Skeptical Reporter @ 2013-08-30

Skeptical Reporter for August 30th, 2013 A bleeding disorder in babies so rare that it typically affects fewer than one in 100,000 is becoming more common in Tennessee. The illness is occurring more frequently because parents are refusing vitamin K injections at birth, according to pediatric specialists. Since February, four babies with no signs of injury or abuse have been sent to one children’s hospital with either brain hemorrhages or bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. They were all diagnosed with vitamin K deficiency bleeding. All four had not received the preventive treatment, which doctors have been giving to newborns since the 1960s. Pediatricians believe that parents are increasingly refusing consent because of concerns based on misinformation or the goal of having natural childbirths. All four children survived, but the three who suffered brain bleeds face challenges. Years ago there was no problem in administering vaccines to newborn babies. But these days parents are also refusing a hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to the babies to protect them from possible exposure from the mother. The doctors blame “debunked” studies — reports that have not stood up to scientific scrutiny — still floating around on the Internet that have linked vaccine ingredients to autism and vitamin K injections to leukemia. Shakhter Karagandy boss Viktor Kumykov plans to continue the Kazakh club's sheep-sacrificing ritual ahead of their Champions League play-off second-leg tie against Celtic. The Kazakh champions caused a stir when they killed a sheep at the Astana Arena the last time they won a game. Animal rights group Peta expressed their outrage in a strongly-worded letter to UEFA president urging Michel Platini to punish Shakhter. Kumykov explained the practice during the pre-match press conference: "All I can say is that every team and every club has its own pre-match traditions and rituals. Celtic must have their own. We will try to respect our traditions and those traditions have been in place even before we came to the club." He added that the ritual will probably be carried out. Police Scotland said sacrificing a sheep in a football stadium would breach Section 19 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2006. A spokesperson added: "Only professional slaughterhouses or people under licence may lawfully kill a protected animal." A steak house might not be the place you’d expect to go for a pitch on curing diabetes. But a company continues offering free dinners to lure people into diabetes seminars even as one of its charter members awaits trial in two states, including Arizona, on charges ranging from operating without a license to fraud and bilking the elderly. Diabetic Solutions MD promises it can help cure diabetes through a step-by-step process and nutritional supplements that could cost you thousands. Don’t be misled by the MD in the title. The doctors pitching the supplements are licensed chiropractors whose practices revolve around marketing supplements and diet plans. Diabetic Solutions has some close ties to another company that has recently caught the attention of law enforcement. It is called Diabetes Solutions, based in Utah. Most medical experts agree that the most important way to control diabetes is through diet and exercise. That could be something to consider when promise of a cure comes with a free steak-house luncheon. Congress is on holiday this month, but the lobbyists are baiting their hooks, planning their strategies for how to get more money for themselves. A growing lobby is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM ) providers, who have discovered a new opportunity to extract even more money from patients than they do already. They want the government to force insurance providers to pay for quack treatments, regardless of whether or not the treatments work. Any attempt to require evidence, they argue, amounts to discrimination. The strategy is simple: require the government t...