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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

The antivaccine movement resurrects the zombie that is the “autism epidemic” (2014 edition)

As I just mentioned a week ago, there used to be a time when I dreaded Autism Awareness Month, which begins tomorrow. The reason was simple. Several years ago to perhaps as recently as three years ago, I could always count on a flurry of stories about autism towards the end of March and the […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

For shame, NPR, for falling for false “balance” about vaccines!

This is going to be uncharacteristically short, for me that is. I sometimes listen to NPR as I drive home from work, and I happened to be doing just that yesterday evening when I heard a story about the new Institute of Medicine report on vaccines and the vaccine schedule. (Stay tuned for my post […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Yet another antivaccine meme rises from the grave again: No, Diane Harper doesn't hate Gardasil

Yet another zombie antivaccine meme rises from the grave to join its fellows Oh, no, not again! It was just two days ago that I decided to take on a zombie antivaccine meme that just keeps rising from the dead over and over and over again. I’m referring to the claim that Andrew Wakefield has […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Antivaccinationists brief Congressional staffers, and the misinformation flows

The other day, I pointed out that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was following in the footsteps of the former chair of the committee, likely the quackiest, most antivaccine Congressman who ever served in the House of Representatives. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN). I guess that since […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Unexpected praise of the virtues of bacon by Joe Mercola

It is an indisputable axiom that everything tastes better with bacon. Well, almost everything. As much as I love bacon, whenever I watch one of those cooking competition shows on the Food Network, like Iron Chef America, in which the secret ingredient is bacon, I can’t figure out how putting bacon in ice cream works. […]