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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The “Drs. Wolfson” attack the parents of Riley Hughes, who died of pertussis

Riley Hughes died of pertussis, and his father is trying to encourage vaccination against pertussis. The “Drs. Wolfson” object. They’re antivaccine quacks, and they blame the victim.

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Bad science Complementary and alternative medicine History Integrative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science

European Atherosclerosis Society: Publishing quackademic pseudoscience about traditional Chinese medicine in its official journal

The latest issue of the official journal of the European Atherosclerosis Society features a credulous article on traditional Chinese medicine. TCM is presented as a system of medicine whose use should “spread to Western societies.” Sadly, the editors failed here, as the article consists of revisionist history, pseudoscience, and false equivalence.

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Bad science Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Helene Langevin is named NCCIH director. Let the quackery flow again!

Helene Langevin has been named the new director of the National Center for Complemenary and Integrative Health. Given her history of dodgy acupuncture research, my prediction is that the quackery will flow again at NCCIH, the way it did in the 1990s when Tom Harkin zealously protected it from any attempt to impose scientific rigor on it.

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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

An antivaccine nurse (or physician) should not take care of children, period

In Houston, a toddler was admitted to the pediatric ICU at Texas Children’s Hospital with a serious case of the measles. Unfortunately, one of the nurses there is antivaccine and blabbed about him on social media. The hospital quite appropriately fired her, but I would go further and say that antivaccine nurses should not be caring for children. Ditto antivaccine doctors.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for making measles great again.

It seems as though I have to write a post like this every year or two, as measles outbreaks keep raging and children keep getting sick and even dying. I feel obligated to “thank” the primary author of this misery, the man whose scientific fraud and other efforts have fueled antivaxers’ fear of the MMR vaccine. So thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for the measles. Again. In 2018.