Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Quoth Dr. Prasad: “It would not be difficult” to do an impossible VAERS study

Dr. Vinay Prasad recently attacked an epidemiological study published in JAMA Open Network reporting that people in red states are more likely to report vaccine injuries, claiming that it “would not be difficult” to do a much more rigorous study.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

A female physician responds to hack journalist Paul Thacker

After being forced through legal threats to “apologize” by a bunch of quacks and attacked by a hack journalist, Dr. Allison Neitzel tells her side of the story with respect to the hack. It’s a sad story, but I would much rather have her in my profession than the quacks who threatened her.

Categories
Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

The DSHEA and supplements made Alex Jones

As the HBO documentary The Truth vs. Alex Jones shows, Alex Jones promoted the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax to sell his supplement line. It’s a model that many Internet conspiracy theorists use, like Mike Adams. Did the DSHEA help create Alex Jones and the modern conspiracy industry?

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

Big antivax sites amplify Paul Thacker’s hit piece on Dr. Allison Neitzel

A week ago, Dr. Allison Neitzel posted an “apology” to some particularly odious antivax quacks. Predictably, the big antivax sites went into high gear to use the forced apology to amplify attacks on her.

Categories
Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Hack conspiracy journalism: Paul Thacker vs. the definition of “physician”

I normally don’t publish email exchanges, but when someone like Paul Thacker misleadingly characterizes an email exchange with me, let’s just say that I will make an exception in his case.