Antivaxers really, really don't like HPV vaccines. Too bad that a new meta-analysis shows that they're really effective.
Category: Pseudoscience
Has Google finally adjusted its algorithm to deprioritize quack content? Dr. Mercola thinks so.
Everyone's favorite quack Joe Mercola is ranting about Google. It's not surprising, given how Google has apparently deprioritized content from quack websites..
Bernard and Lisa Selz (and Albert Dwoskin): Name and shame wealthy donors funding antivaxers
The Washington Post reported that Bernard and Lisa Selz have donated heavily to antivaccine causes. Will naming and shaming stop them? The Daily Beast reported that Albert Dwoskin is distancing himself from his ex-wife's antivaccine foundation; so there's hope.
Jessica Biel: The latest celebrity antivaxer comes out
Actress Jessica Biel Joined Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lobby California lawmakers to reject SB 276, a bill to stop bogus vaccine exemptions. Despite her claims that she's "not antivax," lobbying with a long time antivax crank like RFK, Jr. and expressing to legislators your belief that vaccines are both dangerous and ineffective are pretty much the definition of antivax.
Chronic Lyme disease: Fake diagnosis or pseudo-diagnosis, NOT fake disease
For once, Twitter actually changed Orac's mind. Chronic Lyme disease is not a fake disease. Rather, it is a fake diagnosis or pseudodiagnosis disconnected from what is really going on physiologically. That's why only quacks use the diagnosis.
Mao triumphant: The World Health Organization officially embraces traditional Chinese medicine quackery
Seven decades ago, Chairman Mao Zedong began promoting traditional Chinese medicine and its "integration" with science-based medicine. His long game has paid off, and he has triumphed, thanks to WHO, which has formally approved integrating mystical and pseudoscientific TCM codes to the new ICD-11.
The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement intensifies
Violent rhetoric has always been part of the antivaccine movement.Leaders of the antivax movement, like Del Bigtree, use apocalyptic and violent rhetoric, and then deny that they've done so. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse, and I fear violence.
IonCleanse foot baths: The confluence of antivaccine nonsense and cancer quackery
Antivax and cancer quackery go together, unfortunately. Here, Orac describes yet another example of this, as the (Not-So)-Thinking Moms promote a fundraiser to pay for quackery, including IonCleanse footpaths, for a young woman with cancer.
In Singapore, the TCM Practitioners Board shows why quacks shouldn’t self-regulate
In Singapore, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner treated a diabetic for "yang deficiency" by applying a heatlamp to his foot. The diabetic suffered a burn that didn't heal and lost his foot. The TCM Practitioners Board did almost nothing, showing that quacks can't self-regulate.
Oakland County, Michigan: Measles arrives close to home
Measles has arrived in the form of an outbreak on Oakland County, MI. That's too close for comfort to Orac. Way, way too close for comfort.