Professor Dorit Rubinstein Reiss discusses the Ontario Court of Appeals’ dismissal of Dan Hartman’s lawsuit claiming his son’s death resulted from the COVID vaccine. The court found no evidence of duty of care or misfeasance by the government, emphasizing that… Read More »Lawsuit claiming that son of Dan Hartman died of COVID vaccine dismissed
The USA faces a risk of losing its measles elimination status due to ongoing outbreaks that began in 2025. As of January 2026, there were 171 confirmed cases, predominantly in unvaccinated individuals. Decreased vaccination rates, fueled by misinformation and exemptions,… Read More »Vaccine refusal could cause USA to lose measles elimination status
Every Thanksgiving, someone brings up the fact that the tryptophan in turkey is what causes everyone to be sleepy. It’s not.
A new peer-reviewed Canadian study of hospitalizations provides evidence that COVID vaccines reduce deaths and ICU admissions.
The claim that canola oil is linked to Alzheimer’s disease is prevalent. However, there is no evidence supporting this claimed link.
In the Canadian province of Alberta, anti-vaxxers are allegedly booking fake COVID-19 vaccine appointments in an attempt to block legitimate appointments to get the vaccine. When no one shows up, not only is there one less person getting vaccinated, but… Read More »Canadian anti-vaxxers book fake COVID-19 vaccine appointments
I have previously written about whether thrombosis (formation of blood clots) is linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine – my conclusion was that they probably weren’t. But still, there are nagging anecdotes and government decisions that may concern those of you who are looking to get the vaccine.
Recently, the government of Quebec recently decided that the AstraZeneca vaccine will only be used on individuals 55 years and older. Of course, this caused some parts of the anti-vaccine world to froth at the mouth claiming the vaccine isn’t safe.
I think that many of the adverse events that are claimed to be associated with any of the COVID-19 vaccines involve the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, which states that because one event precedes another event, they must be linked. It is entirely possible that thrombosis occurs after vaccinations because of random chance rather than actual correlation (let alone causation).
Because the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is one of the four main vaccines (along with those from Pfizer, Moderna, and JNJ) to be given in the USA, Canada, the EU, Australia, and New Zealand, I want to make sure that the potential of a causal link to thrombosis events are given a thorough analysis. I especially want to focus on why the Government of Quebec decided to make this change – and it’s a lot more complicated than the narratives pushed by the anti-vaccine crowd.
Read More »AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and thrombosis – should we worry?
Every year, on the fourth Thursday in November, the United States celebrates a holiday called Thanksgiving. Part of the tradition, along with watching football (the American version), is eating mountains of food, including a roasted turkey. And this is where Uncle George regales the guests with the turkey tryptophan myth – that is, eating a mountain of turkey, which he claims is high in tryptophan, makes you sleepy.
Because I know the average reader of this blog is pro-science and snarky, I post this article for you to embarrass Uncle George. And you just know that Uncle George denies climate change and thinks vaccines are dangerous. But let’s get back to that to Thanksgiving and the turkey tryptophan myth.
Only a few countries celebrate Thanksgiving, and just a handful of countries eat turkey in any amount, other than the USA and Canada. Surprisingly, 87% of English holiday dinners will include turkey, a bird that is native to North America. So maybe your British Uncle George will tell the same turkey tryptophan myth during dinner. Or supper, I suppose.
Anyway, in case you want to impress friends and family, the other places that celebrate Thanksgiving, similar to the USA and Canada, are Liberia (which is populated by descendants of freed slaves who returned to Africa from the US), Grenada (a small English-speaking island in the Caribbean), Puerto Rico (a Spanish-speaking territory of the USA), and Norfolk Island, an Australian territory of like 1500 people.
The only thing I thought that was on Norfolk Island was the Norfolk Island pine. Apparently, American whaling ships would stop there and celebrate the holiday.
For Americans, the holiday celebrates white English settlers arriving in North America. The tales usually include some peaceful sharing of food between the white settlers and Native Americans (a nice myth without much actual historical support) prior to the first winter.
Canada’s backstory on Thanksgiving is much more complicated, including ships getting stuck in ice and other legends – it is very Canadian.
In both Canada and the USA, the celebration includes several tonnes of food (per person) which a roast turkey. Other foods may include mashed potatoes, yams (sweet potatoes), other meats, pies, corn, stuffing, and more food. It is a high-calorie meal of epic portions!
Just because this is my blog, let me state one simple fact – pumpkin pie is garbage. I hate that thing.
Generally, everyone, after finishing this dinner, would want to take a long nap. Thus, we find the origin stories of the turkey tryptophan math. However, the science of eating, sleeping, turkey, and tryptophan doesn’t support this myth. Not even close.
Well enough cultural history. This is a science blog, let’s talk about the science that debunks the turkey tryptophan myth. And because I think Uncle George is a blowhard.
Read More »The turkey tryptophan myth – Uncle George keeps repeating it
Recently, I wrote an article about the published study that seemed to show that fluoride lowers IQ in children. I predicted that the anti-vaccine religion would jump all over it as an indication that public health authorities are useless – it took like an hour before the anti-vaxxers employed all of their useless pseudoscience and conspiracy theories to jump all over that.
I was somewhat ambivalent about the research, but I thought it might be an indicator that there could be an issue with water fluoridation. However, upon further review, I’ve come to the realization that this was pretty much worthless.
So do we know if fluoride lowers IQ? Based on research published in JAMA Pediatrics, no we don’t. In fact, I’m willing to state that we should be confident that fluoridated water is still safe while preventing cavities.
Let’s take a look at what I’ve noticed.Read More »Fluoride lowers IQ – hey vaccine deniers, this study is almost useless
A new article was just published that concludes that fluoridated water lowers IQ of children. Of course, this will become dogma not only for those who hate fluoridated water but also for the vaccine deniers who think that modern science is the scourge of the planet.
However, what you see in the all-too-frequent exaggerated articles from many science journalists is almost always not what the actual study says. I guess clickbait headlines matter more than scientific accuracy.
Well, it’s time to do what the old dinosaur always does – check out this new article that claims that fluoridated water lowers IQ. Read More »Fluoridated water lowers IQ – maybe, but watch vaccine deniers embrace it