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Cancer Medicine

McKay Jenkins asks, “Did everyday chemicals cause my tumor?”

Oh, no! It’s the toxins! It’s the chemicals! Evil, evil, evil, evil! Even worse, unnatural, unnatural, unnatural! Such is the message we receive from many sources. The media bombards us with it constantly. Environmental groups do too. The message is so pervasive that most people take it for granted that various toxins are “poisoning” them […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Entertainment/culture Medicine Popular culture Quackery Television

The AAP protests the anti-vaccine ads being aired by CBS

Excellent! It’s about time the bigger guns started getting involved. Remember the anti-vaccine ads being run on the big CBS JumboTron in Times Square? Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics has finally weighted in to complaint. Here’s the letter: April 13, 2011 Mr. Wally Kelly Chairman and CEO CBS Outdoor 405 Lexington Ave., 14th floor […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Entertainment/culture Medicine Television

Stop CBS from airing anti-vaccine ads on its Times Square JumboTron

I tell ya. I take a weekend off from this blog, and what do I find on Sunday night when I sit back down to take a look and see if there’s anything I want to blog about? Damn if those anti-vaccine loons aren’t pulling a fast one while I’m not looking. It turns out […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Religion Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Just in time for April Fools’ Day…Dr. Oz and the Pigasus Awards!

Ah, April Fools’ Day! I had thought of trying to do a typical April Fools’ Day post, you know, something like trying to write something but the last time I tried to do that it fell really flat, so flat that I’m not even going to link to it. It’s better not to remind my […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Turning the informed consent tables on the anti-vaccine movement

One of the major tactics of the anti-vaccine movement has been a disingenuous demand for more “informed consent.” Of course, their idea of “informed consent” is anything but informed. Indeed, I have referred to it as “misinformed consent,” because what the anti-vaccine movement does is a pathetic parody of the “informed” part of informed consent. […]