This week we catch up a bit regarding VoF (the Swedish skeptics) and talk about a new Manifesto against pseudoscientific treatments. We also get a bit nostalgic about a UK referendum about Europe – in 1975.
Then we get two interviews from SkepKon by our special correspondent on the ground, Annika Merkelbach. We check in with Francis who has been in Romania and also apparently is happy to cultivate his future legacy as the ‘tender’ pope.
Sense About Science calls for volunteers for their Evidence Week, Amazon, Facebook and Youtube take a stance against MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution) and other dangerous nonsense, and University of Vienna makes an effort to repair its past endorsement of homeopathy. More news about Natalie Grams and the totally bogus legal threat she is facing and also that her organisation, Homeopathy Information Network, has launched a repository of excellent information in English.
The fake cancer drug Rigvir has now been de-registered by the State Agency of Medicines (ZVA), but some forces are still pushing for continued distribution. In Belgium, a consumer protection organisation speaks up against homeopathy, and then we end by giving a Really Wrong award to Keele University for keeping a an anti-vaxxer and bad researcher on their payroll.
Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Interviews from SkepKon; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Out-takes
Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe
00:00:27 Intro
00:00:50 Greetings
Some catching up regarding VoF, aka the Swedish Skeptics who will have a tent at Järvaveckan in Stockholm 12-13 June. If you’re in the neighborhood you should come and say hi!
We also welcome the initiative to a new European manifesto against pseudoscientific ‘treatments’ and we urge everyone to sign it.
00:13:39 This Week in Skepticism
6 June 1975: UK embraces Europe in referendum, putting “the uncertainty behind us” regarding the Common Market. Ooh, if only!
00:15:55 SkepKon interviews, by Annika Merkelbach
Two interviews from SkepKon by our special on-site reporter, Annika Merkelbach. This week we here from Dr. Claudia Preis (@PCandlovingit) and Philip Schunke (@pschunke)
00:24:06 Pontus Pokes the Pope
Frankie has been on a PR-tour in Romania. He is also preparing his future legacy as the ‘tender’ Pope (sounds yummy!).
- https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-05/pope-francis-romania-civil-society-treatment-poor-social-model.html
- https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/06/02/new-book-captures-pope-franciss-revolution-of-tenderness/
- https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/05/25/bioethique-mariage-pour-tous-fin-de-vie-ou-en-sont-les-pays-de-l-union-europeenne_5467234_3210.html
00:28:28 Skeptical News
UK: Evidence Week
INTERNATIONAL Amazon, Facebook and YouTube Take Action against Health Misinformation
AUSTRIA: Medical University of Vienna makes progress in teaching medical students about SCAM
GERMANY: Update on last week’s news about Natalie Grams
GERMANY: INH launched a renewed website
LATVIA: Rigvir is de-registered but the circus is not over yet
BELGIUM: Belgian consumer protection organisation speaks up against homeopathy
00:48:53 Really Wrong
To Keele University for allowing a UK Professor who is linking vaccinations to autism to raise money through their funding portal.
00:53:44 Quote and Goodbye
“Science … warns me to be careful how I adopt a view which jumps with my preconceptions, and to require stronger evidence for such belief than for one to which I was previously hostile. My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonise with my aspirations.”
/Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist and a prominent defender of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection/
00:55:28 Outro
00:56:43 Out-takes