X-ray pin-up calendar

Eager to promote their wares to the medical profession, the Japanese computer display company Eizo have come up with the most minimal pin-up calendar ever.  And no boner jokes please.

Gary McKinnon extradition on hold

The Guardian reports that the home secretary Theresa May is to review the medical evidence to determine whether or not Gary McKinnon is fit to be extradited.

Increased penis size - guaranteed!


But please read the small-print regarding the potentially life-threatening side effects.

Who pickled Bambi?

Check out astropop's photostream on Flickr for some very interesting (although some may find them disturbing) photos in the same vein. This one is from the Grant Museum at University College London.

Also worth a look is the Morbid Anatomy Blog.

 

What's the difference between McDonald's and food?

 
If you leave food for a year it will rot and decompose.  If you leave a McDonald's 'Happy Meal' for a year, this happens.

British Chiropractic Association finally admits defeat in Simon Singh libel case

 

Two years after Simon Singh's Guardian article that questioned the validity of the claims made by the British Chiropractic Association, the BCA have finally withdrawn the libel action they started against Simon Singh personally (but not against The Guardian).  Whilst this is undoubtedly very good news, there is still much work to be done mending the UK's broken libel laws.

Read more in today's Guardian article.

The BCA press statement is reproduced below.

 

(download)

Politicians and drugs - why can't they get it right? Another expert resigns from the ACMD.

Eric Carlin is the latest expert to resign from the UK government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, clearly unhappy with the way the our politicians base important decisions on drugs on how many favourable tabloid headlines and votes they think they'll get out of it.  Read his letter of resignation here.

Actually, Facebook doesn't cause syphilis after all

2010 is shaping up as a good year for Facebook scare stories.  Earlier this month the rabidly right-wing Daily Mail exposed Facebook as a den of drooling paedophiles waiting to prey on its readers' innocent young darlings, only to have to correct the story later in the face of threats of legal action from Facebook.  Then this week a story that claimed Facebook use was responsible for an increase in the spread of syphilis was picked up by the usual suspects among the UK "news"papers.

Now I'd like to think that most readers of 23narchy.com are more than capable of spotting these kinds of silly stories a mile off, but for a complete dissection of the nonsense behind the headlines, have a look at Ben Goldacre's excellent post on his Bad Science blog.

Cary Grant: LSD evangelist

There's a good blog post over at blog.wfmu.org about Cary Grant's enthusiasm for the benefits he found by taking controlled LSD trips as part of therapy sessions.  

 

Dutch nurses refuse patients' demands that care should include sexual services

Dutch nurses: Care does not include sex

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A union representing Dutch nurses will launch a national campaign Friday against demands for sexual services by patients who claim it should be part of their standard care.

The union, NU'91, is calling the campaign "I Draw The Line Here," with an advert that features a young woman covering her face with crossed hands.

The union said in a statement Thursday that the campaign follows a complaint it had received in the last week from a 24-year-old woman who said a 42-year-old disabled man asked her to provide sexual services as part of his care at home.

The young woman witnessed some of the man's other nurses offering him sexual gratification, the union said. When she refused to do the same, he tried to dismiss her on the grounds that she was unfit to provide care.

"This type of action is not part of the job responsibilities of carers and nurses," NU'91 said.

The case has been reported to police, the union added.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, editing by Paul Taylor)