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Articles by Are Brean
Disorder in the medicine cabinet
- Are Brean
06.05.2019:
Pharmaceuticals need not cure anything at all, and undocumented dietary supplements are permitted to pose as medical drugs. Norwegian consumers and patients are the losers. According to the Ebers papyrus that dates from around 1500 BCE, a medical drug must contain three components: an active...
Data protection in a vacuum?
- Are Brean
11.02.2019:
Data protection is just one of the many statutory obligations within the public health service. When data protection takes precedence over the patient's best interests, things are moving in the wrong direction. Responsibility lies with the state as the owner of public hospitals. 'Your details will...
A useful New Year's resolution
- Are Brean
14.01.2019:
A new study, published just in time for the New Year's resolutions, shows that the antihypertensive effect of exercise may be equal to that of drugs. The advertising campaigns in January for the gyms around Norway are launched every year with the same regularity as the New Year's resolutions. This...
Open access
- Are Brean
10.12.2018:
The objective of Plan S is to provide immediate open access to all publicly funded research. Traditional publishing houses and many researchers feel threatened. These changes will come, however. In the summer of 1664, Henry Oldenburg (1619–77) had a brilliant idea – a new way to make money (1). He...
Truth and consensus
- Are Brean
01.10.2018:
One of Cochrane's founders has been dismissed from the organisation's board. His dismissal is symptomatic of deeper problems in evidence-based medicine. In the last 25 years, Cochrane has grown from being a small, voluntary initiative to becoming the world's largest independent producer of...
A fine summer
- Are Brean
21.08.2018:
Climate change represents one of our greatest health challenges. In the face of this, the last thing we need are our own fantasy realities and preposterous conspiracy theories. 'I think we are lucky to have had such a fine summer this year,' said Kari Kjønaas Kjos, Member of Parliament for the...
A speck of blood
- Are Brean
19.02.2018:
The Norwegian government's proposal regarding the long-term storage of blood from neonatal screenings will soon be considered by the Storting. But has the government fully understood what it is proposing? From its humble beginnings well over 50 years ago, the purpose of neonatal screening has been...
12.12.2017:
On the other side of death awaits a new body or a virtual self, for those who believe – or are willing to pay. The dream of eternal life – of triumphing over death by liberating the soul from the troublesome body – has accompanied humans throughout the ages and is central to all the major religions...