Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digestâs primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.
In memoriam: Harriet Hall (1945-2023). Beginning with her first published article in 2003, Harriet âSkepDocâ Hall, M.D., gained a devoted following of scientists, health professionals, and consumers around the world who treasured her clarity, wisdom, wit, intellectual humility, and humanity. Her many writings, lectures, and other media appearances addressed a wide range of topics including pseudoscience, questionable health claims, quackery, âalternativeâ medicine, science-based medicine, controversial medical practices, and critical thinking. She was a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, an editorial board member and contributing editor of Skeptical Inquirer, a contributing editor of Skeptic, an advisor to the Quackwatch network, an overseas friend of Australia-based Friends of Science in Medicine, and an editorial review board member for the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.
On January 12, her husband Kirk Hall announced on her Facebook page:
I know Harrietâs work was followed and admired by many of you. It is with great sadness that I must tell you my beloved wife passed away quietly and unexpectedly in her sleep last night. At this moment, she would probably simply ask you to have a kind thought for her, be kind to each other and continue to support her belief in the truth. Please take care.
Many of Dr. Hallâs activities are cataloged on her website, skepdoc.info, where her final articles will be posted over the next few days. The siteâs editorial team announced efforts will be made to make sure her work remains available.
Most of her columns, articles, and book reviews, were published:
- Weekly since January 2008 in the Science-Based Medicine blog, where she was one of five founding editors
- in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, including her âReality Is the Best Medicineâ columns published since the September/October 2018 issue
- skepticalinquirer.org, where her monthly SkepDocâs Corner columns have been published since September 2016, including some that were translated into Spanish by Alejandro Borgo of the Center for Inquiry, Argentina
- in Skeptic magazine, including her column âThe SkepDoc,â published in each issue since 2006
- in eSkeptic, where she was a frequent contributor
- at Quackwatch, where she served as a medical advisor
From January through June of 2010, she wrote a brief column called âThe Health Inspectorâ in O, The Oprah Magazine. In her September 7, 2010 post at Science-Based Medicine, she described how the magazineâs editors made it a âbizarre, frustrating experienceâ for her, thwarting her efforts to âmake sure that at least my one little corner of the magazine was scientifically rigorous.â
In 2015, the James Randi Educational Foundation released a free, 10-part video series of lectures by Dr. Hall on âScience-Based Medicineâ along with a 26-page downloadable course guide.
Her 2008 book, Women Arenât Supposed to Fly: The Memoirs of a Female Flight Surgeon describes how she became a pilot and helped bring about equality for women in the U.S. Air Force. She retired in 1989 as a full colonel after serving for 20 years in the Air Force. In addition to practicing family medicine and flight medicine, she held administrative positions including Chief of Aerospace Medicine and Director of Base Medical Services. Additional details about her Air Force career are provided at Science-Based Medicine.
She co-authored the ninth edition of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions (2013). She was disappointed by its exorbitant price, typical of textbooks, and its unavailability in libraries put it out of reach of many of her readers. An affordable Kindle version of the book was made available in 2019.
Last year, the childrenâs book, Thereâs No Such Thing as the Tooth Fairy! by Dr. Hall and Kevin Howell, was published. It was based on a fable about the Tooth Fairy at the end of one of Dr. Hallâs most popular articles, Teaching pigs to sing: An experiment in bringing critical thinking to the masses, published in the May/June 2006 issue of Skeptical Inquirer. Howell adapted the fable for the book and provided illustrations.
Dr. Hall was much admired by participants in Quackwatchâs Health Fraud Discussion List where she contributed to more than 2,000 discussion threads. In 2005, a thread was started âIn Praise of Dr. Hall.â Appreciation of her writings was a recurring theme on the list.
Dr. Hall was a popular speaker at The Amazing Meeting (James Randi Educational Foundation), the Trottier Public Science Symposium at McGill University, Skepticâs Toolbox workshops, the World Skeptic Congress, CSICON (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, the Australian Skeptics National Convention, LogiCal, and other conferences.
The January 15Â Skeptic Zone (Australia) podcast paid tribute to Dr. Hall. The podcast includes an interview with her by host Richard Saunders from 2007.
Dr. Hall provided this rationale for sometimes writing about pseudoscientific nonsense even when it isnât well-known: âMy SkepDocâs Rule is âbefore you believe a claim, find out who disagrees with it and why.â And you canât do that if no one has bothered to disagree with it yet.â
Lies of the âLiver Kingâ exposed. Leaked emails have revealed that self-proclaimed âLiver Kingâ Brian Johnsonâs astoundingly muscular physique was due to anabolic steroids rather than eating raw animal organs as he had claimed on social media. According to an article written by exercise physiologist Nick Tiller, MRes, PhD., Johnson confessed this to his followers, apologized, and attempted to justify his lies in a YouTube video. [Tiller N. The Liver King, lies, and logical fallacies. Skeptical Inquirer, Jan 6, 2023] Tiller writes about how Johnson promotes:
- an extreme form of the Paleo diet by misrepresenting what our ancient ancestors actually ate and fallaciously appealing to antiquity
- dietary supplements to more than three million combined TikTok and Instagram followers that has generated more than $100 million in revenue
- conspirituality, which mixes New Age wellness philosophy and right-wing conspiratorial thinking, as exemplified by his destruction of a wi-fi router because of the âharmful electromagnetic frequenciesâ it supposedly had emitted
Detoxification nonsense spotlighted. Two recent articles expose the false notion that popular detoxification regimens are health-enhancing:
- Scott Gavura concludes: âIf anyone suggests a detox or cleanse to you, remember that youâre hearing a marketing pitch for an imaginary condition.â [Gavura S. The New Yearâs detox secret THEY donât want you to know about. Science-Based Medicine, Jan 5, 2023]
- Jonathan Jarry notes: âBinders are just the latest products to be added to the detox economy. Its end users, already choked by consumerism and trained to see evil lurking in their modern surroundings, are again told theyâre not spending enough money keeping themselves healthy.â [Jarry J. You donât need a binder in your detox kit, and you donât need a detox kit. McGill Office for Science and Society, Jan 13, 2023]
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