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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

It’s so cute when anti-vaxers try to discuss epidemiology…

The anti-vaccine movement is nothing if not plastic. It “evolves” very rapidly in response to selective pressures applied to it in the form of science refuting its key beliefs. For instance, when multiple studies looking at the MMR vaccine and autism failed to confirm the myth that the MMR causes autism or “autistic enterocolitis,” most […]

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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Religion Science Surgery

Francis Collins’ “Five Themes” for the NIH

One of the advantages of hanging out around home on the proverbial staycation is that, instead of actually paying more attention to the news, I’ve paid less attention to the news. That’s why I didn’t notice some stories from earlier this week about what the new director of the NIH, Francis Collins, plans to do. […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Dr. Bob Sears: Stealth anti-vaccinationist? (revisited)

Vacation or no vacation, something’s bubbled up in the comments that I consider worth commenting about. If you remember (or even if you don’t), about a week and a half ago I wrote about how Dr. Bob Sears, author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Choice for Your Child, has let the mask drop. […]

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Medicine Science

Effect Measure on “Science-based Medicine 101”: FAIL

Effect Measure is a site I highly recommend with experienced epidemiologists in charge. In other words, it’s run by adults. But scientists often disagree about things. This is apparently a secret to non-scientists and many reporters who assume that when two scientists disagree, one is lying or wrong. But it’s true nonetheless. Whatever the subdiscipline, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Don’t listen to these “medical voices,” or: How did I miss this loony antivaccine site before?

Let’s face it, I’ve been at this “anti-antii-vax” thing for quite a while now. This December, this blog will have been in existence for five years. Even before that cold, gray Saturday afternoon nearly five years ago when, on a whim, I started up a blog on Blogspot that became the first incarnation of Respectful […]