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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Popular culture Pseudoscience

Did the pneumococcal vaccine lay Lou Ferrigno low?

Lou Ferrigno, who played the Incredible Hulk in the late 1970s, recently Tweeted that he had been hospitalized for “fluid in his bicep” after a “pneumonia vaccine,” and antivaxers went wild trying to tie it to their bogus concept of “vaccine injury.” What really happened?

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Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Will the Medical Board of California crack down on the stem cell hard sell?

For-profit stem cell clinics selling unproven and downright quacky stem cell therapies have proliferated over the last several years, with federal and state law seemingly powerless to stop them. Recently, the FDA and FTC have shown signs of acting to crack down on them. Now, the Medical Board of California is forming a task force to determine how to regulate physicians offering these unproven therapies. Will it matter?

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Rep.-Elect Mark Green: A new antivaccine crank goes to Congress

Here we go again. Meet Rep-Elect Mark Green. He’s following in the footsteps of Reps. Dan Burton and Bill Posey in bringing the antivaccine crazy to Congress, only this time for the people of Tennessee.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Brian Hooker’s antivaccine pseudoscience has risen from the dead to threaten children again

Remember Brian Hooker’s pseudoscience-laden “study” linking the MMR vaccine with autism in African-American boys? It’s back from the dead! Even more hilariously, it’ was published in that rag of a “journal” for all things right wing conspiracy pseudoscience, the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Bioethics Skepticism/critical thinking

In which Orac uncloaks and gets to meet his heroes Drs. Richard Pan and Peter Hotez

A week and a half ago, Orac got to travel to San Diego to participate in a panel discussion about the antivaccine movement. Even better, he got to meet two heroes of his, California Senator Richard Pan and Dr. Peter Hotez.