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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The martyrdom of St. Andy, part 2: David Kirby rides to the rescue (sort of)

If I am wrong I will be a bad person because I will have raised this spectre. Andrew Wakefield, March 3, 1998. Interview in The Independent. The martyrdom of brave maverick Saint Andy continues apace, it would appear. As you recall, last week, after an interminable proceeding that stretched out over two and a half […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Best. Conspiracy. Theory. Ever.

It looks as though Generation Rescue’s bubble-brained spokescelebrities Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have finally found their niche. Can you guess where it is? Come on, take two guesses! That’s right. They’ve made it into NaturalNews.com, crossposted from a post they had their handlers make to Age of Autism, entitled A Statement from Jenny McCarthy […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Motivated reasoning and the anti-vaccine movement

One theme that I keep revisiting again and again is not so much a question of the science behind medical therapies (although certainly I do discuss that issue arguably more than any other) but rather a question of why. Why is it that so many people cling so tenaciously to pseudoscience, quackery, and, frequently, conspiracy […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Geiers go dumpster-diving yet again

Mark and David Geier, the père et fils duo of antivaccine pseudoscientists once again go dumpster diving in the VAERS database, using it for purposes for which it was not intended to “prove” vaccines cause autism.

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Blogging

Careful, I might actually start to think that someone out there takes me seriously

I don’t normally read the Financial Times. “What?” you say. “I thought that all doctors read the FT.” Ah, but you forget that I’m an academic physician. Don’t get me wrong; I make a comfortable living, more money than I’ve made in my entire life, but I could almost certainly increase my earnings by 50-100% […]