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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Entertainment/culture Medicine Music Popular culture Quackery

Jack’s Fourth Show: How anti-vaccine groups rebrand themselves as legitimate autism charities

There once was a time not so long ago–oh, say, four our five years–when the anti-vaccine fringe was looked upon as what it was: a fringe group, a bunch of quacks and quack advocates, all in essence one big conspiracy theory movement, in which vaccines are the One True Cause of Autism. At the time, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science Surgery

Some monkey business in autism research, 2009 edition

As you may have noticed, I’ve fallen into a groove (or, depending on your point of view, a rut) writing about anti-vaccine lunacy. The reason is simple. While I was busy going nuts over Bill Maher’s receiving the Richard Dawkins Award, the anti-vaccine movement has been busy, and there are some things I need to […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The anti-vaccine war on science: An epidemic of fear

Many have been the times over the last five years that I’ve called out bad journalism about medicine in general and vaccines in particular, especially the coverage of the discredited notion that vaccines or mercury in vaccines somehow was responsible for the “autism epidemic.” That’s why I feel a special responsibility to highlight good reporting […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

Society of Homeopaths director and MMR solicitor Richard Barr: Using British libel law to silence Paul Offit

Over the years, I’ve pointed out just how horrible British libel laws are. If there is a set of laws more designed to be used and abused by the wealthy to silence criticism, it’s British libel laws. Indeed, I was pointing out the travesty that is British libel law in the context of David Irving’s […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine

For the anti-vaccinationists out there: The results of a real “vaxed versus unvaxed” study

In many ways, the anti-vaccine movement is highly mutable. However, this mutability is firmly based around keeping one thing utterly constant, and that one thing is vaccines. No matter what the evidence, no matter what the science, no matter how much observational, scientific, and epidemiological evidence is arrayed against them, to the relentlessly self-confident members […]