Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 4.14

  • The Truth about Daniel Sunjata’s Truther-ism – Sunjata plays a firefighter on FX’s “Rescue Me” and is a 9/11 Truther.  Apparently some 9/11 truthisms were recently mentioned on the show, as well.  From Karl.
  • Stem cells spur new eggs in ovaries of adult mice – Elyse’s synopsis is awesome: “Stemcells can be used to make new eggs in mouse ovaries… eggs which can then be used to make more stem cells to make more eggs!  Prepare for the proletariat-mouse uprising!”
  • Legislation would regulate Colorado’s naturopaths – “A Colorado couple is fighting in memory of their son’s life for legislation that would regulate naturopathic doctors.” From Michel.
  • Evolutionary medicine – Harriet Hall reviews William Meller’s Evolution Rx: A Physician’s Guide to Harnessing Our Innate Capacity for Health and Healing.

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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16 Comments

  1. Breaking news on the mouse stem-cell article:

    “Not everyone is pleased with the direction of this research. Mouse Pope eeEEÆƵ XIV has issued a papal squeek in response: ‘This meddling into reproduction presents a clear danger of eroding the moral underpinnings of mousekind. If we continue to press into the realm of the Creator, we risk future generations who may have substantially different values and actions. Imagine mice who do not scurry or eat books or crap in the silverware drawer. This is the kind of future that we risk.’ “

  2. Regulating woo. Good thing or bad thing? This is defiantly one of the subjects skeptics find themselves arguing over.

    Part of me thinks that it’s a good thing, have naturopaths prove scientifically that what they do works and the state will give you a license, then 3 years later when no licenses have been issued the state can shrug it’s shoulders and correctly claim it’s not their fault, no ones proved that any of this works scientifically.

    Of course I am not so naive, I’m sure naturopaths would be put in charge of the licensing process. Thus licensing only adds legitimacy to this nonsense.

    Then again, licensing could force out the most egregious offenders of woo, leaving the field to the mostly harmless, such as the complimentary half of the complimentary/ alternative medicine field, such as those who encourage modern/real cancer treatments but offer acupuncture for the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy.
    Hmm… My opinion is ????

  3. I’m a 9/11/1390 truther. There is no way the Teutonic Knights began a five-week siege of Vilnius on September 11th, 1390. It was an inside job. And any parchments detailing the Lithuanian government’s version of the event are obvious forgeries. Now I just need a fake firefighter to casually mention this conspiracy during a popular television show…

  4. I would have thought ‘Mouse Pope’ would have been all for it. Doesn’t his doctrine define a females worth by how many children she can produce? Now they can extend that useful lifespan by allowing them to give birth to new drones..uh..children until the uterus drops out.

    On a more serious note – were the new oocytes carrying the genetic material of the mouse or that of the donor?

  5. @Lyc: were the new oocytes carrying the genetic material of the mouse or that of the donor?
    The article doesn’t say, but I would assume that the new oocytes carry the genetic material from the donor since the egg is produced directly from the stem cell and not simply spurred on by the stem cell. There was no mention of replacing the genetic material in the stem cell with the recipient genetic material. Wouldn’t that mean the Mama Mouse would need to take anti-rejection drugs? Would that interfere with the pregnancy?
    It’s a good question for Dr. Ji Wu if anyone knows enough Chinese to shoot an email to Shanghai.

  6. “the legislation is unnecessary and would criminalize holistic health practices being done all over the state.”
    Fixed it.

  7. “House Bill 1157 would require naturopathic doctors be registered with the state, establish some oversight and set standards for education.”

    Am I to cynical in my thinking that if this does get established it will be useless? I am fairly sure they are going to appoint a naturopath the leader, they will root out the naturopaths who don’t pay their dues and about nothing else.

    We need to hold them to evidence based standards to make any change. I really don’t see this if passed changing much.

    Also, all the information I have came from the original article. Does know where to find the actual bill in question? My searches have not come up with the bill in question.

  8. The good “doctors” want to be called doctors without any of the responsibility or accountability that comes with it. It’s only right, since they don’t have the knowledge, or brains, or dignity, that comes with it.

  9. Maybe I am naive, but aren’t naturopathic “doctors” already licensed? They are either physicians, in which case they have a medical license, or they are *not* physicians and they are practicing medicine without a license, which is a crime.
    Am I wrong?

  10. Thank you. You just gave me another name for my b*tch-slap list.

    I grew up in Northern Virginia, worked in downtown DC on 9/11 – as did my husband and many of my friends – and had to look at that Pentagon plume of smoke for a week and drive by the gaping hole for a few weeks until they started cleaning it up.

    9/11 truthers make me completely irrational. And I always find it interesting how it’s the Californians or Europeans who are most vocal about it. They didn’t have to be here to look at the damage and live with National Guardsmen standing next to their HUM-V’s with their automatic rifles on every major DC street corner for a week after the attack.

  11. @Chasmosaur: I actually know people from the airlines and in the military that saw 9/11 happen. One of them was in the Pentagon parking lot and saw the plane hit the building. I’ll believe them long before I’ll believe someone bashing on a keyboard from who-knows-where.

  12. @durnett:

    It wasn’t so much the rejection I was thinking of (but it crossed my mind), but what would happen in a ‘male’ stem cell line was implanted.

    Would some of the new eggs have a Y chromosome rather than an X, or would the gametes simply dump the Y as a ‘defective egg’? Would the ovaries start trying to produce sperm generating tissue, and possibly self fertilize causing a world of hurt?

    Also if a limited stem cell line is used over and over, the potential for inbreeding jumps by an order of magnitude.

  13. @QuestionAuthority:

    Oh god, most of my friends have stories – we all lived and/or worked Arlington or just over the river. Which is why I want to b*tch-slap the conspiracy theorists. There were so many people who saw the plane go in. Schmucks.

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