Skip to content
Home » Pseudoscientists » Andrew Wakefield » Page 14

Andrew Wakefield

Pseudoscience and the desperate anti-vaccine intrigue

Rooting out pseudoscience out in the world is a full time job for literally hundreds of people, but many of the writers out there tend to focus on a few things. This blog, for example, mostly focuses on creationism, the anti-vaccine lunacy, and rarely, global warming. Creationism, for example, has a long tradition of pseudoscience, so the arguments debunking creationism is well known, and the creationists more or less rely upon the age old fallacies, which convince the True Believers™ but make real scientists chuckle. It has really evolved (pun intended) to a static argument but there is no scientific controversy, it’s just evolution denialists on one side and real science on the other. If this were a real debate, it would be over and the creationists would be crawling back home in tears.Read More »Pseudoscience and the desperate anti-vaccine intrigue

Another measles outbreak in United Kingdom

This shouldn’t be happening.  There are over 200 cases of measles confirmed in an outbreak in Merseyside, UK, the largest such outbreak since 1988.  So far, there have been 210 confirmed cases of measles (and another 92 cases still under investigation).  Of these cases, 39 have required hospital treatment.

What’s sad is that 50% of the confirmed cases have occurred in children under five years old.  There is probably only one reason why these children are being infected by this disease–no vaccination.  Read More »Another measles outbreak in United Kingdom

Measles outbreak in United Kingdom–worst since introduction of MMR vaccine

The United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced that a measles outbreak in the Merseyside area is the largest since the MMR vaccine (vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella) was introduced in 1988. There have been 113 confirmed cases, and another 43 probable cases–28 of these individuals needed hospital treatment.  

About one-quarter of the confirmed cases were teenagers (15-18 years old) and young adults who were never vaccinated as children. Another quarter of the cases were in children under the age of 13 months who are too young to be vaccinated. The majority of the remaining confirmed cases were unvaccinated children over 13 months and less than 15 years old.  Read More »Measles outbreak in United Kingdom–worst since introduction of MMR vaccine

Joe Mercola using random nonsense words to push vaccine denialism

The anti-vaccination lunacy is made up of lot of individuals who push the various myths and pseudoscience regarding vaccines onto the planet.  There’s Andy Wakefield, whose original article was withdrawn by the medical journal who published it, and who was stripped of his medical license because he perpetrated a fraud.  Why he’s not sitting in a British prison is beyond my understanding.

Then there’s Jenny McCarthy, an anti-vaccine advocate whose education included posing nude and starring in bad movies.Read More »Joe Mercola using random nonsense words to push vaccine denialism

Pseudoscience and the anti-vaccine lunacy

We frequently use the term “pseudoscience” to describe the ideology of certain groups:  anti-vaccinationists, evolution deniers (creationists), global warming deniers, and almost anything in the areas of parapsychology, alternative medicine, and sasquatch.  The science denialists (broadly defined as any group who rejects the scientific consensus on any subject without valid scientific support) always seem to be insulted by the word “pseudoscience” as if it’s a pejorative without foundation.Read More »Pseudoscience and the anti-vaccine lunacy

Seth Mnookin: The Autism Vaccine Controversy and the Need for Responsible Science Journalism

Seth Mnookin: The Autism Vaccine Controversy and the Need for Responsible Science Journalism. The Huffington Post is not known for it’s pro-science editorial content, but I do appreciate that Mnookin writes there.  The irony is kind of dripping that the… Read More »Seth Mnookin: The Autism Vaccine Controversy and the Need for Responsible Science Journalism

Legal thuggery, antivaccine edition, part 3: Andrew Wakefield rallying the troops : Respectful Insolence

Legal thuggery, antivaccine edition, part 3: Andrew Wakefield rallying the troops : Respectful Insolence. The arrogant, narcissistic Andrew Wakefield is going to bring  a lawsuit against Brian Deer, the dogged Times of London reporter who not only uncovered that the… Read More »Legal thuggery, antivaccine edition, part 3: Andrew Wakefield rallying the troops : Respectful Insolence