Anti-Vax Denialism
sb admin | April 7, 2008In a new apologia for Jenny McCarthy and the mercury militia, Alison Levy, writing for HuffPo, wonders what all the fuss is about.
When I watch Jenny McCarthy on CNN or when I read the blogs (and comments) on autism, I keep wondering: What is this debate about? Yes, the parents of autistic kids are more "emotional" than the aloof doctors before them. But why are they met with anger, rather than compassion? If their concerns are heard, how does that harm other citizens? As a health journalist, and recent newcomer to this issue, I'm trying to understand the passion on the "pro-vaccination"…
sb admin | March 30, 2008What if we had a vaccine against cancer? Or even against some cancers? Wouldn't this be a huge news story, with people everywhere clamoring for the shot? Maybe...
Or maybe, some people could find a way to turn that smile upside down. Gardasil, the new vaccine approved for prevention of certain cancer-causing strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), is the first widely available vaccine aimed directly at preventing cancer. (The Hepatitis B vaccine also helps prevent liver tumors, but that's another story.) Gardasil can prevent cervical cancer, certain mouth and anal cancers, and…
sb admin | March 29, 2008As the anti-vaccine mercury militia's limited credibility shrinks even further, actual scientists are investigating real mercury-based toxins.
Remember how followers of the mercury militia were getting all their old mercury amalgam fillings pulled? It turns out that maybe that's not the greatest idea.
A group from the U of I found that once you dig out the fillings, under the right conditions, mercury can become exposed to certain bacteria that methylate it, forming toxic methylmercury compounds.
If this pans out, it may change the way mercury fillings are removed and the waste products…
sb admin | March 27, 2008It's amazing that anti-vaccine crankery persists. I went over to Joe Mercola's woo-palace again, and what should pop up but an article by Dr. Woo himself, Russell Blaylock. Apparently Russ and Joe are "good friends", which is appropriate, since both are doctors that aren't welcome in the profession. Blaylock believes that vaccines kill your brain. How does he know?
"A tremendous amount of research has now demonstrated the link between chronic low-level brain inflammation, elevated brain glutamate levels and major depression"
and
"A great number of studies have shown that when you vaccinate…
sb admin | March 25, 2008Once again, I'm migrating more popular posts from the old blog. If this is a repeat for you, sorry. --PalMD Wow. I mean, wow. I was googling some flu information, and one of the first hits was so fundamentally wrong about all matters medical that I actually felt ill. The dangerous title is "Building a Child's Immunity the Natural Way". It's wasn't clear to me what this meant, so I had to read the damned thing. It starts out pretty bad:
New Jersey's Public Health Council gave its citizens a Christmas present that will not please the health-conscious, as it became the first state in the…
denialism | December 6, 2007I don't need to cover this latest nonsense from David Kirby about vaccines and autism as Orac has already done so nicely.
However, I would like to point out a few examples of why anti-vax is a prime example of denialist argument.
For one, Kirby is such a promiscuous goal-post mover, I'm floored. This is the guy that said he'd remove himself from the debate if thimerosal were vindicated. Well, that's proving more and more impossible, as are his expectations:
Finally, to all those who are going to post comments about the autism rates in California not coming down, following the removal of…
denialism | July 18, 2007Two Guardian articles appear today on Andrew Wakefield and his associates. The first is a discussion of his unethical and invasive methods used in his now-debunked study that purported to show a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.
Vulnerable children were subjected to "inappropriate and invasive" tests by a doctor who prompted one of the biggest health controversies of the past 10 years, it was alleged today.
Andrew Wakefield, who linked the MMR vaccine to autism, was described at a General Medical Council (GMC) fitness panel as having breached "some of the most fundamental rules of…
denialism | June 28, 2007David Kirby asks us to move the goalposts one more time on the vaccines-cause-autism question.
Epidemiologic studies have shown no link. The Institute of Medicine has looked at the evidence for the link between mercury and autism and found it to be specious. Thimerosal has been removed, to no effect. Throughout the Autism Omnibus proceedings we've seen the best case for a link and it's a joke. The measles PCRs linking gut samples from autistic kids to "chronic measles infection" from the MMR jab were false positives. At every single point when this problem has been studied it's been…
denialism | June 20, 2007RFK Jr. writes the standard crank screed in Huffpo, and it's like a mirror reflection of the CBS news crankery that Orac takes on.
Let's see, it's a crank screed so it at a very minimum has to have four elements. The wacky idea, a bunch of inflated non-evidence, conspiracy theories to deflect criticism, and finally, notions of persecution. Let's see how RFK Jr. does.
The poisonous public attacks on Katie Wright this week--for revealing that her autistic son Christian (grandson of NBC Chair Bob Wright), has recovered significant function after chelation treatments to remove mercury --…
denialism | June 18, 2007David Kirby seems to be planning his escape from the autism debate. At Huffington post, he demands that science perform epidemiological studies that compare the healthiness or autism rates of unvaccinated versus vaccinated children.
Most people (save for a handful of fringe parents who believe that autism is some altered state of being, worthy of celebration) are probably just plain tired of autism and the fight over its cause. They really want to settle this debate and move on.
I know I do.
The irony is that the multi-million-dollar court battles, the melodramatic headlines and the alarm…
denialism | June 18, 2007It's time to talk about the anti-vaccine (or anti-vax) denialists. Considering the Autism Omnibus trial is underway to decide whether or not parents of autistic children can benefit from the vaccine-compensation program, a fund designed to compensate those who have had reactions to vaccines and shield vaccine makers from the civil suits which drove them out of the country in the early 1980s. I think it's topical and necessary to set the record straight about vaccines, their risks, and many benefits. To do this though, we'll have to talk about the history of and resistance to vaccination…
denialism | May 28, 2007Slate has coverage of the impending trial against vaccine makers over the inclusion of thimerosal - a mercury containing preservative agent - in childhood vaccines.
Luckily, the writers at Slate have done their homework. They present a laundry-list of denialist tactics from the anti-vax crackpots.
We've got the quote-mining
In April, the government-funded Institute of Medicine held a two-day workshop to discuss ways to research possible toxic causes of autism. Leading voices among the parents who believe in the thimerosal-autism link shared their views with Science publisher Alan Leshner…