Science-Based Medicine

Science-Based Medicine (or SBM) is a group blog about medicine written from a skeptical viewpoint. As a result, a lot of its content deals with alternative medicine claims.
SBM was founded by Steven Novella, MD.Editors, sciencebasedmedicine.org. It is owned by the (the NESS); Novella is also the NESS's current president as well as one co-founder. In 2020, the blog became part of the Center for Inquiry (CFI) — Quackwatch also joined the CFI that year.David Gorski (August 17, 2020). "Announcement: The Society for Science-Based Medicine is becoming part of the Center for Inquiry. Science-Based Medicine.
==Premise==
The title of the blog reflects one of its goals. The editors of SBM argue, essentially, that the evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement sometimes hasn't been comprehensive enough in taking the full range of scientific knowledge into consideration when making decisions. A key proposal of SBM is for EBM to consider whether treatments have "plausibility" (or "Steven Novella (March 10, 2010). "Plausibility in Science-Based Medicine". Science-Based Medicine. based on scientific principles. In a 2015 article for Skeptical Inquirer on this subject, Steven Novella wrote:Steven Novella (May–June 2015). "It's Time for Science-Based Medicine" Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 39, No. 3.
The last lines are important — SBM doesn't view itself as in a conflict with EBM, but rather an evolution of it, or a re-emphasis on neglected principles.Paul Ingraham (August 26, 2014). "Why 'Science'-Based Instead of 'Evidence'-Based?". PainScience.com. Quote: "EBM and SBM are not competitors. SBM is not intended to usurp EBM — just to emphasize some neglected and abused aspects of it. Was coining a new term the best way to do that? Does it undermine EBM? Should Drs. Novella and Gorski have just put their effort into fighting for better EBM? Maybe. I don't know, and I don’t think it matters much. I think they are fighting for better EBM."Kimball Atwood (February 5, 2010). "Yes, Jacqueline: EBM ought to be Synonymous with SBM". Science-Based Medicine. From the 2008 opening post for the SBM blog:
==Contributors==
The editorial staff for SBM writes regularly and includes:Editors, sciencebasedmedicine.org.
*Steven Novella, MD
*David Gorski, MD, PhD
* MD
* MD
*Harriet Hall, MD
Other contributors for SBM include:Contributors, sciencebasedmedicine.org.
*Joseph Albietz, MD
*Val Jones, MD
*Peter A. Lipson, MD
*Scott Gavura, BScPhm, MBA, RPh
*Jann Bellamy, JD
*Brennen McKenzie, MA, VMD
*John M. Snyder, MD
*Clay Jones, MD
*James Coyne, PhD
*Ben Kavoussi, MS, PA-C
*Linda Rosa, RN
*Lorne Trottier, CM
*David Weinberg, MD
*Steve Hendry, BSc DDS FAGD
*Sam Homola, DC
*Igor Bussel, BS, MS
*Jim Dougherty, MD, MPH, Brig Gen USAF (ret)
*Olle Kjellin, MD, PhD
*Andrey Pavlov, MD student
*Grant Ritchey, DDS
*David W. Ramey, DVM
*David J. Kroll, PhD
*Timothy Kreider
*Martin Lessem, JD
*Eugenie Mielczarek, BS, MS, PhD
==Subjects==
Being a skeptical medical blog, SBM naturally covers relevant subjects of interest that are also part of our purview here at the wiki:
*GreenMedInfohttps://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/tag/sayer-ji/
*NaturalNews
==Retracted article by Harriet Hall==
Harriet Hall was a regular contributor to Science-Based Medicine who normally wrote high-quality content. Some of her later contributions, however, flirted with transphobic viewpoints. Her first few articles on the subject advocated excessive caution about gender transitioning, which was decried by some readers as transphobic. Her first misstep into the shitstorm was her review of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier (who was featured in a PragerU video)To those thinking we're poisoning the well: we realize it's not wholly relevant to the content, but we feel you should know what kind of credibility we're talking about here. that was largely uncritical despite the obvious fearmongering from the book's cover and even the title.Book Review: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier Science-Based Medicine, 17 June 2021 Hall additionally cited very few sources to back her claims, and it's unclear where she's just describing the book's arguments or if she's endorsing the arguments. The comments in the article were largely critical and highlighted basic inaccuracies (such as the claim that in California it is very easy to get top surgery).
This led to two other SBM editors, David Gorski and Steve Novella, to pull the article and leave a note: "After careful review, the editors of SBM decided to retract this book review. Because we allow trusted authors to publish without prior review for the sake of efficiency and timeliness, occasionally corrections need to be made post-publication. In this case we felt there were too many issues with the treatment of the relevant science, and leaving the article up would not be appropriate given the standards of SBM." The note then says it's not an act of censorship and people can try to respectfully discuss in the comments section, but that didn't stop Michael Shermer from republishing the article in Skeptic.com who initially left a note saying that SBM has a "far-left progressive political bias that has compromised their otherwise stellar reputation as a trustworthy source", though it was later removed from Skeptic's repost.Hall, H. (18 June 2021) Trans Science: A review of Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters Skeptic.com. Accessed June 19, 2021.
==See also==
*Ben Goldacre
*Edzard Ernst
==External links==
*Science-Based Medicine homepage.
*Science-Based Pharmacy
*Society for Science-Based Medicine, co-founded by some of the SBM bloggers.
Some links on SBM concepts
*"About SBM". Contains a further reading list (contents are thus omitted here).
*Kimball Atwood (2011). "Cochrane is Starting to 'Get' SBM!". Science-Based Medicine. Contains another further reading list (these are also thus omitted here).
*Val Jones (2008). "When Further Research Is NOT Warranted: The 'Wisdom of Crowds' Fallacy". Science-Based Medicine.
*David Gorski (2009). "When fraud undermines science-based medicine". Science-Based Medicine.
*Val Jones (2009). "Science-Based Medicine 101: How To Establish A Source's Credibility". Science-Based Medicine.
*Val Jones (2009). "Science-Based Medicine 101: Plausibility". Science-Based Medicine.
*Val Jones (2009). "Science-Based Medicine 101: Reproducibility". Science-Based Medicine.
*David Gorski (2010). "Lies, damned lies, and…science-based medicine?". Science-Based Medicine.
*Steven Novella (2011). "CAM and Evidenced-Based Medicine". Science-Based Medicine.
*David Gorski (2011). "Answering another criticism of science-based medicine". Science-Based Medicine.
*Harriet Hall (2013). "Philosophy Meets Medicine". Science-Based Medicine.
*Harriet Hall (2015). "Science Based Medicine" (video course). YouTube.
*Steven Novella (2015). "It's Time for Science-Based Medicine". Skeptical Inquirer.
*David Gorski (2016). "The hijacking of evidence-based medicine". Science-Based Medicine.
*James Thomas (2016). "Why Science-Based Medicine Matters". Science-Based Medicine.
*Steven Novella (2017). "Responding to SBM Critics". Science-Based Medicine.
*David Gorski (2022). "Science-based medicine isn't just for CAM. The case of ivermectin shows that it never was.". Science-Based Medicine.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Alternative medicine
Category:Skeptical organizations
Category:Blogs
Category:Medicine