Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Should parents worry about HPV vaccine?

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    MarkH
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    That’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…

  • NISSSBETTTTTT!!!!

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    MarkH
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    Arghhh!!! Framing. What is it? Is it a way of communicating issues effectively to diverse populations? Or is it another word for compromising your values until they become meaningless? In his latest piece, SciBling Matt Nisbet shows it to be the latter. While many of us are shaking our heads as we are forced to…

  • Swallowing nutrition myths hook, line, and sinker

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    MarkH
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    I’m starting to worry about health coverage in the NY Times. Lawrence Altman is a great health reporter, and I like one of Michael Pollan’s pieces in particular, but the Times also has a bunch of those blog-thinggies, and one of the writers has disappointed me before. Oops, she did it again…

  • Medicare cuts—a bad thing

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    MarkH
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    Look, I know no one is weeping for doctors and their complaints about payment cuts, but you should at least be concerned, and here’s why. Some doctors are rich…very rich. Most are not. Medical education is largely financed with debt, and primary care doesn’t pay all that much. Small practices work on narrow margins, and…

  • Red Pines

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    MarkH
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    GrrlScientist inspired me to upload some of my Up North pics. Red pine groves on granite outcrops are a characteristic feature of Algonquin Park. Red Pines have reddish bark which flakes off in thin scales. Their needles come in groups of two.

  • L’affaire Lenski continues

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    MarkH
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    When will the stupidity end? Really. When? As long as Conservapedia exists, the answer will elude us. The latest feculent flow of irrational idiocy concerns the Lenski Affair. Just to remind you, a biologist named Lenski did a very cool experiment regarding evolution in E.coli. Some creationist cult leader was displeased. Since his god has…

  • I love careless stupidity

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    MarkH
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    Sometimes things just fall into your lap. This evening I was working on a different piece, and not getting very far, when an email arrived in my in-box. You see, when you write for the 21st most influential science blog, you get a lot of unsolicited mail (OK, fine…I get spam in my blog-related inbox.…

  • Medical Hypotheses—“just make shit up; we’ll publish it”

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    MarkH
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    Orac was kind enough to pollute my inbox with the latest idiocy from the journal that has never met a crank it didn’t like. As Orac says, “Medical Hypotheses [is] the journal where the editors encourage the authors to make shit up.” Before I tell you about the latest “hypothesis”, let me give you an…

  • Eating can be bad for your health. Oh, and don’t forget the phages.

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    MarkH
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    Sure, we have obesity problems in this country, but we also have more direct food safety problems. Summer has brought with it news of the bungled tomato-Salmonella affair, and now, from the Midwest, contaminated beef. One of our local supermarket chains has been forced to recall hamburger meat because of over a dozen cases of…

  • As goes Vermont…

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    MarkH
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    I hadn’t realized that Vermont has passed a law requiring insurers to cover naturopathic care. We’ve covered extensively the quackery that is naturopathy, but really, if a patient chooses to see a quack, it’s their business. But with health care costs soaring, requiring insurers to pay for voodoo is a rather bad idea. Already, many…