Anti-Vax Denialism
sb admin | July 17, 2008Tonight on WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit, the station that brought us the irresponsible health reporting of Steve Wilson, there will be a report on the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Given this station's recent history, I'm not very optimistic.
The Gardasil issue has been a unique crank-magnet. It has attracted a an interesting mix of religious zealots, antivax cultists, consumer advocates, and conspiracy theorists. It's even got Oprah! It's also damned interesting science.
Stay tuned.
sb admin | July 14, 2008Dr. David Gorski has an excellent and comprehensive post up on Science-based medicine regarding the horrid report by Steve Wilson on Channel 7 Detroit. Go and read.
sb admin | July 10, 2008Look, my beef with Steve Wilson isn't about style, isn't about quality, isn't about personality...it's about truths, and it's about health. Getting a detail wrong in an investigation of, say, cement is a peccadillo. Helping spread lies about the most important public health measure since clean water is a real problem.
It probably couldn't hurt to drop a line to the station. I'm not sure if the email address is any good, so here's the snail mail.
Bob Sliva, Vice President / General Manager
WXYZ-TV
20777 West Ten Mile Road
Southfield, MI 48037
talkback@wxyz.com
denialism | July 8, 2008Complementing Pal's essay on Gardasil yesterday is our buddy la Pobre Habladora guest blogging on Feministe.
Which, I think, brings us to a new angle on anti-vax denialism because as Pal mentions, the motivations behind harping on Gardasil are different than the usual nonsense. Gardasil, to everyone's dismay, has become intertwined with sexual politics in this country. As the only vaccine that has been identified as preventing a sexually-transmitted disease (the HepB vaccine managed to avoid this, not to mention an association with IV-drug use) there has been a clear impetus among the anti-…
sb admin | July 8, 2008It's worse than I thought.
A local investigative reporter has just broadcast a report on mercury, vaccines, and autism that was devoid of any investigation. It was a piece of lazy journalism, relying on the propaganda of the antivax cults, rather than real medical information. It was a pure propaganda piece. Before this aired, I did email Wilson and offer to hook him up with actual experts. I received no reply.
Let me share some details...
I have the transcript for fisking, but first some propaganda elements. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics was given two brief cameos…
sb admin | July 8, 2008That's the question posed by CNN yesterday. It's a good question. Any time a new vaccine or treatment is available, safety is a concern. Pre-marketing testing is likely to miss very rare reactions, so the government monitors new drugs when they hit the market. Gardasil has so far been quite safe, which does not rule out very rare problems that my crop up as more people are vaccinated.
Added to the general level of suspicion regarding Gardisil is Merck's very aggressive marketing campaign aimed at the public and at state legislators.
All that aside, Gardasil is probably a good idea.…
sb admin | June 20, 2008...but I'm pretty sure Jimmy knows his way around there.
HT Archeaoporn, Cectic
sb admin | June 10, 2008A new blogger out there stepped on the third rail. He's a senior law student, blogging about social justice, progressive politics, etc., and he found out that David Kirby, the Minister of Propaganda for the mercury militia, is coming to speak at his school.
This nascent lawyer had the temerity to call him out, and ZOMG! Kirby took the bait and brought his addled-minded friends.
There seem to be a whole lot of folks over there in need of some larnin'. I s'pose it couldn't hurt to see what's getting Kirby all hot and bothered.
sb admin | June 3, 2008Dear Jenny,
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. Oh, Jenny. Look, I realize I might have been somewhat less than kind in the past, but I'm hoping you haven't written me off. I've been told you catch a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar, so please take this letter in the spirit it was intended---corrective, constructive, and condescending.
I have it on good authority that you are planning on leading a "March on Washington" tomorrow. That's a really interesting idea. Many groups have marched on Washington---the Bonus Army, Dr. Martin Luther King, anti-abortion groups, pro-choice groups, a…
sb admin | May 22, 2008Here's an interesting one for ya. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting on a vaccine injury case filed by an Atlanta couple. The story is familiar and sad---a child starts off as a normal baby, and eventually develops a devastating neurologic illness. Based on the fact that symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders happen to show up around the same time as vaccines are given, the family blames the vaccines.
Here's the saga:
The Ferrari's decided to sue. They brought suit against:
[...]nine vaccine manufacturers, eight manufacturers of thimerosal and one manufacturer of a…
sb admin | May 19, 2008As discussed yesterday, former NIH director Dr. Bernadine Healy has been saying some very strange things lately. Since crank-ism doesn't usually pop up out of nowhere, I decided to poke around a little. In an amazing co-incidence, some of Healy's forays into the world of crankery neatly parallel the hot-button issues of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
For example:
1) As discussed yesterday, Healy thinks thimerosal is toxic. So does AAPS.
2) Healy tried to interfere inappropriately in the Terry Schiavo case. So did AAPS.
3) Healy isn't so fond of science and…
sb admin | May 18, 2008I love Saturday mornings. I usually get up early, make coffee, hang out with my daughter. Before my daughter wakes up and makes me change the channel, I usually catch a few minutes of CNN, which, at that time of day, features fellow Michigander Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Today, he started out talking about women and heart disease, an important topic. Then he moved on to a discussion with Dr. Bernadine Healy about vaccines. This is where it got ugly. In fact, I was emailing Orac about an unrelated matter, and I began to rant incoherently. Orac reeled me back in, and was kind enough to send me a…
sb admin | May 2, 2008I'm vacationing, so I'll point you to some important posts from my SciBlings, DM and Orac. Measles is no joke, and the latest report reminds us that the anti-vaccine folks are dangerous.
sb admin | April 30, 2008HT to Tara
The United Methodist Church has just allowed its member to deliver unto them a hunk of burning stupid. Some misguided souls have looked upon vaccines and have found them wanting. Let us examine for ourselves this misguided petition (which passed 58 to 0). (I'll skip the theological justifications given---they are irrelevant, unless the Bible says, "thou shalt not preserve vaccines with thimerosal.")
Whereas, Thimerosal (synonyms include: Thiomseral, Merthiolate, Thimerasol) is a severely toxic, antiquated, organic mercury compound (approximately 50% mercury by weight) that has…
denialism | April 28, 2008How else can you describe a site that regularly publishes David Kirby's anti-vaccination denialism, Jennifer McCarthy's insanity, and conspiracy theories from the like of Diedre Imus?
The latest this weekend is the goalpost-moving from David Kirby, which based on the egregious misinterpretation of the Hannah Poling case, represents the new front of anti-vaccination denialists in their war on reason. In the never-ending quest to pin autism on vaccines no matter what the evidence, the anti-vaccine denialists now are trying to make autism a mitochondrial disorder in order to fit their latest…
denialism | April 22, 2008With the news that in addition to John McCain both Clinton and Obama have now pandered to anti-vaccine denialism I think it's time to reiterate there isn't a political party in this country that has a truly sound grasp on sound science. And in this instance it is clear that both sides are more than happy to pander to the denialists.
The fact is that there is no link between vaccines and autism. As time has gone on the denialists move the goalposts further and further back as the evidence for a link becomes increasingly unlikely. First it was thimerosal, and now 6 years after its removal…
sb admin | April 20, 2008If the uber-fascist wing of the anti-vaccine movement had any scientific credibility, it wouldn't need to throw around subpoenas. That is what is (still) happening to the author of the Neurodiversty blog (hat tip again to LizDitz).
I'm sitting here in the hospital with my sick daughter. She has all that modern medicine has to offer, and is thankfully doing well. If she weren't, my reaction wouldn't be to abandon science and start slinging blame---she fell ill to a common virus, and that's that. I certainly wouldn't start legal action against people who disagree with me. That's crazy.…
sb admin | April 19, 2008Last night I was reading a book to my daughter at bedtime. It was all about a kid who had chickenpox. I looked at my wife and said, "this is a bit outdated."
"So what, it's cute," she accurately replied.
Wow. I hadn't thought about it much lately, but chickenpox in the U.S. is disappearing rapidly. "Pox parties" are gone. Kids aren't missing weeks of school. Pediatric ICUs aren't seeing much varicella pneumonia. Now that I think about it, a number of important lessons I learned in medical school are becoming historical oddities. On my pediatric rotation, we learned to watch for the…
sb admin | April 18, 2008This was a really crappy season. The system for developing flu viruses is the best we've got, but it's imperfect. This year, we had significant mismatch between the vaccine and the circulating strains.
According to the CDC, this season peaked in mid-February, and was "moderately severe"---and the worst season in four years.
Improving our system of flu prevention will take lots of work, including epidemiology, basic science, and front-line medicine.
A lousy flu season not only causes suffering and death, but also fuels denialits, who sit at their keyboards drooling at the prospect of…
sb admin | April 17, 2008A new patient came to see me a few months back. She is in her 60's or 70's and not in the best health. She is very nice. And simple---very simple. I spoke to her brother before the appointment. He told me that she was a normal, happy kid until the age of seven.
Then she got sick. At first it wasn't much, just a cold. Then there was a rash. Then she got very, very sick. She had measles, and she was one of the about 1-1000 people who develop acute encephalitis as a complication of the disease.
The rest of the kids in the family are quite bright and successful. My patient came to…