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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Entertainment/culture Medicine Movies

Something to be thankful for: No anti-vaccine propaganda with my Harry Potter

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S., and, despite the crappy economy, there are still things to be thankful for. For instance, skeptical activism can still be effective. Remember how on Sunday Skepchick Elyse put out the call to Skepchic readers to complain to movie theaters that were reportedly going to be airing a public […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

The annals of “I’m not anti-vaccine,” part 3

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 begins right here, in the comments of (where else?) the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism, courtesy of commenter Kathy Blanco:

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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine

The Age of Autism counterattack against Skepchick Elyse begins

Remember Elyse? She’s one of the Skepchicks, and a couple of weeks ago she did a most excellent skeptical thing. She organized a campaign to complain to the theaters that had, according to the anti-vaccine propaganda group SafeMinds and the anti-vaccine propaganda blog Age of Autism, accepted the advertisements, which SafeMinds were “framing” to be […]

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Biology Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

The Chicago Tribune, “chronic Lyme disease,” and demands for false balance

During the six years of its existence, one frequent complaint I’ve had on this blog, it’s been about how the press covers various health issues. In particular, it’s depressing to see how often dubious and even outright false health claims, such as the claim that vaccines cause autism, that cell phones or powerlines cause cancer, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Entertainment/culture Medicine Movies Music Popular culture Quackery Television

Once more into the anti-vaccine fray in the theaters…

File this under another “better late (as in after Christmas) than never.” Remember Elyse Anders? Remember how she successfully rallied skeptical activists to try to put the kibosh on an effort by the anti-vaccine group SafeMinds to infiltrate theaters with their commercials desguised as public service announcements over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend? Remember how she […]