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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Best line about David Kirby I’ve heard in a long time

A couple of days ago, I wrote about a particularly deceptive and idiotic article by David Kirby about the settling of a case of vaccine injury by the U.S. government. Fellow skeptical physician Steve Novella couldn’t resist taking a shot at Kirby as well and in doing so came up with one of the best lines about Kirby that I’ve ever heard in reference to Kirby’s attempt to bring AZT into the discussion:

Among stiff competition, this is perhaps the most absurd and scientifically ignorant thing Kirby has every written.

Damn. I wish I had thought of that line. However, I would say to Steve that he clearly hasn’t been reading David Kirby’s idiocy as long as I have if he thinks that’s the most absurd and scientifically ignorant thing that Kirby has ever written.

In the meantime, Left Brain Right Brain puts another nail in the coffin of the new antivaccination strategy of the mercury militia trying to link mitochondrial diseases plus vaccines as a cause of autism:

FYI…vaccines ARE recommended for children with mito! Some are advised to avoid a shot, ONLY if a history of bad reactions exists (which holds true for the general population). My friends whose children have mito ALL vaccinate their children and are mortified by people who opt to not give shots to their kids because of quack science (vaccines=autism). Those un-vaccinated children put my child and my friend’s children at risk for contracting serious diseases. Diseases that most certainly would land a child with mito in the ICU & possibly kill them.

Go here: http://www.umdf.org/site/c.dnJEKLNqFoG/b.3616911/apps/s/content.asp?ct=4211851 and read. I will also add, it is HIGHLY unlikely that a child with autism has mito, especially if that child has never been hospitalized, doesn’t have severe health issues, eats on their own, there is no muscle-wasting, vision impairment, heart defects, etc. Read more about mito at umdf.org & see how autism doesn’t equal mito, and how this case has nada to do with what Kirby is fighting for!

Moreover, mitochondrial diseases are serious diseases. As one mother put it:

Lastly, I might add, with hesitation, something about these parents who are now jumping at the bits about mitochondrial disease. Hope beyond hope that your child does NOT have it. If your child has never been hospitalized, has never had surgery, is able to walk, doesn’t need a tube in order to receive nutrition, be grateful. The injury you feel your child received–autism–from a vaccine, and I don’t mean to be rude, pales in comparison to what most families who battle mitochondrial disease have to contend with.

This new strategy by the mercury militia is far more perilous than David Kirby realizes. Maybe Steve Novella is right about this being the stupidest thing that David Kirby has ever written after all.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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