denialism | May 25, 2009
To start off some balanced discussions of what universal health care looks like around the world, I thought I would begin with Australia, a system that we could learn a great deal from.
In the US system, we do not have universal healthcare, we have mostly employer-subsidized healthcare, private insurance and medicare covering people's health expense. We also lack a universal electronic medical record, our main recourse for responding to poor care is lawsuits, and we have a high disparity in services available to those with money and those who do not. We still manage to spend more on health…
denialism | May 23, 2009A few days ago I asked how do we break this cycle of news reports based on terrible misreading of the scientific literature literature. All these reports do is spread misinformation and undermine trust in scientific research.
Well, the British National Health System has the answer! Via Ben Goldacre, I've found my new, favorite website, Behind the Headlines at NHS. It's the Snopes.com equivalent for shoddy science journalism. Every day they examine what health news is making the headlines, share it with scientific and clinical experts, and they report on the science in a way that's…
denialism | May 22, 2009A dishonest campaign has started against healthcare reform in this country and the first shot has come from Conservatives for Patients Rights (CPR), a group purporting to show that patients in universal health systems suffer from government interference in health care. To bolster their argument, they have a pile of anecdotes from people around the world who have suffered at the hands of evil government-run systems. The problem, of course, is that anecdotes are not data, it is impossible to determine the veracity or reasonableness of these claims, and there is no way, ethically or…
denialism | May 21, 2009I have no idea what possessed Action Skeptics to use the Sham Wow guy to present this week's entries, but it's amusing. Check it!
In particular I like ICBS everywhere on this thermography nonsense, and Living better skeptically on yet another cancer quack. It's very upsetting when quack modalities defraud people of hard-earned money. It's even more upsetting when people encourage quackery to replace an legitimate and important screening procedure such as mammography or effective treatments for cancer. These people are the most dangerous kind of quack, if they continue unchallenged they…
denialism | May 20, 2009
I'm open to suggestions. Do we just need to kick our PR departments in the pants? To be fair, often the internets skips that step.
H/T TR
choofnagle | May 19, 2009San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed a $0.33 tax on cigarettes to address the problem of cleaning up butts! This follows an audit (PDF) of litter in the city that found cigarette butts to be a major problem (along with chewing gum, and unbranded napkins).
The cigarette companies are against it:
"Obviously we think people should follow the littering laws, in California and elsewhere," said Frank Lester, a spokesman for Reynolds American Inc., the nation's second-largest manufacturer of cigarettes. "But we oppose any additional taxation on smokers to pay for that."
But, isn't this…
denialism | May 18, 2009It's good news though! A description of the tactics and appropriate response to denialism was published in the European Journal of Public Health by authors Pascal Diethelm and Martin McKee. It's entitled "Denialism: what is it and how should scientists respond?" and I think it does an excellent job explaining the harms of deniailsm, critical elements of denialism, as well as providing interesting historical examples of corporate denialism on the part of tobacco companies.
HIV does not cause AIDS. The world was created in 4004 BCE. Smoking does not cause cancer. And if climate change is…
choofnagle | May 16, 2009Following up on my earlier post about Beyond Google and Evil, I just came across this article from the Wall Street Journal on one of Google's detractors, Consumer Watchdog. Believe it or not, Google went after their funding!
...In January, Consumer Watchdog circulated a press release alleging a "rumored" lobbying effort by Google to enable it to sell personal medical data stored on its Google Health service. Simpson said the organization merely wanted to examine whether Google was trying to avoid new regulation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which…
choofnagle | May 15, 2009I apologize for the infrequent blogging. A tough semester. I did have time, however, to publish an essay about Google's rhetoric that might be of interest to Denialism readers.
No, I'm not calling Google denialist, but am trying to explain what Google means when the company talks about privacy (most companies interpret information privacy to mean security). And it's not all bad for Google--the company's rhetoric has created confusion, and clarifying it would help Google communicate why search advertising might be better for the consumer than other forms of targeting.
denialism | May 15, 2009
Seth Kalichman has written a book on HIV AIDS denial and Nature has a book review that's got me excited to get my copy. From the review:
Inadequate health policies in South Africa have reportedly led to some 330,000 unnecessary AIDS deaths and a spike in infant mortality, according to estimates by South African and US researchers. This carnage exceeds the death toll in Darfur, yet it has received far less attention. Seth Kalichman, a US clinical psychologist, shows in Denying AIDS how words can kill. His marvellous book should be read alongside Nicoli Nattrass's Mortal Combat, covering…
denialism | May 14, 2009Tomorrow Angels and Demons comes to theaters across the country. One in a long series of movies that profits from the idea that underneath our regular, ordinary world, there are powerful forces controlling the scenes. I understand the appeal of these movies, it's an entertaining concept. A fictional conspiracy engages your intellect, creates a mystery, makes you think about the world and who is in control. But we have to remember when we see these films that these are works of fiction for entertainment. The Illuminati are not real, this sadly ludicrous belief still persists for some…
denialism | May 13, 2009If you have been keeping up with Pal or Orac in my absence, you already know the bad news. Oprah has decided to up her woo quotient from promotion of the Secret and relatively harmless nonsense to actively promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in the form of a Jenny McCarthy TV show. Gawker suggests a good title, "Finding Someone to Blame When Bad Things Happen".
Jenny McCarthy is an insipid, dangerous idiot. And a Wacko. Oprah's move isn't just some harmless addition to the drivel that occupies our screens known as "daytime TV". This is actively dangerous. This is, as Pal says,…
denialism | May 12, 2009In response to the conversation on "Obesity, Evolution and Delayed Gratification" on the main page and Razib's coverage of a fascinating new study on the relationship to the lactase gene and obesity, I thought now would be a good time to write about an important new study that helps define the boundaries of what normal and healthy weights are in humans.
This study, entitled Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies is a whopper of a meta-analysis. That is, a study that increases the power of other similar studies by…
denialism | May 12, 2009I was pleased to see president Obama deliver this address yesterday:
Click To Play
I was even more pleased because he has gathered the traditional opponents of healthcare reform around him and has convinced them to commit to reform in the US system. This is a positive sign. However, I'm concerned because, as with all political debates that challenge a dominant ideology - in this case free-market fundamentalism - we will soon see the denialists come out of the woodwork to disparage any attempt at achieving reforms that may result in universal health care coverage. This has, in fact,…
denialism | May 1, 2009In order to help spread the word about a dangerous altie quack and HIV/AIDS denier who is responsible for probably hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths from AIDS in Africa, I'm reproducing The Doctor Will Sue You Now, here on denialism blog.
The chapter, removed from Ben Goldacre's new book Bad Science due to libel litigation from the quack, Matthias Rath, in response to Goldacre's description of his activities in Africa and around the world. Another profile of a crank, this one goes a long way to show the extent to which denialism can damage a country and even cost thousands of lives…
denialism | April 30, 2009It's been two years now since we said hello to scienceblogs, and had our introductory posts on Conspiracy, Unified theory of the Crank, and the denialist deck of cards.
Lately reading a recent profile of a crank, Marc Morano in the NYT, which was sent to me by the crank himself. I can't help but be amazed how our initial description has held up.
For one, throughout the article, it's wonderful how wihtout realizing it, Morano exposes the the fact he's living in a bizarre fantasy world. Starting with the questionable reality of his confrontation with Al Gore:
For example, Mr. Morano said…
choofnagle | April 22, 2009We're discussing a junk mail case from the 1970s in my information privacy law case. In Rowan, Justice Burger laments:
...the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry, in itself, have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that, whether measured by pieces or pounds,…
denialism | April 20, 2009Via Brayton I caught this disturbing video of the new right-wing fringe movement:
Now, if you guys have been following along for the last few years of denialism blog, you know you should immediately be suspicious of people alleging conspiracy theories. This one is a doozy. The administration as a culmination of a 5 decade communist plot to take over the country? This movement is disturbing, and as radical and unhinged as the 9/11 truthers. I would emphasize as always, no political ideology is safe from this paranoid fringe, and this is a great example of how ideology is the universal…
denialism | April 20, 2009Via Lessig and as explained beautifully by Colbert, payday loans are evil.
The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Have Your Cake And Eat It, Too
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor
NASA Name Contest
Being a Democrat is no protection from corruption by corporations, as Congressman Gutierrez demonstrates. I think this is a pretty bad example of the type of corruption that Lessig and Brayton have been having a back-and-forth over. Whatever they want to call it, I think we can all agree it's wrong.
denialism | April 20, 2009I've been absent, I apologize, but my last rotation in medical school has been a sub-internship in Trauma surgery. Aside from work, sleep, eating, and buying a house in Baltimore, blogging has necessarily suffered.
I will say a few things though that should be a public service message on the TV. People need to wear helmets when driving ATVs. I'm sorry I know I'm repeating myself. As before, I'd say any time your going faster than 10-15mph and not enclosed and belted in steel cage you should be wearing a helmet. That includes on bikes, on motorcycles, scooters, go-carts, ATVs, skis…