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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

J. B. Handley fought the vaccine science, and the vaccine science won.

Our old friend anti antivaccine activist J. B. Handley invokes the “vaccines didn’t save us” gambit. It doesn’t go well for him. You could say that he fought vaccine science, but, as always, the vaccine science won.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Adult vaccine pledge. (Translation: “Wake up, sheeple!”)

Orac recently came across an antivaccine post called “The Adult Vaccine Pledge.” So he deconstructed it. It did not go well—for the Adult Vaccine Pledge.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience

Is the misrepresentation of scientific findings by antivaxers leading to self-censorship by scientists?

Melinda Wenner Moyer published an article in The New York Times arguing that fear of how antivaxers will react to scientific findings is leading scientists to indulge in self-censorship. I’m not convinced that this is the case.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Another case of religion-inspired child neglect

Here we go again with yet another case of religion-inspired child neglect in which lack of medical care led to the death of a child. This time, however, the authorities actually appear to be ready to bring the hammer down on the parents.

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Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Burzynski’s old lawyer Richard Jaffe throws a quack stem cell clinic under the bus

Richard Jaffe was Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski’s lawyer. For nearly two decades, Jaffe defended this cancer quack from the FDA, Texas Medical Board, and the government in the name of “health freedom” and even invented Burzynski’s business model of having over 70 clinical trials open that allow him to treat any cancer patient he wants. More recently, he’s been a defender of for-profit quack stem cell clinics. Last week, he shocked me by finding one stem cell clinic so quacky that he thinks the government should shut it down, even going so far as to use criminal prosecution if necessary. Basically, he’s willing to throw one quack stem cell clinic under the bus, so that others can continue to profit.