Denialism

Category: Anti-Vax Denialism

  • Anti-vaccination—old religion writ new

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    MarkH
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    I’m rather angry. Strike that. I’m furious. Indescribably outraged. Disgusted. The rise of the antivaccination cults is finally affecting public health. If you want details, go and read Orac, or Steve Novella, or some of my other writing. I’m too angry to deal with details today. Infectious diseases have stalked us across the millennia. Centuries…

  • Autism and Mitochondria

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    MarkH
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    Prometheus brings us the best article I’ve seen to date on why the new push for a mitochondrial basis for autism is total nonsense. Once I saw this push from denialists like David Kirby towards a link between mitochondria and autism I knew we were in for a world of trouble. If only because mitochondrial…

  • DrPal, tell us more about HPV and cancer

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    MarkH
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    OK, if you insist. This comes with the usual caveat directed at scientists that I know this is oversimplified, but I wish to reach the largest audience possible. Feel free to correct my mistakes, but please don’t bother me about oversimplification. So here’s the deal. Several decades ago, it became scientifically fashionable to believe that…

  • Medscape reversal—Gardasil is great again

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    MarkH
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    Last week, Orac reported on Medscape’s execrable article regarding Gardasil. As a reminder, the article spouted every antivaccination lie imaginable. The link subsequently disappeared, although a poll later appeared that parroted the article’s misinformation. Well, today Medscape has a new Gardasil article. It’s definitely an improvement, but still has some problems…

  • Gardasil idiocy

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    MarkH
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    Orac had a nice takedown of an idiotic piece on Medscape about the Gardasil vaccine. As he reported, the link to the bad article is now dead, perhaps as a result of blograge. Now, on the front page of Medscape is a poll—a poll regarding physician prescribing habits given the “news” about Gardasil: Serious neurologic,…

  • Propaganda

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    MarkH
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    Here and in other venues, we’ve written quite a bit about the tactics used in the anti-vaccination movement (or as I like to call it, the “infectious disease promotion movement (IDPM)”). Let’s examine some less subtle tactics.

  • Vaccination and morality

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    MarkH
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    Who has the moral high ground in the vaccination wars? My initial response is that I do, “I” meaning the medical and public health fields—those of us who prevent disease, disability, and death. But it’s much more complicated. Many anti-vaccine activists are “true believers”. They really believe that vaccines do more harm than good. But,…

  • Where did we go wrong? Framing vaccination

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    MarkH
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    I’ve had a bit of writer’s block lately, but I’ve learned to take my own advice and just wait it out. And so I did. Then, today, I read Orac’s piece on framing the vaccine problem. It set my mind a-whirring, so I’ve put the coffee on, and I’m setting fingers to keyboard. I don’t…

  • The stupid continues at Channel 7

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    MarkH
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    Right now, I’m looking out my window to see the spreading pall of burning stupid rising over Channel 7’s tower in Southfield. And the stupid isn’t just for Steve Wilson anymore. What reporter Carolyn Clifford lacks in adiposity, she easily makes up for in credulity. Her “investigative report” tonight on the HPV vaccine Gardasil is…

  • Uh oh…not again

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    MarkH
    in

    Tonight 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…