Week No 6 | 05/02/2020

Pseudoscience: Novartis vs Paltrow

It’s pseudoscience week. Science is viewed by an increasingly atheistic or agnostic world as the new religion. So it’s becoming ever more important to lambast those who play outside the rules of science, or so-called evidence-based medicine. The trouble is there isn’t a level playing field to allow unbiased refereeing. The main team in town is owned by the people with the deepest pockets. In our healthcare world, that’s Big Pharma and the associated payers and providers that prop the system up. So anyone who dares to disrupt the dependence by the millions of citizens who currently rely on mainstream health services, doesn’t necessarily get judged fairly. Equally, Big Pharma, because it owns and controls the referees, gets away with blue murder, or should I say, pseudoscience.

Our two pieces this week go right to the heart of this issue. Our first story, including a podcast and vidcast that I did with UK award-winning health journalist and author, Jerome Burne, exposes some of the elements around Novartis’ inclisiran story that you won’t hear about in the mainstream media. In case you missed it, that’s the jab you’re going to be able to get twice yearly from 2023 that’s going to lower your LDL cholesterol and potentially replace statins. You could be invited to participate in a trial, so it’s time to get smart on what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

Our next piece is on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Lab that’s been lambasted in the press for pushing pseudoscience down the throats of a naïve public. Not much has been said about our need to defend freedom of expression – so we make this point – as well as taking a look under the bonnet of what the Goop Lab is actually trying to do, sometimes with a little humour thrown in. It seems to be a classic case of any publicity is good publicity.

In our weekly news round-up, we point to a US legal challenge against outdated guidelines that don't give adequate protection against 5G bandwidths, more scientific evidence of the dangers of artificial sweeteners especially for babies, the US EPA's wacky review of the safety of glyphosate that ignores a growing body of contrary evidence, and more.

In health, naturally, and with respect for our guiding principles, good science and good law,

Rob Verkerk PhD

Founder, executive & scientific director

Is news on the statin-beating, cholesterol-lowering jab too good to be true?

05/02/2020

Award-winning journalist Jerome Burne and ANH’s Rob Verkerk explore behind the headlines