Big Pharma

{{bronze}}
[[File:Glivec 400mg.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Incredibly overpriced cancer-treatment medication.]]
{{conspiracy}}{{cquote|Repeat after me: pharma being shit ''does not mean'' magic beans cure cancer.|||[[Ben Goldacre]]<ref>Goldacre, Ben. [http://twitter.com/bengoldacre/status/15857117862 Twitter.]</ref>}}
'''Big Pharma''' is the pejorative nickname given to the pharmaceutical industry. Critics of the industry often use this nickname when discussing abuses by the industry, including:

*Trying to suck every penny out of the pockets of the sick, injured, dying, and [[hypochondria]]cs<ref group=note>The hypochondriacs would gladly pay every ''sou'' they have, no matter what Big Pharma does. On second thought, there are alternatives like surgery that they are willing to pay for.</ref>
*Inventing new [[disease|maladies]] so people will buy more [[Medicine|drugs]] (as opposed to inventing better drugs so more people would become addicts)
*[[Censor]]ing alternative treatments that would be cheaper or more effective, rather than [[patent]]ing and industrializing them (much as proponents of [[free energy]] claim censorship by energy companies, without basis)
*Renaming old maladies so people will think their conditions are more serious, making them more willing to pay higher prices for prescriptions<ref>[http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?p=306127 Paxil Progress Forum: New Year's Resolutions for Big Pharma]</ref>

There are [[scientific]]ally literate criticisms of Big Pharma. However, the overwhelming majority of criticism comes from non-scientific bases. Many [[alternative medicine]] merchants (such as [[homeopath]]s and [[naturopath]]s) stridently blame most or all opposition on Big Pharma rather than, say, a lack of scientific [[evidence]] for their claims.

==Actual problems==
{{cquote|Twelve years ago, we adopted a coronavirus program and started making vaccines for SARS and MERS. Then when the [[COVID-19]] sequence came online in early 2020, we made two low-cost COVID vaccine technologies that were adopted by [[India]] and [[Indonesia]]. We transferred the tech to the pharmaceutical companies Biological E and BioFarma, which scaled up and produced Corbevax and IndoVac, respectively. One hundred million doses were administered. With that, we were able to provide proof of concept that you don't have to be a big pharma company to do big things. That has been very meaningful.|||{{wpl|Peter Hotez|Peter Jay Hotez|,}} Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine<ref>[https://www.sciencenews.org/sponsored/conversations-with-maya-peter-hotez "Conversations with Maya"] by Maya Ajmera & Peter Hotez (January 13, 2024) ''Science News''. Pages 28-29.</ref>}}
The pharmaceutical industry ''does'' have issues.

===Opioid deaths===
Since 2010, there have been more overdoses resulting in death in the [[United States]] from prescription opioid pharmaceuticals than [[heroin]] and other street narcotics.<ref>[https://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Memo-OI-Opioids-2015-4-23.pdf MEMORANDUM Committee on Energy and Commerce Democratic Staff], April 21, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.cpxOGbvZ.dpbs "Annual Causes of Death in the United States"]. ''drugwarfacts.org''.</ref> The [[Centers for Disease Control]] (CDC) also classifies prescription drugs as the leading cause of injury from overdose.<ref>Rudd, Rose A. et al. [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6450a3.htm Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014.] ''Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report''. CDC. January 1, 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html Prescription Opioid Data.] CDC.</ref> The opioid epidemic is a powerful example of actual sins by the pharmaceutical industry, and rather big ones. This is one area where it wouldn't be hyperbole to say Big Pharma has blood on its hands...but strangely, antivaxxers aren't outspoken about this one.

===Advertising===
While many countries allow over-the-counter drugs to be [[advertising|advertised]], only the [[United States]] and [[New Zealand]] allow prescription drugs to be advertised on television. Many critics believe Big Pharma has abused this tolerance by pushing drugs that may not be effective or applicable to their conditions on viewers.<ref>[http://drugabuse.com/big-pharma-are-they-advertising-addiction/ Big Pharma: Are They Advertising Addiction? ]</ref><ref>[http://ivn.us/2012/05/03/big-pharmas-direct-to-consumer-advertising-corrupts-americas-health-culture/ Big Pharma’s Direct to Consumer Advertising Corrupts America’s Health Culture ]</ref> In the United States, TV advertisements for pharmaceuticals must list the major side effects that were detected during the drug's safety trials; this disclosure can give the false impression that older drugs (the ones that came out before TV advertising was an option) are safer than all these newfangled drugs, when in fact the older drugs tend to have just as many side effects as the new ones do. (The litany of side effects for aspirin, for example, would fill several pages.)

In American [[democracy]], no such re-examinations have been forthcoming. To prevent any change which would impact their profits; the healthcare industry spends ''4 times'' as much as defense contractors lobbying in Washington.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1549575961</ref>{{better source|404, archive link is to imdb page requiring adobe flashplayer}} To the contrary, the latest update to the Medicare program for senior medical care ("Medicare Part D") explicitly ''prevents'' the government from negotiating prices with Big Pharma for the drugs it buys. The taxpayers' largesse toward Big Pharma was spearheaded through the selfless efforts of Senator Chuck Grassley, a [[Republican]] from [[Iowa]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/washington/18cnd-medicare.html "Bill to Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices Is Blocked"], ''New York Times'', April 18, 2007</ref> Of course, it's ''purely a [[coincidence]]'' that the medical industry is the leading contributor to Grassley's political fundraising.<ref>[http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00001758 Opensecrets.org campaign funding entry for Sen. Chuck Grassley]</ref> Great job, GOP.

Thanks, in part, to televised pushing of prescription drugs, the United States &mdash; which makes up 5% of the world's population &mdash; accounts for ''42%'' of the money spent on prescription drugs.<ref name="a"/> Meanwhile, as a result of this abuse, the New Zealand government is reconsidering whether it should continue to allow Big Pharma to advertise prescription drugs on television.

===Medicalization and renaming===
Big Pharma often enlists the help of advertising executives to coin names for new maladies and rename old maladies to try to expand the number of prescriptions written. One new malady is '''Restless Leg Syndrome''' or '''RLS''', which is caused by too much stress, not enough sleep and the use of stimulants ([[caffeine]] mostly), [[alcohol]], H<sub>2</sub>-histamine blockers, iron deficiency or insufficiency, and certain [[Antidepressant|antidepressants]]. Back in the day when people only worked one [[job]], RLS wasn't much of a problem. However, because some Americans now need to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, RLS is much more common. Requip<sup>TM,</sup><ref>Requip<sup>TM</sup> website [http://www.requip.com/]</ref> as a result, is the RLS treatment most often advertised on American TV.

Because old diseases don't have the emotional punch that [[HIV|three]]- and [[MRSA|four]]-letter acronyms have and the fact in order to sell a drug it has to treat a disease, Big Pharma regularly practices [[Newspeak]] and creates new names or even new diseases, which has been coined "disease mongering" or "medicalization".<ref>Wolinksy, Howard. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1369125/ Disease mongering and drug marketing.] ''EMBO reports''. 2005 Jul; 6(7): 612–614. PMC. doi:[https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.embor.7400476 10.1038/sj.embor.7400476]</ref><ref>Moynihan, Ray, et al. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122833/ Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering.] ''BMJ''. 2002 Apr 13; 324(7342): 886–891. PMC. doi:[https://dx.doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.324.7342.886 10.1136/bmj.324.7342.886]</ref><ref>[http://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/newsevents/ucm453718.pdf Female Sexual Dysfunction.] ''FDA''. June, 2015. The Voice of the Patient.</ref><ref>http://orgasminc.org/about-synopsis.php</ref> These new names are often 3 or 4 words long, allowing for them to form a catchy acronym for the condition.<ref name="a">CBS News, ''A Nation of Pill-Takers'' [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/22/sunday/main2112942.shtml]</ref> One example is '''Erectile Dysfunction''' or '''[[Encyclopedia Dramatica|ED]]'''. It's bad enough when she says "it happens to every man" at some time. It's worse when, a few days later, her family and friends start addressing  you as "The Old Softie." Priapism is the term for that certain side effect where the man has a prolonged<ref group=note>Pun intended</ref> erection without being aroused. Thank the advertising firm for Cialis,<sup>TM</sup> which was the first to incorporate the "four-hour erection"<ref group=note>The big secret they are keeping from us is why it's four hours and not three and a half.</ref> 
boast
 warning in their product's commercials.

===Ghostwriting===
One of the big problems with Big Pharma is the practice of ghostwriting. This involves pharmaceutical companies paying off doctors to [[Argument from authority|slap their names on some glowing review or commentary]], which is little more than an advertisement for a product and then attempt to slip it into medical journals. A particularly egregious case of this was when pharmaceutical companies hyped menopausal hormone replacement therapy for off-label therapies and downplayed the risk of breast [[cancer]].<ref>Fugh-Berman AJ (2010) [http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000335 The Haunting of Medical Journals: How Ghostwriting Sold “HRT”.] ''PLoS Med'' 7(9). (See also [http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/ghostwriting-as-marketing-tool/ further commentary by Steven Novella.])</ref> In one instance, Merck even managed to get an entire bogus journal set up by [[Elsevier]] called the ''Australasian Journal of Joint and Bone Medicine''.<ref>[http://blog.bioethics.net/2009/05/merck-makes-phony-peerreview-journal/ Merck Makes Phony Peer-Review Journal], Bio Ethics, further [http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-05/merck-and-elsevier-create-peer-reviewed-advertorial?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=4&con=merck-and-elsevier-create-peerreviewed-advertorial- Merck and Elsevier Create "Peer-Reviewed" Advertorial]. See also [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/when_big_pharma_pays_a_publisher_to_publ.php further commentary by Orac.]</ref>

===Publication bias===
Another problem with the influence of pharmaceutical corporations is the possibility of [[publication bias]] in research they sponsor. Pharmaceuticals carrying out their own [[clinical trial]]s must register the trials in a database by law, but they are not required to disclose the results of all of their trials. This enables them to inflate the effectiveness of a drug by sitting on negative trial data.<ref>[http://blogs.plos.org/speakingofmedicine/2010/11/01/publication-duty-for-big-pharma/ Publication Duty for Big Pharma], PloS Medicine</ref> Ben Goldacre is a noted critic of the way in which pharmaceutical companies refuse to [[release the data]] from negative and inconclusive trials.

===Revolving door===
[[File:Pfizer.svg|thumb|right|250px|Pfizer has the worst reputation in the entire US pharmaceutical industry.<ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/pharmaceutical-company-reputation-rankings-2018-6 These are the most — and least — reputable drug companies in the US]. ''Business Insider.''</ref> They deserve it.<ref>[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/pfizer-used-charity-to-mask-heart-drug-price-hikes-u-s-says Pfizer Used Charity to Mask Heart Drug Price Hikes, U.S. Says]. ''Bloomberg.''</ref><ref>[https://fortune.com/longform/pfizer-drug-problem-fortune-500/ Critical Condition: Inside Pfizer’s Drug Supply Problem]. ''Fortune.''</ref><ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/Business/pfizer-fined-23-billion-illegal-marketing-off-label/story?id=8477617 Pfizer fined $2.3 billion for illegal marketing in off-label drug case]. ''ABC News.''</ref><ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/12/07/pfizer-fined-106m-2600-price-hike-epilepsy-drug/95084786/ Pfizer fined $106M for 2600% price hike on epilepsy drug]. ''USA Today.''</ref><ref>[https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/amid-drug-price-increases-pfizer-ceo-gets-61-pay-raise-to-27-9-million/ Pfizer CEO gets 61% pay raise—to $27.9 million—as drug prices continue to climb]. ''Ars Technica.''</ref>]]
{{wpl|Billy Tauzin}} (pron. toe-zan), a former Louisiana Democrat who jumped ship to become a [[Newt Gingrich|Gingrich]] crony as part of the [[Southern Strategy]], quit Congress to negotiate a $76 billion deal for Big Pharma with [[Obama]] as part of the Democrat's emergency spending package and [[Obamacare]].<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/prescriptions/2009/08/obamas_biggest_health_reform_blunder.html Obama's Biggest Health Reform Blunder], How Big Pharma's Billy Tauzin conned the White House out of $76 billion, By Timothy Noah, ''Slate'', 6 August 2009.</ref>

===Price gouging===
One of the realities of the marketplace and drug patents is that every company has a monopoly on every non-generic drug they produce. This results in monopoly pricing, complete with varying prices between countries, to the point where the same drug can cost 100 times what it does in one place as another.<ref>[http://esofosbuvir.com/harvoni-cost-in-usa-canada-europe-egypt-india/ Harvoni cost by country]</ref> Why not start a business where you buy in the cheap countries and sell in the expensive ones? Sorry, that's illegal due to effective lobbying. The pharmaceutical will defend the price gouging by claiming they need to recoup the cost of research and development, a claim that would make sense except for the minor fact that the companies spend far more on ''marketing'' than on R&D.<ref>Swanson, Anna (February 11, 2015) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/11/big-pharmaceutical-companies-are-spending-far-more-on-marketing-than-research/?utm_term=.b90f4ad9f346 Big pharmaceutical companies are spending far more on marketing than research]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved August 14, 2018</ref>

===Sexism (mostly fixed)===
{{main|Sexism}}
Historically, most pharmaceuticals were not tested on female lab rats (or, for that matter, on female humans). However, in May of 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that to receive their funding studies include roughly 50/50% ratios of male to female cells, lab rats, and human subjects. This notably does not mandate these standards for all drug tests in the US, only those funded by the NIH. In 1993, the [[FDA]] repealed a 16-year-old policy that has excluded most women with "childbearing potential" from the earliest phases of clinical trials.<ref>Merkatz, Ruth B. et al. [http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199307223290429 Women in Clinical Trials of New Drugs -- A Change in Food and Drug Administration Policy.] ''NEJM''. July 22, 1993; 329:292-296. DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199307223290429.</ref>

===Crushing Medicare for All===
One thing that drug manufacturers all agreed on was to strangle Medicare for All in its crib.<ref>https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/03/big-pharma-insurers-hospitals-team-up-to-kill-medicare-for-all/</ref> According to OpenSecrets, "Depending on the version of the bill, it would likely create stricter regulation on drug prices, eliminate the need for some private insurers and cut the bottom line for hospitals that rely on private insurance reimbursement rates." Indeed, the combined amount of spending they reported on was "$143 million" in 2018 alone. This is despite MDA being a single-payer healthcare system,<ref>https://www.healthline.com/health/medicare/medicare-for-all-vs-single-payer</ref> something that a majority of the US wants,<ref>https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/28/most-americans-now-support-medicare-for-all-and-free-college-tuition.html</ref><ref>https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/</ref> essentially making Big Pharma part of the [[plutocracy]].

===Reputation fuels conspiracies===
The cumulative effect of lobbying and pharma's bad reputation over many years has the inevitable effect of being used as fuel for the fire of anti-vaccination conspiracy theories.<ref>https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/26/anti-vaccine-movement-pharma-tarnished-reputation/</ref> From trying to get favours by putting money in the pocket of [[Donald Trump]]'s personal attourney<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/business/novartis-trump-michael-cohen.html</ref> to engaging in literal research fraud,<ref>https://www.science.org/content/article/falsified-data-grizzly-bear-study-leads-paper-retraction</ref><ref>https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/astrazeneca-buy-acerta-faked-cancer-drug-data-company-admits</ref> it would hardly be difficult to make a conspiracy theory of one's own purely focusing on Big Pharma's character.

==Conspiracy theories==
[[File:Industria Novartis.jpg|thumb|right|Novartis? More like '''''Nefarious'''''.]]
{{cquote|"Tell your doctor..." Tell your Doctor? Shouldn't your doctor tell you what drugs you need? If you tell your doctor, isn't he just a dealer at that point?|||[[Bill Maher]], ''Victory Begins at Home''}}
While the pharmaceutical companies, as shown above, do have a lot to answer for regarding their [[business]] practices, some critics of Big Pharma go way, ''way'' beyond the realm of well-deserved criticism of these corporations.

The groups that push Big Pharma conspiracies tend to fall into two camps which often overlap: [[alternative medicine]] [[crank]]s, [[quackery|quacks]], and other woo-meisters as well as stock [[conspiracy theorists]]. Big Pharma plays the [[Satan|villain]] in the quack [[persecution complex]] as it works tirelessly to suppress their "brilliant cures". The general train of thought behind those who reject [[evidence-based medicine]] is that the entirety of medical [[science]] (or "[[Western medicine]]") is fraudulent and all the studies and [[experiment]]s are bogus. Any studies showing inefficacy of a treatment are immediately latched onto as "proof" that medical science is bunk by [[Joseph Mercola]] and [[Mike Adams]] types.<ref group=note>NaturalNews types love these sorts of things, like (warning: link contains high levels of bullshit) [http://www.naturalnews.com/030209_placebo_medical_fraud.html this one placebo study] that apparently proves medical science to be definitively wrong in everything. The other dumb thing about this is, if all these medical studies are bogus and a medical study is done on bogus research, how is this new study any more valid from their point of view?</ref> Then there are the really cranky cancer conspiracies revolving around the idea that Big Pharma invented the cure for cancer but is covering it up.<ref>[http://skepticblog.org/2011/05/16/another-cure-for-cancer/ Another Cure for Cancer?] [[Steven Novella]]</ref> This is a popular one among [[Raw foodism|raw foodists]] who believe raw food is "the cure that Big Pharma doesn't want you to know about." There is also a new bunch of fringe theorists, who think that all cancer is a fungus, and that all scientific studies on cancer are therefore frauds. This is all supported by one [[Italy|Italian]] oncologist, called Tullio Simoncini.<ref>[http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/salud/salud_defeatcancer30.htm Cancer is A Fungus and It Is Curable] By [[David Icke]]</ref> Ironically, he is under investigation for fraud and homicide after his treatments killed a woman with breast cancer.<ref>[http://anaximperator.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/sylvia-dies/ Breast Cancer Patient Sylvia Dies After Being Treated by Tullio Simoncini with Sodium Bicarbonate]</ref><ref group=note>There may be some truth in these theories. Occasionally, the [[BBC]] takes seriously an unproved allegation that a drug company is blocking licensing of a relatively cheap, presumably less profitable, drug to treat an eye condition. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31600121 NHS 'must step in' over Avastin row]</ref> [[Vaccine hysteria|Anti-vaxxers]] also live on Big Pharma conspiracy theories. This opens the door for the woo-meisters to peddle their [[bullshit]], because, you see, they actually care about you while Big Pharma has a [[Money|profit]] motive and they don't. Nuh-uh, no profit motive for quackery at all. Just pure all-natural goodness like [[nature woo|nature intended]], naturally, of course.

The conspiracy theorists generally come from the viewpoint of the relationship between Big Pharma and the government. Usually this involves the use of [[chemtrails]] or [[water fluoridation]] as [[mind control]] substances to prepare us to accept the coming [[New World Order]]. Either that or they are being used to intentionally keep us sick so Big Pharma can rake in the dough by causing our illnesses and then selling us the cure. The "[[cancer industry]]" conspiracy goes even further, including everybody even tangentially involved with oncology.

Some promoters of [[fad diet|fad diets]] claim Big Pharma is suppressing evidence of the health of their preferred diet, in order to make you get sick so you'll need medicine.

Due to the law of [[crank magnetism]], these two groups often merge into an unholy alliance of crankery. This is how sites like [[NaturalNews|Natural News]], [[Jeff Rense|Rense]], and that paragon of crankery, [[Whale.to]] are born. 

===Brave Maverick Doctor===
The '''Brave Maverick Doctor''' is a part of the mythos of [[woo]], [[anti-science]] and [[conspiracy|conspiracist]] thinking generally. In the usual scenario, a "brave maverick doctor"<ref>[http://photoninthedarkness.com/?p=106 Myths and legends of autism], A Photon In The Darkness</ref> invents a [[miracle cure]] for [[cancer]], [[AIDS]], [[autism]], [[Lyme disease#Chronic Lyme disease|chronic Lyme disease]], [[malaria]], and toe fungus, but this is suppressed by evil Big Pharma and he is hounded by [[skeptic|Big Pharma Shills]] who cause trouble with advertising and medical regulators on the wholly spurious grounds that nobody else in the entire world has ever managed to duplicate the effect of the miracle cure. Large numbers of Brave Maverick Doctors are not doctors at all; many claim the title ND, which stands for "[[Doctor of Naturopathy|Not a Doctor]]".

For examples, see:
* [[BX Protocol]]<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7jISq_GfIY&index=1&list=PL0i2qLgc7uAGuGfUQ6T6NOyeOxZip01O7 BX Protocol's "Dr" Smith does his Big-Pharma "suppression" routine on YouTube.]</ref>
* [[Burzynski clinic]]
* [[Miracle Mineral Solution]]

==Summary==
So, yes, pharma sucks. But it's not involved in a scheme to [[useless eaters|depopulate the planet]], put mind control chemicals in the water supply via fluoridation, or suppress cancer cures, as far as we know.

==See also==
*[[Big science]]
*[[Big Placebo]]
*[[Shill gambit]]
*''[[Thrive]]''
*[[Essay:Big Pharma is funding the Anti-vaccine movement]]
*[[Iatrogenesis]]

==External links==
*[http://www.phrma.org/ PhRMA website]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgoB2h_Wkco "The Drugs I Need"]: Cartoon by Consumers Union satirizing Big Pharma's TV ad campaigns.
*[http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/category/pharmaceuticals/ Science-Based Medicine's topic for pharma issues]
*[http://www.badscience.net/category/big-pharma/ Ben Goldacre's Big Pharma posts]
*[http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/big_pharma_makes_it_tough_to_be_a_skeptic When "Big Pharma" Makes It Tough to be a Skeptic] by Rebecca Watson
*Gagnon M-A, Lexchin J (2008) [http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050001 The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States.] PLoS Med 5(1)
*[http://conspiracytheories.lcc.gatech.edu/index.php/Big_Pharma_Conspiracy The Big Pharma Conspiracy], Georgia Tech Conspiracy Wiki
*[http://www.pointofinquiry.org/barry_beyerstein_the_sins_of_big_pharma/ The Sins of Big Pharma], Point of Inquiry interview with Barry Beyerstein
*[http://edzardernst.com/2016/05/conspiracy-theories-assumptions-opinions-evidence-and-scientific-facts/ Conspiracy theories, assumptions, opinions, evidence and scientific facts], [[Edzard Ernst]]

==Notes==
<references group="note"/>
==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats]]
[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Big Stuff]]
[[Category:Arguments against evidence-based medicine]]
[[category:Woo]]

Categories: Medicine, Conspiracy theories, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, Alternative medicine, Neologisms, Big Stuff, Arguments against evidence-based medicine, Woo