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Even if you haven’t yet read Time’s new article, Who’s Afraid of Jenny McCarthy?, I bet most of you have answered the question already. The author, Karl Taro Greenfeld, is no stranger to the issue of autism and wrote a book about his autistic brother. While the article takes a hard-line on McCarthy’s belief that [...] I received an interesting response to what I thought would be a light topic when, on Friday, I wrote a critique of the HuffPo’s reporting on two stories that were unrelated to each other. I was in error to broach the subject of neonatal male circumcision in such a glib manner when obviously it is [...] (For further discussion please read the continuation here.) No this is not a new game akin to 6-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon. Unlike Sarah Palin, I don’t read “all” periodicals, but I have a few favorites… the HuffPo is not one of them. Their editorials tend to come off as tirades by individuals who like to hear themselves talk… type… whatever. [...] Like every other group of cranks, the anti-vaccine movement makes up for their total lack of supporting evidence with emotional appeals. They know that they can exploit a single vaccine injury (or even a bogus vaccine injury) to sell fear and that this is far more persuasive than statistical data looking [...] Just in case you haven’t heard, a UK General Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise Panel found sufficient evidence to suggest “serious professional misconduct” on the part of Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues, who published the very first paper that insinuated a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Further, The Lancet has retracted the original [...] A complaint frequently invoked by those opposed to Western medicine is that the industry has a general disregard for any potential health benefits from “natural” remedies to the point of snubbing plants and herbs that are employed by non-scientists. And in the next breath, such opponents will decry Western medicine for its unflagging devotion to [...] An excellent report aired on NPR this week in reference to a terrific study that just came out of UC Davis. This study, led by biostatisticians (these researchers produce the most trustworthy numbers in science) looked at a whole suite of environmental products frequently maligned as causes of autism. Their results indicate that neither household [...] Swine flu outbreaks by country (by HotWikiBR) A meaty conversation with John Snyder at last week’s Drinking Skeptically, produced a lot of food for thought, and I spent Thanksgiving weekend chewing over some of his comments in addition to my turkey. We have learned so much from the outreach that doctors and researchers like John [...] Bill Maher has been receiving a lot of criticism, but not for his political views or his satirical take on society, or even his anti-religious propaganda. Bill Maher is receiving criticism because he has taken up the flag against “western medicine” and has become yet another celebrity vehicle for spreading misinformation, specifically on vaccine safety. [...] |
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