Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters". Skeptic. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  33. Novella, Steven (January 15, 2023). "In Memoriam – Dr. Harriet Hall". sciencebasedmedicine.org. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  34. Kaplan, Alex; Pang, Evelyn (March 31, 2017). "No Scrubs Permitted: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Blog Post Is Not Advertising Actionable Under Lanham Act". Lexology. Archived from the original on August 19, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  35. "Another Free Speech Win In Libel Lawsuit Disguised As A Trademark Complaint". Above the Law. February 24, 2017. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
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