What is truly scary these days is that some mainstream medics buy into a lot of unproven woo alternative medicine. When you seek medical care, would you really what to be given something that has never been proven to work?
So how can you keep your finger on the pulse and check up on anything offered to you? Well, here are a few useful links that can help you to do just that.
First up we have : Science Based Medicine
The editorial staff of Science-Based Medicine is composed of physicians who, alarmed at the manner in which unscientific and pseudoscientific health care ideas have increasingly infiltrated academic medicine and medicine at large, have decided to do their part to examine these claims in the light of science and skepticism. We at SBM believe that medicine based on science is the best medicine and tirelessly promote science-based medicine through discussion of the role of science and medicine, as well as the interface between science, medicine, and (unfortunately) pseudoscience.
SBM is a completely independent endeavor. We receive no industry funding and have no conflicts of interest. Our only goal is to promote high standards of science in medicine.
If interesting in finding out about something specific, then they have a search button you can make full use of.
Next we have : Quackwatch.
Quackwatch is an international network of people who are concerned about health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct. Its primary focus is on quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. They have now grown so much that they maintain the following topic specific sites:-
- Acupuncture Watch (started 2/05): The skeptical guide to acupuncture history, theories, and practices
- Allergy Watch (8/07): Your guide to questionable theories and practices.
- Autism Watch (7/04): Your scientific guide to autism
- Cancer Treatment Watch (8/05): Your guide to sensible cancer treatment
- Casewatch (7/04): Your guide to health fraud- and quackery-related legal matters
- Chelation Watch (7/04): A skeptical view of chelation therapy
- Chirobase (10/98): Your skeptical guide to chiropractic history, theories, and practices
- Credential Watch (2/05): Your guide to health-related education and training
- Dental Watch (6/02): Your guide to intelligent dental care
- Device Watch (7/04): Your guide to questionable medical devices
- Diet Scam Watch (11/04): Your guide to weight-control schemes and ripoffs
- Homeowatch (11/01): Your skeptical guide to homeopathic history, theories, and practices
- Infomercial Watch (7/04): A critical view of the health infomercial marketplace
- Internet Health Pilot (1/02): Your gateway to reliable health information
- Insurance Reform Watch (4/09): Your guide to an equitable health care system
- Mental Health Watch (7/04): Your guide to the mental help marketplace
- MLM Watch (1/99): The skeptical guide to multilevel marketing
- Naturowatch (6/03): The skeptical guide to naturopathic history, theories, and practices
- NCCAM Watch (11/05): An antidote to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Nutriwatch (3/00): Your guide to sensible nutrition
- Pharmwatch (8/05): Your guide to the drug marketplace and lower costs
And of course, as with any good site, they also have a search facility.
Finally we have : PubMed
This is not a skeptical site at all, rather this is where you can come if you wish to seek out details for studies on a specific topic
PubMed comprises approximately 20 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and preclinical sciences. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant Web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources.
PubMed is a free resource that is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Sanity Warning: It can be challenging to find what you are looking for, you need to find the right terms, so you may find that some of your earlier attempts to look for something simply give you enough to get your search terms correct.
So there you have it then, a collect of resources you can utilize to help you to become informed and assist you in filtering out the woo.
Two final words are the key: Be Skeptical.