Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

The mummer’s farce that was the Congressional autism hearing last week

Last Wednesday, I took note of an “old friend” and (thankfully) soon-to-be ex-Representative from Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, organized quackery’s best friend in the U.S. House of Representatives, Dan Burton. Specifically, I noted that Rep. Burton appeared to be having his one last antivaccine hurrah in the form of a hearing about the “autism epidemic” […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Fundraising for antivaccine research

If there’s one thing that antivaccine cranks tell us that has a grain of truth in it, it’s to be wary of pharmaceutical companies and their influence. Their mission is, of course, to make profits, and sometimes the search for profits can lead them to do things that are less than savory. Of course, antivaccine […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

The “no debate” debate

I like the word “manufactroversy.” It’s a lovely made up word that combines the two words “manufactured controversy” and is, to boil it down, defined as the art of creating a controversy where none really exists. In the case of science, it’s the concerted effort to make it seem as though there is a legitimate […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaccine fear mongering? What antivaccine fear mongering? I don’t see any antivaccine fear mongering.

Here we go again. Every so often, criticism of the antivaccine movement builds to the point where it extends beyond the blogosphere to enter the national zeitgeist in a way in which people other than blogging geeks like myself start to take notice. It happened a few years ago, when washed up actress Jenny McCarthy […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Quoth an antivaccinationist: "Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

I must admit. No matter how long I’ve been dealing with the antivaccine movement, in particular the pseudoscience, misinformation, and sometimes outright lies they use to demonize vaccines, I can never quite understand the profound persecution complex that so many of them have. After all, they lash out with so much vehemence and outright nastiness […]