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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for making measles great again.

It seems as though I have to write a post like this every year or two, as measles outbreaks keep raging and children keep getting sick and even dying. I feel obligated to “thank” the primary author of this misery, the man whose scientific fraud and other efforts have fueled antivaxers’ fear of the MMR vaccine. So thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for the measles. Again. In 2018.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Cancer Medicine Popular culture Quackery

Antivaccine woo attracts “alkaline diet” woo: Elle Macpherson is dating disgraced antivaccine doctor Andrew Wakefield

A recent spate of articles over the last couple of days report that Elle Macpherson is dating an antivaccine “icon,” disgraced antivaccine doctor and scientific fraud Andrew Wakefield. Given her love of “alkaline diet” woo, which she sells through her very Goop-like Wellco website, the attraction shouldn’t be surprising. It is, nonetheless, troubling. It wouldn’t surprise me if Macpherson is antivaccine herself, given that in “alkaline diet” lingo, vaccines are often viewed as “toxic acid” insults that “alkalinization” can reverse.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

Thank you, Chelsea Clinton, for speaking out against Andrew Wakefield and driving antivaxers crazy

Earlier this week, Chelsea Clinton spoke out against Andrew Wakefield and in support of vaccines. Hilarity ensued as antivaxers lost their mind in rage and faux disappointment in her.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Movies Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Religion

The Pathological Optimist: When “not taking sides” over Andrew Wakefield means taking a side

The Pathological Optimist is a recently released documentary by Miranda Bailey about Andrew Wakefield that I got a chance to see. In interviews and in the film’s promotional materials, Bailey takes great pains to emphasize that she “doesn’t take a side” about Wakefield. Unfortunately, her film demonstrates that, when it comes to pseudoscience, “not taking a side” is taking a side, and that a film’s bias is often more evident in what is not shown and told than in what is.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

REVEALED: Disgraced antivax “scientist” Andrew Wakefield met with Donald Trump in August to promote his “CDC whistleblower” conspiracy movie

As I write this, the 2016 Election is lurching painfully to its conclusion, with about a week to go. In my entire adult life, dating back to when I first reached the age where I started paying attention to politics in the late 1970s, I cannot remember a more bizarre or painful election, nor can […]