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Thomas Cowan (alternative medicine practitioner)

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Thomas Samuel Cowan is an American practitioner of alternative medicine, author, conspiracy theorist and former medical doctor. He relinquished his medical license in 2020.[1]

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Career

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Cowan earned his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 1984.[1] He ran an alternative medicine practice until July 2020 in San Francisco, California. Cowan was disciplined and put on probation by the Medical Board of California in 2017 after he prescribed medication for breast cancer without informing the patient that it had not been approved by medical authorities, and without reviewing her medical file. The probation period was due to end in 2022, but he renounced his medical license in December 2020, to become an unregulated "health coach". He left California and continues selling supplements through a website.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Cowan is a member of the board of directors of the Weston A. Price Foundation. He served as vice president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine.[8]

Conspiracy theories

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Cowan has argued against the widely accepted scientific view that pathogens cause a variety of diseases.[9] He promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming 5G wireless communications are responsible for making people sick.[2][4][10][11][6]

A video of Cowan's claims about COVID and 5G communication, made at an anti-vaccination conference which also featured Andrew Wakefield, quickly gained a widespread audience when it was promoted by multiple Facebook accounts. It was viewed at least 650,000 times on Youtube before being taken down and was also popular on Instagram, where Keri Hilson promoted it to her 2.3 million fans before deleting the post. Experts invited to comment on the video said it repeats several misconceptions common to many anti-vaccination influencers.[3][12][13][14][15][16]

The World Health Organization, along with numerous health authorities, established that COVID-19 is not transmitted by any kind of electronic communications and has spread in many regions where new 5G wireless equipment has not been installed.[17][18]

Personal life

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Cowan is married, with three children, one stepson and six grandchildren. He lives in upstate New York.[19]

Publications

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The health advice Cowan dispenses through his books is often based in pseudo-scientific theories, such as denying viruses cause disease. Two of them promote anti-vaccination pseudo-scientific theories.[2][20]

  • Cowan, Thomas; Fallon Morell, Sally (2021). The Truth About Contagion: Exploring Theories of How Disease Spreads. Skyhorse. ISBN 978-1510768826.
  • Cowan, Thomas (2019). Cancer and the New Biology of Water. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1603588812.
  • Cowan, Thomas (2018). Vaccines, Autoimmunity, and the Changing Nature of Childhood Illness. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1603587778.[6]
  • Cowan, Thomas (2016). Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor's Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1603586191.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Licensing details for Thomas Cowan (License G 86923)". Medical Board of California. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Feder Ostrov, Barbara (5 February 2021). "Conspiracy theory doctor surrenders medical license". Calmatters. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b Nicholson, Katie; Ho, Jason; Yates, Jason (23 March 2020). "Viral video claiming 5G caused pandemic easily debunked". CBC News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  4. ^ a b Berman, Annie (15 November 2021). "Dozens of Alaska doctors are asking the State Medical Board to investigate physicians spreading COVID-19 misinformation". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  5. ^ Knight, Victoria (20 September 2021). "Will Doctors Who Are Spreading COVID-19 Misinformation Ever Face Penalty?". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Edgar, Chelsea (2 December 2021). "Inside Chelsea Green, the publishing house peddling Covid-19 misinformation and other conspiracies". Monterey County Now. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  7. ^ Teller, Sara (6 January 2022). "Many Doctors Spreading COVID Misinformation Continue to Practice". Legal Reader. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Board of Directors". Weston A. Price Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Thomas Cowan, MD". Wise Traditions. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  10. ^ D'Ambrosio, Amanda (18 August 2021). "No Physicians Disciplined for COVID Falsehoods". MedpageToday. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  11. ^ Grimes, David Robert (26 April 2021). "COVID Has Created a Perfect Storm for Fringe Science". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  12. ^ Wynne, Kelly (19 March 2020). "YouTube Video Suggests 5G Internet Causes Coronavirus and People Are Falling for It". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  13. ^ Temperton, James (6 April 2020). "How the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory tore through the internet". Wired. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  14. ^ Yates, Jeff; Nicholson, Katie (23 March 202). "Non, cette vidéo ne prouve pas que la COVID-19 est causée par la 5G". Radio-Canada Nouvelles (in French). Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ^ Tijani, Mayowa (7 April 2020). "Experts dismiss claims that 5G wireless technology created the novel coronavirus". AFP Fact check. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  16. ^ Alaphilippe, Alexandre (14 April 2020). "COVID-19 and 5G: A case study of platforms' content moderation of conspiracy theories". EU Disinfo Lab. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Mythbusters". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  18. ^ "False claim: Coronavirus is a hoax and part of a wider 5G and human microchipping conspiracy". Reuters. 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  19. ^ Cowan, Tom. "My Bio". Dr. Tom Cowan. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  20. ^ Fouquet, Helene; Turner, Giles (8 December 2020). "Anti-Vaxxer Books Top Search Results at Amazon, Barnes & Noble". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
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