Ben Goldacre - Bad Science

108 ‘Dr Benjamin Spock’: Chalmers I. Invalid health information is potentially lethal. BMJ (2001); 322 (7292): 998

109 ‘price-fixing cartel’: John M. Connor Kluwer, Global Pricefixing : Our Customers Are the Enemy . Springer (2001). Available online: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7M8n4UN23WsC

109 ‘Doubt is our product’: David Michaels (ed.) Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health . Oxford University Press (2008)

Chapter 7: Dr Gillian McKeith PhD

114 ‘Dudley J. LeBlanc’: Ann Anderson, Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show . McFarland (2005)

121 ‘During the war’: Commencement Speech from Caltech 1974, also in Richard Feynman. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character . WW Norton (1985)

123 Clayton College of Natural Health website: http://www.ccnh.edu/about/programs/tuition. aspx

Chapter 8: ‘Pill Solves Complex Social Problem’

136 ‘a large, well-conducted’: Hutchings J, Bywater T, Daley D, Gardner F, Whitaker C, Jones K, Eames C, Edwards RT. Parenting intervention in Sure Start services for children at risk of developing conduct disorder: pragmatic randomised controlled trial. BMJ (2007); 334: 678

136 ‘cost-effectiveness analysis’: Edwards RT, Ó Céilleachair A, Bywater T, Hughes DA, Hutchings J. Parenting programme for parents of children at risk of developing conduct disorder: cost effectiveness analysis. BMJ (2007); 334: 682

146 ‘one study by a researcher’: Richardson AJ, Montgomery P. The Oxford-Durham study: a randomized, controlled trial of dietary supplementation with fatty acids in children with developmental coordination disorder. Pediatrics (2005); 115 (5): 1360–6

153 ‘disease-mongering’: Moynihan R, Doran E, Henry D Disease mongering is now part of the global health debate. PLoS Med (2008); 5 (5): e106. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0050106 A good place to start your reading on disease-mongering

159 ‘Professor Hywel Williams’: Williams HC. Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis. BMJ (2003); 327: 1358–9

160 ‘the most popular food supplement product in the UK’: ‘The four markets dominating EU supplements’ http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp? n=85087; “Galenica assumes control of Equazen Nutraceuticals based in the UK”. Press release. http://www.galenica.com/Galenica/en/ archive/media/releases/2006_12_04_21398644_meldung.php

Chapter 9: Professor Patrick Holford

164 ‘He has claimed that he has corrected his book’: Professor Holford did not change the main text in the book chapter. He added some text to the note at the back, in a small font, referencing some other papers where people did actually, at least, tip both AZT and vitamin C onto cells in a dish (this changes nothing), and a demand for more research, none of which, I note, he has offered to fund from his own extensive corporate involvement in this $50 billion sector. He is, after all, Head of Science and Education at the food supplement pill company BioCare, which sells a vitamin C pill in tubs with his face on. To be fair, he did however once deliver my favourite line from five years of writing in this area: ‘Perhaps Goldacre, who purports to be the campaigner for evidence-based medicine, could provide some evidence that high-dose vitamin C has no effect against HIV AIDS.’

166 ‘systematic review from Cochrane’: Douglas RM, Hemilä H, Chalker E, Treacy B. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (1998); 1. Date of last update: 14 May 2007 (Cochrane reviews are constantly updated, and all previous versions are available, so you can see what they said at various times in the past too)

167 ‘Dr Richard Smith’: Smith R. Investigating the previous studies of a fraudulent author. BMJ (2005); 331: 288–291; Hamblin T. The Secret Life of Dr Chandra. BMJ (2006); 332: 369

167 ‘three-part investigative documentary series’: The documentary on Dr Chandra can be watched online at: http://www.cbc.ca/national/ news/chandra/

167 ‘a retrospective re-analysis’: Hemilä H, Herman ZS. Vitamin C and the common cold: a retrospective analysis of Chalmers’ review. J Am Coll Nutr (April 1995); 14 (2): 116–23.

169 ‘a systematic review and metaanalysis’: Vivekananthan DP et al. Use of antioxidant vitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: metaanalysis of randomised trials. Lancet (2003); 361: 2017–23

178 ‘the QAA’s report’: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/reports/institutional/Luton1105/ RG162UniLuton. pdf

Chapter 10: Is Mainstream Medicine Evil?

182 ‘From the state of current knowledge’: http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge. jsp

182 ‘These real-world studies’: The classic general medicine reference for this is Ellis J, Mulligan I, Rowe J, Sackett DL. Inpatient general medicine is evidence based. A-Team, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. Lancet (12 August 1995); 346 (8972): 407–10. There have been numerous copycat studies in various specialities, and rather than list them here, an excellent review of them is maintained at http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/percent. html

183 ‘all of those studies’: Mayor S. Audit identifies the most read BMJ research papers. BMJ (2007); 334: 554–5; Hippisley-Cox J, Coupland C. Risk of myocardial infarction in patients taking cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors or conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs: population based nested case-control analysis. BMJ (2005); 330: 1366; Gunnell J, Saperia J, Ashby D. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and suicide in adults: metaanalysis of drug company data from placebo controlled, randomised controlled trials submitted to the MHRA’s safety review. BMJ (2005); 330: 385; Fergusson D et al. Association between suicide attempts and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ (2005); 330: 396

187 ‘whole areas can be orphaned’: Iribarne A. Orphan diseases and adoptive initiatives. JAMA (2003); 290: 116; Francisco A. Drug development for neglected diseases. Lancet (2002); 360: 1102

190 ‘If you follow the references’: Safer DJ. Design and reporting modifications in industry-sponsored comparative psychopharmacology trials. J Nerv Ment Dis (2002); 190: 583–92

190 ‘various studies have shown’: Modell et al. (1997); Montejo-Gonzalez et al. (1997); Zajecka et al. (1999); Preskorn (1997): in Safer, ibid.

193 ‘If the difference’: Pocock SJ. When (not) to stop a clinical trial for benefit. JAMA (2005); 294: 2228–30

194 ‘a systematic review’: Lexchin J, Bero LA, Djulbegovic B, Clark O. Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality. BMJ (2003) 326: 1167–70

194 ‘One review of bias’: Rochon PA, Gurwitz JH, Simms RW, Fortin PR, Felson DT, Minaker KL, Chalmers TC. A study of manufacturer-supported trials of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs in the treatment of arthritis. Arch Intern Med. (24 January 1994); 154 (2): 157–63

194 ‘when the methodological flaws’: Lexchin J, Bero LA, Djulbegovic B, Clark O. Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review. BMJ (31 May 2003); 326 (7400): 1167–70

196 ‘In 1995, only’: Schmidt K, Pittler MH, Ernst E. Bias in alternative medicine is still rife but is diminishing. BMJ (3 November 2001); 323 (7320): 1071

196 ‘A review in 1998’: Vickers A, Goyal N, Harland R, Rees R. Do certain countries produce only positive results? A systematic review of controlled trials. Control Clin Trials (April 1998); 19 (2): 159–66