I have just one response...
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
AVN - the comedy continues
I've been reading the blog of the Australian Vaccination Network recently.
I have just one response...
I have just one response...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Does the AVN support conspiracy theories?
Following are some excerpts from a comment that was allowed through moderation and posted on the Australian Vaccination Network's (AVN) blog this morning. Before you read it may I point out that, as I write this, the comment has been there for over 12 hours and remains unchallenged by blog host Meryl Dorey?
Ms Dorey was presumably the person who authorised the comment to appear on her blog. It's worth remembering that Ms Dorey repeatedly claims to not be anti-vaccine yet while she has posted a response to two other comments, she has not responded to this comment in any way - not even a giggle or a "don't be daft".
It's also worth remembering that the AVN claim to be a resource for concerned parents seeking information about vaccination.
(note also, for what it's worth, that the full comment is actually a copy of a post from "thinktwice")
I've bolded some of the best bits for you...
And Ms Dorey wonders why people accuse her of supporting conspiracy theories?!?!
Oh, and the comment concludes with this...
So VAERS, a well-publicised database of post-vaccine events is, apparently a SECRET DATABASE! It's so secret the government hide it on a publicly accessible website and invite people to lodge reports of suspected adverse reactions to vaccination. In fact, you don't even have to suspect a vaccine connection. From the report form...
And to reiterate, the mere existence of a VAERS report about an adverse event does not indicate that the reaction was due to vaccination. Anyone in any doubt about that just needs to check VAERS...
It couldn't be much clearer could it?
Well, actually, it could.
Consider this account by Dr James Laidler...
That's VAERS, the SECRET DATABASE!
Again, these are excerpts from a much longer comment that was passed through moderation and posted on the AVN's blog without a response from the blog host.
But, whatever you do, don't mention the lizard people or people will think you're all nuts!
As usual, I will conclude by expressing my absolute dismay that any parent would consider the AVN to be a source of useful information about vaccination and child health.
Ms Dorey was presumably the person who authorised the comment to appear on her blog. It's worth remembering that Ms Dorey repeatedly claims to not be anti-vaccine yet while she has posted a response to two other comments, she has not responded to this comment in any way - not even a giggle or a "don't be daft".
It's also worth remembering that the AVN claim to be a resource for concerned parents seeking information about vaccination.
(note also, for what it's worth, that the full comment is actually a copy of a post from "thinktwice")
I've bolded some of the best bits for you...
...In fact, most parents would be surprised to learn that the government has a secret computer database filled with several thousand names of disabled and dead babies, children who were healthy and alive just prior to receiving the vaccines.
[…]
Vaccine production is a disgusting procedure.
[…]
Vaccine production is a disgusting procedure.
[...]
What happens next, once this foul concoction — live viruses, bacteria, toxic substances, and diseased animal matter — is created? This witch’s brew is forced into the healthy child.
Satanic Rituals:
Dr. Robert Mendelsohn often criticized modern medicine for its sanctimonious doctrine. He argued that “doctors are the priests who dispense holy water in the form of inoculations” to ritually initiate our loyalty into the larger medical industry
[…]
Others see a link between vaccinations and satanic rituals or witchcraft, where animals are sacrificed and their organs brewed in a hellish concoction of horrid substances: voodoo medicine by 21st century mad scientists. Sadly, our children are their unwilling subjects as society is slowly devoured by their insatiable appetite for human experimentation.
What happens next, once this foul concoction — live viruses, bacteria, toxic substances, and diseased animal matter — is created? This witch’s brew is forced into the healthy child.
Satanic Rituals:
Dr. Robert Mendelsohn often criticized modern medicine for its sanctimonious doctrine. He argued that “doctors are the priests who dispense holy water in the form of inoculations” to ritually initiate our loyalty into the larger medical industry
[…]
Others see a link between vaccinations and satanic rituals or witchcraft, where animals are sacrificed and their organs brewed in a hellish concoction of horrid substances: voodoo medicine by 21st century mad scientists. Sadly, our children are their unwilling subjects as society is slowly devoured by their insatiable appetite for human experimentation.
And Ms Dorey wonders why people accuse her of supporting conspiracy theories?!?!
Oh, and the comment concludes with this...
SECRET DATABASE!
Every year, the FDA receives thousands of reports of adverse reactions after vaccines. These include brain damage and death. This information is now available at the following link: VAERS Database...
Every year, the FDA receives thousands of reports of adverse reactions after vaccines. These include brain damage and death. This information is now available at the following link: VAERS Database...
So VAERS, a well-publicised database of post-vaccine events is, apparently a SECRET DATABASE! It's so secret the government hide it on a publicly accessible website and invite people to lodge reports of suspected adverse reactions to vaccination. In fact, you don't even have to suspect a vaccine connection. From the report form...
Please report all significant adverse events that occur after vaccination of adults and children, even if you are not sure whether the vaccine caused the adverse event.
And to reiterate, the mere existence of a VAERS report about an adverse event does not indicate that the reaction was due to vaccination. Anyone in any doubt about that just needs to check VAERS...
When evaluating data from VAERS, it is important to note that for any reported event, no cause-and-effect relationship has been established. Reports of all possible associations between vaccines and adverse events (possible side effects) are filed in VAERS. Therefore, VAERS collects data on any adverse event following vaccination, be it coincidental or truly caused by a vaccine. The report of an adverse event to VAERS is not documentation that a vaccine caused the event.
It couldn't be much clearer could it?
Well, actually, it could.
Consider this account by Dr James Laidler...
The chief problem with the VAERS data is that reports can be entered by anyone and are not routinely verified. To demonstrate this, a few years ago I entered a report that an influenza vaccine had turned me into The Hulk. The report was accepted and entered into the database.
Because the reported adverse event was so… unusual, a representative of VAERS contacted me. After a discussion of the VAERS database and its limitations, they asked for my permission to delete the record, which I granted. If I had not agreed, the record would be there still, showing that any claim can become part of the database, no matter how outrageous or improbable.
Because the reported adverse event was so… unusual, a representative of VAERS contacted me. After a discussion of the VAERS database and its limitations, they asked for my permission to delete the record, which I granted. If I had not agreed, the record would be there still, showing that any claim can become part of the database, no matter how outrageous or improbable.
That's VAERS, the SECRET DATABASE!
Again, these are excerpts from a much longer comment that was passed through moderation and posted on the AVN's blog without a response from the blog host.
But, whatever you do, don't mention the lizard people or people will think you're all nuts!
As usual, I will conclude by expressing my absolute dismay that any parent would consider the AVN to be a source of useful information about vaccination and child health.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Meryl Dorey & AVN - must be anti-vaccine
Meryl Dorey of the anti-vaccine lobby group Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) has repeatedly denied that either she or her AVN group is anti-vaccine.
And yet today, on her Facebook page we get this...
It says...
Both sides?
So, if the doctor is pro-vaccine, as is most likely to be the case, and therefore gives the pro-vaccine "side" - the other "side", the "side" the AVN is on, must surely be the anti-vaccine "side". Mustn't it?
There are several AVN FB admins and the one who wrote this isn't identified, but Ms Dorey gives AVN contact details later in the thread, so I assume she agrees with it.
In another thread, Ms Dorey gives advice on how to find anti-vaccine information...
This leads me to think that pro-vaccine bloggers need to flood the market with a raft of cross-linked posts titled "reasons not to vaccinate". We can then direct the reader to useful information inside the post - or make it clear that vaccinating is usually a pretty neat idea.
We could start by linking to the following page, which explains in stark detail why a parent might choose against vaccinating...
"Reasons not to vaccinate"
Fellow bloggers, can I suggest we all link to that page, using "reasons not to vaccinate" as the link text?
And yet today, on her Facebook page we get this...
It says...
Everyone is entitled to a second opinion on health issues. Check with your doctor-then check with the AVN. Get both sides.
Both sides?
So, if the doctor is pro-vaccine, as is most likely to be the case, and therefore gives the pro-vaccine "side" - the other "side", the "side" the AVN is on, must surely be the anti-vaccine "side". Mustn't it?
There are several AVN FB admins and the one who wrote this isn't identified, but Ms Dorey gives AVN contact details later in the thread, so I assume she agrees with it.
In another thread, Ms Dorey gives advice on how to find anti-vaccine information...
I just did a google search using the words "why not vaccinate?" and got heaps of articles that are fairly general. Reasons not to vaccinate as a search brought up even more.
This leads me to think that pro-vaccine bloggers need to flood the market with a raft of cross-linked posts titled "reasons not to vaccinate". We can then direct the reader to useful information inside the post - or make it clear that vaccinating is usually a pretty neat idea.
We could start by linking to the following page, which explains in stark detail why a parent might choose against vaccinating...
"Reasons not to vaccinate"
Fellow bloggers, can I suggest we all link to that page, using "reasons not to vaccinate" as the link text?
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Meryl Dorey - immune to reading?
Meryl Dorey of the misleadingly named the Australian Vaccination Network, an anti-vaccine lobby group, has posted a comment, copied to her Facebook page, on a vaccination story published at thestar.com.
I'll ignore the issues of immunity and herd immunity as misrepresented by Ms Dorey. I'm interested only in her seemingly slanderous accusations about how vaccination law is represented in the article.
I've bolded a few of the more-interesting bits of her comment...
Here are opening paragraphs of the news article. Again, I've bolded some bits...
Now, I didn't even have to do any research outside of the article in question to see who was committing the gross misrepresentation.
Here's some other bits from the same article. As always, I've done some bolding...
Currently, elementary and high school students must be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria and polio.
But the law requiring schoolchildren to be immunized was written 22 years ago…
The best way to achieve that, according to their stats, is to make it mandatory through the school system.
For Dr. Astrid Guttman, a pediatrician at Sick Kids Hospital, the success of the school-mandated program is actually symptomatic of a larger illness…
“Currently, (the school system) is the only point in time where public health gets any vaccination data,”
As the bold text shows, the article is not about Canada as a whole, nor is there any implication that it is about Canada as a whole. And it is not about across-the-board compulsory vaccination. It is very clearly about a school-based program, that does actually, really, seriously exist - in Toronto.
It's surely impossible for anyone who actually read the article to conclude anything other than the fact it is about a school-based program in Toronto.
Toronto is in Canada. Toronto is not Canada. Like Sydney is in Australia but, although Sydney-siders might not realise it, Sydney is not Australia.
And even in Toronto, vaccination is not mandatory outside of the school program. Nowhere in the article is any claim made to the contrary.
The only way in which Ms Dorey can be considered to be correct is to the extent that the system apparently allows for exemptions. But nothing in the article implies otherwise.
Ms Dorey is tilting at windmills.
Again.
Once again I find myself wondering why people would risk their baby's life by giving any weight to the advice of an organisation that demonstrates no ability to properly understand any issues, even simple ones.
I'll ignore the issues of immunity and herd immunity as misrepresented by Ms Dorey. I'm interested only in her seemingly slanderous accusations about how vaccination law is represented in the article.
I've bolded a few of the more-interesting bits of her comment...
No vaccine is mandatory in Canada! Is Dr Finkelstein truly that ignorant of the laws of Canada or has the Toronto Star misquoted him? Vaccination is not compulsory in Canada and he should know that. Thankfully, Canadians do have the right to choose whether or not they want to be vaccinated or have vaccines administered to their children. It is time for your paper to correct this gross misrepresentation of the law.
Here are opening paragraphs of the news article. Again, I've bolded some bits...
Toronto’s public health unit wants the province to consider expanding the list of mandatory vaccinations for Ontario’s schoolchildren.
The report — to be tabled Friday at a meeting of Toronto’s Board of Health — calls on the provincial health ministry to consider updating the group of immunizations required for school attendance to include more publicly funded vaccines.
Although there appears to be growing opposition to vaccines among some parents, the school-mandated vaccination program has been so successful — achieving almost total compliance — that the public health unit wants more vaccines added to the list.
Now, I didn't even have to do any research outside of the article in question to see who was committing the gross misrepresentation.
Here's some other bits from the same article. As always, I've done some bolding...
Currently, elementary and high school students must be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria and polio.
But the law requiring schoolchildren to be immunized was written 22 years ago…
The best way to achieve that, according to their stats, is to make it mandatory through the school system.
For Dr. Astrid Guttman, a pediatrician at Sick Kids Hospital, the success of the school-mandated program is actually symptomatic of a larger illness…
“Currently, (the school system) is the only point in time where public health gets any vaccination data,”
As the bold text shows, the article is not about Canada as a whole, nor is there any implication that it is about Canada as a whole. And it is not about across-the-board compulsory vaccination. It is very clearly about a school-based program, that does actually, really, seriously exist - in Toronto.
It's surely impossible for anyone who actually read the article to conclude anything other than the fact it is about a school-based program in Toronto.
Toronto is in Canada. Toronto is not Canada. Like Sydney is in Australia but, although Sydney-siders might not realise it, Sydney is not Australia.
And even in Toronto, vaccination is not mandatory outside of the school program. Nowhere in the article is any claim made to the contrary.
The only way in which Ms Dorey can be considered to be correct is to the extent that the system apparently allows for exemptions. But nothing in the article implies otherwise.
Ms Dorey is tilting at windmills.
Again.
Once again I find myself wondering why people would risk their baby's life by giving any weight to the advice of an organisation that demonstrates no ability to properly understand any issues, even simple ones.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Does Anti-Vaccine = Bad Maths?
I've blogged a few times about Meryl Dorey's difficulties with high-school level mathematics.
There was the incident where she suggested that if 88% of a group of infected people are vaccinated, then 88% of vaccinated people must have been infected. The claim remains on her blog, in a comment.
There were the times where she confused parts per million with parts per billion, a one-thousand-fold error. One was "corrected", but it was repeated soon after on her Facebook page and not, to my knowledge, corrected.
There was the time when she concluded that 10,000 unvaccinated pre-school children in a news story were the only unvaccinated people in California. This meant, according to her arithmetic, that only 0.03% of the population had not been immunised. The actual figure is likely around 800 times higher than Ms Dorey's "estimation".
These are the just the few that spring immediately to my mind. I'm sure there's a lot I've missed.
But she's done it again. Apparentlydisinterested unconcerned with vaccination today, Ms Dorey has now turned her attention to fluoride. On her Facebook page, she wrote...
Which makes no sense.
Is it one part in 60, as suggested by the 1:60 ratio? Or is it one part in one million as suggested by the PPM? Or is it 60 parts in one million (60ppm)? Or is it one sixtieth of one part in one million (0.016ppm)?
Frankly, I don't know what she's on about and nor do I particularly care since there's a fair chance it would be just another "they're trying to kill us all" conspiracy theory. And, even if we get the maths sorted out, we will still be left with questions of whether the chemistry is properly understood.
What does concern me is that, despite her regular public failures on matters of relatively simple maths and science, she claims to be able to re-interpret scientific papers better than the scientists that wrote them – and people like the organisers of the Woodford Folk Festival treat her like an expert and give her a platform to spread seemingly dangerous misinformation.
If I was concerned about my baby's health and well-being, or "wellness", then, at the very least, I'd ignore the advice of people who can't do simple maths and science.
HT Deb & Sue @ SAVN
UPDATE:
I forgot to mention that Ms Dorey's comment included a link to brasschecktv.com, which appears to be yet another conspiracy website, similar to whale.to but video-based. Along with a large collection of health-related conspiracies, they also carry stories on "chemtrails", President Obama, 9/11 and "The Secret Government". I could be wrong, but this doesn't look like the sort of place a medical expert would usually go for information.
I am neither a doctor, nor a scientist nor even a statistician. Neither is Meryl Dorey. Do not trust either of us with the health of you or your children. See a doctor - a real doctor who doesn't think the world is run by lizard-people.
There was the incident where she suggested that if 88% of a group of infected people are vaccinated, then 88% of vaccinated people must have been infected. The claim remains on her blog, in a comment.
There were the times where she confused parts per million with parts per billion, a one-thousand-fold error. One was "corrected", but it was repeated soon after on her Facebook page and not, to my knowledge, corrected.
There was the time when she concluded that 10,000 unvaccinated pre-school children in a news story were the only unvaccinated people in California. This meant, according to her arithmetic, that only 0.03% of the population had not been immunised. The actual figure is likely around 800 times higher than Ms Dorey's "estimation".
These are the just the few that spring immediately to my mind. I'm sure there's a lot I've missed.
But she's done it again. Apparently
"Fluoride in concentrations as low as 1:60 PPM is toxic."
Which makes no sense.
Is it one part in 60, as suggested by the 1:60 ratio? Or is it one part in one million as suggested by the PPM? Or is it 60 parts in one million (60ppm)? Or is it one sixtieth of one part in one million (0.016ppm)?
Frankly, I don't know what she's on about and nor do I particularly care since there's a fair chance it would be just another "they're trying to kill us all" conspiracy theory. And, even if we get the maths sorted out, we will still be left with questions of whether the chemistry is properly understood.
What does concern me is that, despite her regular public failures on matters of relatively simple maths and science, she claims to be able to re-interpret scientific papers better than the scientists that wrote them – and people like the organisers of the Woodford Folk Festival treat her like an expert and give her a platform to spread seemingly dangerous misinformation.
If I was concerned about my baby's health and well-being, or "wellness", then, at the very least, I'd ignore the advice of people who can't do simple maths and science.
HT Deb & Sue @ SAVN
UPDATE:
I forgot to mention that Ms Dorey's comment included a link to brasschecktv.com, which appears to be yet another conspiracy website, similar to whale.to but video-based. Along with a large collection of health-related conspiracies, they also carry stories on "chemtrails", President Obama, 9/11 and "The Secret Government". I could be wrong, but this doesn't look like the sort of place a medical expert would usually go for information.
I am neither a doctor, nor a scientist nor even a statistician. Neither is Meryl Dorey. Do not trust either of us with the health of you or your children. See a doctor - a real doctor who doesn't think the world is run by lizard-people.
Meryl Dorey, Woodford FF, PR lessons
Chrys Stevenson has posted a video compilation of events leading up to the appearance of anti-vaccine lobbyist Meryl Dorey as a speaker at the recent Woodford Folk Festival. The video features an audio interview with Ms Stevenson on Peter Bowditch's podcast...
Friday, January 13, 2012
Vaccine ingredients - do your research
The anti-vaccine lobby repeatedly crows "do your research" to anyone who they see as not being strongly opposed to vaccination.
Ordinarily, I ignore their advice because, well, they're mostly idiots with too much hubris and too little education. But today I decided to follow their advice and find a comprehensive list of ingredients commonly found in all vaccines. I was shocked...
And all this is injected straight into your baby's bloodstream every day for the first three years of their life. And if doctors think we won't notice the effect these things have, they must be CRAZY!!!!!
I will add to this list as I continue to do my own research into vaccination.
Ordinarily, I ignore their advice because, well, they're mostly idiots with too much hubris and too little education. But today I decided to follow their advice and find a comprehensive list of ingredients commonly found in all vaccines. I was shocked...
COMMON Vaccine Ingredients:
- Phemaldehyde (listed in comments here)
- Water (a major cause of death)
- Sucrose (a major cause of obesity)
- Glycerin (a major source of glycerin)
- Mercury
- Venus
- Saturn
- Pluto
- Goofy
- Mickey and Donald
- Anti-freeze
- Aunty Mabel
- Monkey kidney
- Dog kidney
- Steak and kidney pie
- Formaldehyde
- Informal-dehyde
- Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
- Salt (heart disease anyone?)
- Pepper
- Egg protein
- Bacon protein
- Elephant snot
- Snigs and Snails
- Puppy dogs' tails
- Girl germs
- Boy bugs
- Nuclear waste (it has to go somewhere!)
- Pure evil
- Eye of newt
- Lost aglets
- Pimple pus
- McDonalds
- Depression
- Micro-chips
- Micro-fish
- Microsoft Windows
- Un-used new year resolutions
- Pages from Mein Kampf
- Chernobyl sewage
ALL THIS IS TRUE...
...you've just read it on the internet so it must be!!!!
...you've just read it on the internet so it must be!!!!
And all this is injected straight into your baby's bloodstream every day for the first three years of their life. And if doctors think we won't notice the effect these things have, they must be CRAZY!!!!!
I will add to this list as I continue to do my own research into vaccination.
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