Hilda Bastian (@hildabast.bsky.social)

When Can We Be Sure a Placebo Is Really a Placebo? OK, I admit this cartoon is not on point here. But I think it's one of my better cartoons, and that's my excuse for trotting it out! The point is a recent scoping review on active placebo controls, by David Laursen and colleagues. "Active placebo"…

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When Can We Be Sure a Placebo Is Really a Placebo? OK, I admit this cartoon is not on point here. But I think it's one of my better cartoons, and that's my excuse for trotting it out! The point is a recent scoping review on active placebo controls, by David Laursen and colleagues. "Active placebo" sounds a bit like a contradiction in terms. That makes using them in trials one of those friction points capitalized in anti-vaccine evidence critiques: If it's active, so the argument goes, it's not a placebo, and the trial's results can be denigrated. https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/06/17/when-can-we-be-sure-a-placebo-is-really-a-placebo/