Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Cancer Politics Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

Jenny McCarthy and the selling of e-cigarettes

I’ve made no secret of my opinion of Jenny McCarthy. To put it mildly, I don’t think that much of her, particularly her flaming stupid when it comes to her promotion of dangerous antivaccine nonsense. To her, vaccines are chock full of “toxins” and all sorts of evil humors that will turn your child autistic […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Another zombie antivaccine meme rises from the grave again

No mas! No mas! I surrender. Even though what I’m about to blog about is over a week old (ancient history in blog time), the combined force of you, my readers, sending this link to me and my seeing it on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere compels me. Oh, I resisted. I read it and thought […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Even when it’s not all about vaccines, it’s all about vaccines

As supporters of science-based medicine know, in the woo-sphere, there is only One True Cause of Autism, and that is vaccines. At least, so it would seem. The idea that vaccines cause autism is based largely on anecdotes tinged with confirmation bias and selective memory mixed with a massive confusing of correlation with causation whereby […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Antivaccine legislators are at it again

Here we go again. The “Holy Grail” (well, a “holy grail”) of the antivaccine movement is to have a “vaccinated versus unvaccinated” study performed, or, as it’s frequently abbreviated a “vaxed verus unvaxed” study. They believe that such a study will confirm their fixed belief that vaccines are the root of nearly all health issues […]

Categories
Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The cult of the antivaccine

After a brief foray yesterday into discussing atheism, tone deafness, and the Holocaust (how’s that for an odd combination?), I’m ready to get back to more—shall we say?—conventional topics. One topic that’s been popping up at that other wretched hive of scum and antivaccine quackery (one of the ones other than Age of Autism) reveals […]