Denialism Blog

Denialism Blog

  • Should parents worry about HPV vaccine?

    That’s the question posed by CNN yesterday. It’s a good question. Any time a new vaccine or treatment is available, safety is a concern. Pre-marketing testing is likely to miss very rare reactions, so the government monitors new drugs when they hit the market. Gardasil has so far been quite safe, which does not rule out very rare problems that my crop up as more people are vaccinated.

    Added to the general level of suspicion regarding Gardisil is Merck’s very aggressive marketing campaign aimed at the public and at state legislators.

    All that aside, Gardasil is probably a good idea. Much of the hullabaloo surrounding its use has been ridiculous—attacks from religious fanatics and anti-vaccination cultists. In evaluating this promising new vaccine, we must set aside the noise from the wackos, and view things more objectively.
    (more…)

  • NISSSBETTTTTT!!!!

    Arghhh!!! Framing. What is it?

    Is it a way of communicating issues effectively to diverse populations? Or is it another word for compromising your values until they become meaningless?

    In his latest piece, SciBling Matt Nisbet shows it to be the latter. While many of us are shaking our heads as we are forced to choose a candidate who panders to religion, Nisbet praises Obama’s strategy of co-opting the Religious Right’s message by supporting faith-based charities.

    If your only goal is to elect Obama, perhaps this is a good strategy. If your goal is to continue to improve our (secular) nation, this is hardly a step forward. To continue this unnatural mingling of government and religion is a mistake. It does not improve delivery of charitable services (Bush’s plan has been a complete failure). It also makes services less accessible in a diverse community. If you do not wish to support your local Lutheran church, for instance, but they are the ones with the alcohol rehab program, well, that’s one more barrier to recovery.

    Make no mistake—funding faith-based initiatives is religious extremism. Frame it however you will, it is another erosion of our personal liberties. This is not a place for compromise.

  • Swallowing nutrition myths hook, line, and sinker

    I’m starting to worry about health coverage in the NY Times. Lawrence Altman is a great health reporter, and I like one of Michael Pollan’s pieces in particular, but the Times also has a bunch of those blog-thinggies, and one of the writers has disappointed me before.

    Oops, she did it again…

    (more…)

  • Medicare cuts—a bad thing

    Look, I know no one is weeping for doctors and their complaints about payment cuts, but you should at least be concerned, and here’s why.

    Some doctors are rich…very rich. Most are not. Medical education is largely financed with debt, and primary care doesn’t pay all that much. Small practices work on narrow margins, and often run “paycheck to paycheck”. For internists, a large percentage of payments come from Medicare, the national health insurance program that covers seniors. Doctors participate with Medicare voluntarily—there is no law requiring us to see Medicare patients or to bill Medicare for them.
    (more…)

  • Red Pines

    GrrlScientist inspired me to upload some of my Up North pics.

    i-e8a04fe372507a3250bae525c068ce73-IMG_1372_phixr(2).jpg
    Red pine groves on granite outcrops are a characteristic feature of Algonquin Park.

    i-b7512af65841b8d41c99067e4cfa8987-IMG_1374_phixr(2).jpg
    Red Pines have reddish bark which flakes off in thin scales.

    i-29cba3f06a7a036bdbeecb6e1b1666d5-IMG_1375_phixr(2).jpg
    Their needles come in groups of two.

  • L'affaire Lenski continues

    When will the stupidity end?

    Really. When?

    As long as Conservapedia exists, the answer will elude us. The latest feculent flow of irrational idiocy concerns the Lenski Affair.

    Just to remind you, a biologist named Lenski did a very cool experiment regarding evolution in E.coli. Some creationist cult leader was displeased. Since his god has apparently refused to smite the biologist, the cult leader has looked into legal remedies in the fight against biology. Apparently, his god isn’t smart enough to have come up with evolution.

    Now it appears that an open letter is being drafted to the cultists. This is way too much fun.

  • I love careless stupidity

    Sometimes things just fall into your lap. This evening I was working on a different piece, and not getting very far, when an email arrived in my in-box.

    You see, when you write for the 21st most influential science blog, you get a lot of unsolicited mail (OK, fine…I get spam in my blog-related inbox. But my spam is cool.)

    What’s great about a lot of this spam is that it is usually written by an actual person, and directed at me by name, which means they had to at least glance at the blog. In this case, a “glance” was all, or perhaps the writer simply suffers from poor reading comprehension. My latest correspondent is selling an herbal extract for diabetes. It seems unlikely that she’s read my writing about this particular topic. See, as an internist, I’m very well-trained in the management of diabetes. It’s what I do. And I hate, HATE, people who interfere with the treatment of this very serious disease with a bunch of cult medicine bullshit.
    (more…)

  • Medical Hypotheses—"just make shit up; we'll publish it"

    Orac was kind enough to pollute my inbox with the latest idiocy from the journal that has never met a crank it didn’t like. As Orac says, “Medical Hypotheses [is] the journal where the editors encourage the authors to make shit up.”

    Before I tell you about the latest “hypothesis”, let me give you an idea of what kind of thinking goes into this publication. The latest issue has an editorial that argues that it is the “maverick” scientist who makes the real scientific breakthroughs, and that teamwork is only for the “modestly talented”.
    (more…)

  • Eating can be bad for your health. Oh, and don't forget the phages.

    Sure, we have obesity problems in this country, but we also have more direct food safety problems. Summer has brought with it news of the bungled tomato-Salmonella affair, and now, from the Midwest, contaminated beef.

    One of our local supermarket chains has been forced to recall hamburger meat because of over a dozen cases of E. coli-related disease. These cases have occurred over a wide area, and the bacteria are genetically linked, indicating a likely common source.
    (more…)

  • As goes Vermont…

    I hadn’t realized that Vermont has passed a law requiring insurers to cover naturopathic care.

    We’ve covered extensively the quackery that is naturopathy, but really, if a patient chooses to see a quack, it’s their business. But with health care costs soaring, requiring insurers to pay for voodoo is a rather bad idea. Already, many plans cover chiropractic, another unproven treatment. Throwing more health care dollars at more unproved and disproved treatments will help no one (except the quacks who have boat payments to make).

    There are many causes of high costs of health care: we hate the idea of rationing, so many American cities have more MRIs than the whole country of Canada; we incentivize doctors and others to order tests and treatments that may or may not be necessary; we inadequately reimburse preventative care. The list goes on.

    (more…)