Long article on Oprah and woo meds in The Star

[grmcdorman]

Is Oprah Winfrey giving us bad medicine? (The Star is a major Canadian newspaper).

By giving a platform to disciples of dubious medical practices a well-intentioned Oprah Winfrey has made herself a force for ill, writes a U.S. doctor alarmed by 'the Oprah-fication' of medicine

The author is David Gorski.

Woos are out in force in the comments, though; many saying how the medical establishment is "corrupt" and some even going so far as to accuse the article author of being "bought" by "Big Pharma".

More choice quotes:

Unfortunately, Oprah displays as close to no critical-thinking skills when it comes to science and medicine as I've ever seen, and uses the vast influence her TV show and media empire give her in order to subject the world to her special brand of mystical New Age thinking and belief in various forms of what can only be characterized as dubious medical therapies at best and quackery at worst.

The absolute worst of Oprah's protégées is the celebrity spokesmodel for the anti-vaccine movement, Jenny McCarthy. Beginning in the fall of 2007, McCarthy, characterized as having "warrior spirit" and as a "warrior mom," has been a regular guest on Oprah, where she's been given more or less free rein to spread her gospel of vaccines causing autism and her claims that biomedical quackery can "cure" or "recover" autistic children.

The bottom line is that, when it comes to medicine and science, [Oprah] is a force for ill. Her intentions may be the best in the world, but that is only why she is the living embodiment of the cliché that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That's especially true when that same road is also paved with no mental filter of critical thinking to keep out nonsense. With great power comes great responsibility, indeed.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I just finished reading it. Good for the Star. Though I note two full page for back pain curing machines in the same issue.

A more complete article by the same author is at:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=497

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Now I just finished reading the article at the url. The Star piece is a somewhat tamed abbreviation of the original. Great slams at the whole raft of "Oprah certified" experts.

 

[grmcdorman]

The article, in the print version, is the lead piece in the Insight section (and covers nearly a full page inside). The first quote is in large print under the headline "Bad Medicine". It's good that they made it so prominent.