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Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Get out the popcorn! This internecine war among antivaccinationists is getting interesting (part 5)

There’s a general rule that whenever you see two enemies fighting with each other that you should generally just let them. Of course, some might argue, as Gandalf did about Saruman and Sauron, that the winner of the fight would emerge stronger and free of doubt, making him harder to conquer. Fortunately, I don’t think […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

An antivaccine Frankenstein’s monster turns on his creator

Almost everyone knows the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster. It’s such a classic tale that has been around so long and told so many times in so many ways that it’s almost impossible for someone living in this country not to have encountered it growing up. Frankenstein’s monster is also a tale that […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Gut disorders and autism: A new consensus statement

One of the key claims of the “autism biomedical” movement is that something about autism derives from or is exacerbated by the gut; i.e., that there is some sort of link between GI problems, particularly inflammatory diseases of the GI tract, and autism. Although I may not be as versed in the history of this […]

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Autism Bioethics Medicine Quackery

Arthur Allen on conflicts of interest in the mercury militia movement

Those arguing the “conventional” view that sound science and epidemiological studies have failed to find a link between vaccines and autism are often tarred with the “pharma shill” brush. Meanwhile, researchers who have ever taken drug company money (particularly if it’s from a drug company that makes vaccines) are castigated for having a serious conflict […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The mercury militia go to court

I’ve been a bit remiss when it comes to writing about the lunacy in which it is claimed that vaccines cause autism, allegedly due to the mercury in the thimerosal preservative that was in most childhood vaccines until the end of 2002, when it was removed from all but flu vaccines. It turns out that […]