Antivaccine nonsense
oracknows | June 21, 2008At this stage of the game, I almost feel sorry for David Kirby.
Think about it. He's made his name and what little fame he has (which isn't much outside of the tinhat crowd that thinks the guv'mint is intentionally poisoning their children with vaccines to make them all autistic) almost entirely on the basis of one book published over three years ago, Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. Of course, the question of whether mercury from the thimerosal preservative that used to be in vaccines, or vaccines themselves, cause autism has not been a…
oracknows | June 20, 2008...Orac might be in trouble:
(Click for the full comic.)
I wonder if I should hire a guard.
Actually, I think reading Respectful Insolence⢠might do Jenny McCarthy some good, especially this post (or maybe this post, too). Unfortunately, she's too deluded and arrogant to realize how scientifically ignorant she is; so it would probably just be a waste.
oracknows | June 18, 2008Color me unimpressed.
As I mentioned last week, that opportunist who has apparently become a paid shill for the hardcore antivaccination movement (namely Generation Rescue, Autism Research Institute, National Autism Association, Coalition for SAFE MINDS, and Talk About Curing Autism, all of whom helped to fund his recent trip to the U.K. and, according to Kirby's announcements and advertisements, appear to be funding his speaking engagements), David Kirby, is making a tour of the Northeast to spew his special brand of credulous idiocy about vaccines and autism hither and yon. I listed his…
oracknows | June 16, 2008The other day, in response to several e-mails asking me about the latest bit of bad science and epidemiology purporting to support the idea that mercury in the thimerosal preservative that used to be in many childhood vaccines is a major cause of autism, I posted links to EpiWonk's thee-part (so far) takedown of this execrable study, whose passage through the peer-review system unchallenged is evidence of just how screwed up peer review can be at some journals. I forgot at the time that there is another, equally, if not even more, detailed takedown of this new bit of pseudoscience posted at a…
oracknows | June 15, 2008Several people have been sending me either links to this paper or even the paper itself:
Young HA, Geier DA, Geier MR. (2008). Thimerosal exposure in infants and neurodevelopmental disorders: An assessment of computerized medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink. J Neurol Sci. 2008 May 14 [Epub ahead of print]. (Full text here.)
Some have asked me whether I was planning on deconstructing it, given that the mercury militia has apparently been promoting it as "evidence" that it really, truly, and honestly was the mercury in vaccines after all that caused autism. I did mention it about…
oracknows | June 14, 2008Some of you may have heard of John Scudamore's Whale.to site. I've referred to it in the past as a repository of some of the wildest and most bizarre "alternative" medicine claims out there. However, I will admit that I've only ever scratched the surface of the insanity that is Whale.to.
Kathleen Seidel has dug deeply into the madness.
It goes far beyond what even I had thought. She found parts of the website that I had never known to exist. For example, the complete text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is there. There's also the complete text of Maniacal World Control Thru The Jesuit…
oracknows | June 12, 2008One of the most common aspects of any good conspiracy theory is that "they" know about it but are covering it up, "they" usually being the government. Usually, the "evidence" that "they" know consists third- or fourth-hand unverifiable stories from a "friend of a friend of a friend" who, very conveniently, just so happened to be in just the right place at just the right time to overhear just the right tidbit of information that shows that "they" know all about "it." The exact conspiracy theory is almost irrelevant. Be it alien abductions, the "9/11 Truth" movement, Bigfoot sightings, or…
oracknows | June 11, 2008Fellow skeptical doc PalMD informs me that apparently a new blogger, who happens to be a law student at NYU, discovered that his school had invited antivaccinationist-apologist supreme, David Kirby, to speak at NYU on June 26. In response, antivaccinationists, including David Kirby himself and antivaccinationist crank extraordinaire Clifford G. Miller himself, the man who apparently invited David Kirby to befoul the fair city of London and even the halls of Parliament with his antivaccinationist nonsense, has appeared. Much hilarity ensues as every antivaccinationist canard known to…
oracknows | June 10, 2008I admit it. Sometimes, my better nature notwithstanding, I can't help taking a bit of a morbid interest in celebrity scandals. I don't know if it's a weakness or just normal human nature. Like most "educated" people, I do know I tend to be vaguely embarrassed by falling for an interest in such "low' pursuits. Given that, how can I resist making note of a recent development in the ongoing nastiness between Charlie Sheen and his ex-wife Denise Richards? More oddly, how can it be that I find myself seeing Denise Richards as actually being rational?
It turns out that Charlie Sheen is apparently…
oracknows | June 8, 2008Remember how I warned citizens of the U.K. about an impending visit to their fair island by American apologist for antivaccinationist nonsense and his invitation to give a briefing at Parliament?
Apparently, the whole thing was very--shall we say?--underwhelming. The lameness of his excuses, they limp:
I then asked a question (yay!). Kirby had said earlier in the lecture that autism diagnois rates in California haven't reduced following the removal of thimerosal from childhood vaccines in California because of a delay between children being vaccinated in their early years and them being…
oracknows | June 7, 2008Don't worry, faithful readers, my blogging about the "Green Our Vaccines" rally last week is reaching its end. If my poor neurons can take it, there are still the speeches of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Dr. Jay Gordon to be commented on in one more post (the latter of whom I used to consider somewhat reasonable albeit incorrect but who, if his speech and statements to the press at the "Green Our Vaccines" rally are any indication, has gone completely over to the dark side of antivaccinationism). Then that's probably about all I'll be able to take for a while. It'll be back to writing about…
oracknows | June 6, 2008
I never thought I'd be saying this, but Dan Olmsted has my profuse thanks. When yesterday I posted some signs carried by marchers at the "Green Our Vaccines" rally on Wednesday, I asked you to decide for yourself whether they are "pro-safe vaccine" or anti-vaccine. To me the answer is obvious. Thanks to Olmsted, however, I have a list of many of the slogans that he saw on signs at the rally, as well as a video of many of the signs:
So, once again, I ask you, my readers, the question: "Pro-safe vaccine" or antivaccine? You be the judge!
THE "GREEN OUR VACCINES" COLLECTION:
The Jenny…
oracknows | June 5, 2008The organizers of the "Green Our Vaccines" rally yesterday went to great trouble to keep repeating a mantra that they "aren't anti-vaccine" but rather "pro-safe vaccine" (or, as Jenny McCarthy likes to put it, "anti-toxin"). I've argued that it's all a cynical ploy to hide their true agenda. What do some of the signs carried by marchers tell us?
You be the judge! (Pictures below the fold.)
Here's one that I predicted would show up:
And here's the one to top them all:
>br>
That's right. To these marchers, vaccines are weapons of mass destruction!
Of course, that's because this…
oracknows | June 5, 2008
(Note: In the photo above, the guy in the sunglasses behind Jim Carrey is our old friend Dr. Jay Gordon, Santa Monica antivaccinationist-sympathetic pediatrician to the beautiful people. He's the one with his tongue sticking out.)
It's worse than I thought.
In seeing the first bits of video last night from the "Green Our Vaccines" rally led by celebrity useful idiots Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey. I had been thinking of trying to be "nicer" to them, given that their fans who have shown up here seem to think I have been very, very mean to her and that I lack compassion. I also realize that…
oracknows | June 4, 2008Maybe I need to inaugurate some sort of monthly award for the best comment, as some other ScienceBloggers do. If I had such an award, surely this comment earlier today by Prometheus would be in serious contention for it:
Re: "Green Vaccines"
One of the things that the "Greens" are in favor of is biological diversity and protecting endangered species. This dovetails nicely with the "Green Vaccine" movement, since it is clear to me that they (the "Vaccine Greens") are simply trying to prevent the loss of valuable biological diversity.
Not too long ago, in 1977, one viral species (Variola or "…
oracknows | June 4, 2008I know I've been whining a lot about how blogging about antivaccinationists has taken over here of late. The reason, of course, is the "Green Our Vaccines" rally taking place in Washington, D.C. as this post first appears in your newsfeed. Yesterday, I wrote about how "Green Our Vaccines" is a sham and nothing more than an anti-vaccine rally as well as about how its organizers were causing a bit of a rift in the antivaccinationist movement by trying to adopt a kinder, gentler, crunchier, media- and (seemingly) eco-friendly message. Unfortunately, stuff keeps happening. So I've decided that,…
oracknows | June 4, 2008Something happened yesterday that rarely happens. I got back from ASCO rather late and was so tired that I didn't have time to post one of my characteristic, Respectfully Insolent magnum opuses (magnum opi?). Fortunately, I had just the thing prepared.
I'm not the only one who's expressed skepticism and pointed out that the whole "Green Our Vaccines" slogan" that you'll be seeing and hearing right around now is nothing more than a ploy to hide the true nature of the protest, which is an assault on the very concept of mass vaccination. I therefore thought that it would be useful for me to post…
oracknows | June 3, 2008In the leadup to Jenny McCarthy's little antivaccination-fest tomorrow, it appears the the medical community has at least roused itself enough to write an open letter to Congress about immunizations. It's not much, but at least it's something. I hope all the signatories are ready for a P.R. blitz to counter Jenny McCarthy.
That's enough about this for now. I don't plan on blogging about it tomorrow unless something really interesting comes up. Maybe I'll do an all-science Wednesday instead after I get back from ASCO this afternoon.
THE "GREEN OUR VACCINES" COLLECTION:
The Jenny McCarthy and…
oracknows | June 3, 2008Sadly, it's almost here.
I'm referring, of course, to the "Green Our Vaccines" rally led by that useful idiot for the antivaccinationist movement Jenny McCarthy and sponsored by Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), Generation Rescue, and a variety of other , which will take place a mere day from now. I'll give the organizers credit for one thing. They have come up with a slogan that's truly brilliant in an Orwellian sort of way, namely "Green our Vaccines," with an accompanying press release:
McCarthy, author of the best-selling book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," and…
oracknows | May 29, 2008Sometimes I wonder if subjecting myself to all this woo is going to my head. Why do I worry that this might be the case? Recently, I made the mistake of getting involved in an e-mail exchange with a prominent antivaccinationist. Perhaps it was my eternal optimism that led me to do this, my inability to believe that any person in the thrall of pseudoscience, no matter how far gone and how active in harassing anyone who counters him, can't be somehow saved and brought around to understand the value of science and why their previous course was wrong. Such efforts on my part almost inevitably end…