Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Will the Disneyland measles outbreak lead to the end of non-medical exemptions to school vaccine mandates? (It should)

Well, the ongoing multistate measles outbreak that’s been in the news for the last few weeks continues apace, which means I can’t seem to stay away from the issue for more than a couple of days. For instance, yesterday I learned that five babies at a Chicago-area day care have been diagnosed with the measles. […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Popular culture

Chris Christie and Rand Paul’s pandering to antivaccinationists: Is the Republican Party becoming the antivaccine party?

“I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice as well. So that’s a balance the government has to decide.” — NJ Governor Chris Christie, February 2, 2015 “The state doesn’t own the children. Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom.” — Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), February 2, […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Religion

A tale of two unnecessarily doomed aboriginal girls with leukemia

I’m depressed and angry as I write this. The reason for this is simple. I hate it when cancer quacks claim the lives of patients with cancer, particularly patients who were eminently treatable for cure. It’s happened again, and it makes me sad. Florida cancer quack Brian Clement has claimed the life of Makayla Sault, […]

Categories
Clinical trials Medicine Politics

The “health freedom” legislative agenda for 2015 and beyond

Now that we’re solidly into 2015, it’s a good time to check in on what the legislative priorities are going to be among various advocates of quackery and “health freedom” (but I repeat myself). There’s a new Republican Congress, and a lot of chairmanships are going to be reshuffled, with various legislators finding themselves in […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Holocaust denial Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery Religion

Nobody promotes antivaccine nonsense in my state…without receiving some Insolence

Readers who’ve been following this blog a while would probably not be surprised to learn that one of my all time favorite movies is Ghostbusters. In fact, it’s hard to believe that the movie is now 30 years old. It makes me feel so old, given that I saw the movie in the theater when […]