TAM 7 Recap w/ Latvia's Only Superhero
- Details
- Written by Brandon K. Thorp
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 8139
As we get set to open registration for TAM 8 (which we’re gonna do in the immediate future — think days, not weeks), it’s worth taking a look back at TAM 7 with the internet’s bravest, smartest, and most skeptical superhero, Captain Disillusion.
On 10:23
- Details
- Written by Michael Marshall
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 12055
Generally speaking, when homeopathy hits the headlines here in the UK skeptics have cause to wince. Whether it's B-list celebrities advocating homeopathic malaria prevention, newspaper health columns promoting the benefits of Hahnemann's long-discredited pseudomedical practice or simply major pharmacies out to make an easy profit, there are very seldom many good days for succussion-skeptics.
Saturday, 30th January 2010, however, was different.
Lancet Retracts Wakefield MMR Study
- Details
- Written by Steve Novella
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 18255
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield and 11 other co-authors published a study with the unremarkable title: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Such a title would hardly grab a science journalist's attention, but the small study sparked widespread hysteria about a possible connection between the mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Following the press conference in which Wakefield raised concerns about MMR vaccine safety, vaccination rates with MMR dipped in the UK. After falling below what is generally considered to be the level of herd immunity, the UK began to see the return of measles outbreaks - mostly among the unvaccinated. MMR hysteria has since spread to the US, along with the return of measles and mumps outbreaks.
Too Rich, Too Late
- Details
- Written by Brandon K. Thorp
- Category: Newsflash
- Hits: 8520
Skeptics have known for years that Dr. Andrew Wakefield — erstwhile anti-vax hero of the UK, who in 1998 published a tremendously influential paper in The Lancet linking autism to vaccination — was wrong; and we’ve long suspected that his motivations were less than pure. Yet all of a sudden, this is news.
And is it ever. As I write this, Dr. Wakefield’s mug is splashed across the homepage of CNN.com above the headline “Medical journal retracts study linking autism to vaccine.” The Lancet is now accusing Wakefield of every academic sin it can think of, and news organs across the world are coming together to give the Doctor maybe the worst public drubbing of 2010.
The best story on the subject so far: “The war on Dr. Wakefield: only 12 years too late,” by Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick. Check it out. The whole story’s there.
Last Week In Science-Based Medicine
- Details
- Written by Harriet Hall, MD, The SkepDoc
- Category: Newsflash
- Hits: 7984
Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.
Page 280 of 408