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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Scientific medicine denialism: A brief (by Orac standards) proposal

Between sessions here at the AACR meeting, I started thinking. (I realize that’s often a dangerous thing to do, but sometimes I can’t help myself.) What I was thinking about was my annual bit of “fluff with a bite,” the 2008 edition of “What is an altie?” Why, I don’t know, but I was. Then, […]

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Anti-Semitism Biology Entertainment/culture History Holocaust Holocaust denial Intelligent design/creationism Movies Pseudoscience

Darwinism leads to anti-Semitism? Or, the commonality of denialist tactics

Well, I’m here in sunny San Diego and about to head on over to the convention center to check out the day’s festivities and to make sure to check out a friend’s poster this morning. (If anyone reading this is attending AACR, you might recognize me by the Plexiglass box full of multi-colored blinking lights […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: What is an “altie”? (2008 edition)

It’s that time of year again. Actually, it’s well over a month past that time of year. Long-timers may remember that, near the very beginning of my old Blogger blog over three years ago, I did a post entitled What is an altie? It was basically a Jeff Foxworthy-like listing of “You just might be […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Quackery

The cult of antivaccinationism

Whenever I’m looking at fringe scientific claims, I’m always on the lookout for things that help me conclude whether I’m looking at “legitimate” fringe ideas or pseudoscience and woo. One observation that I’ve found helpful in leading me in one direction or the other is to look for certain dead giveaways that what we’re looking […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine

The Huffington Post and antivaccinationists

I don’t much like The Huffington Post. My dislike for The Huffington Post goes way, way back–all the way back to its very beginnings. Indeed, a mere three weeks after Arianna Huffington’s little vanity project hit the blogosphere, I noted a very disturbing trend in its content. That trend was a strong undercurrent of antivaccination […]