Is there a vaccine against stupidity?
McCain embraces debunked fringe theories on the campaign trail:
Yet another reason why the proposed Science Debate is a good idea. Several thousand individuals and organizations associated with science, technology and medicine have been pushing for this. Since it would be a debate about substantive issues and not Tim Russert asking dumbass questions, no candidate has committed.
“It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise among children,” Senator John McCain said while campaigning recently in Texas. “The question is, What’s causing it? And we go back and forth, and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”The preservative thimerosal, which doesn't cause autism to begin with, was removed years ago to combat the growing irrational fear of vaccines. I'd expect this from Jenny McCarthy or any other celebrity given a platform on Larry King to misinform people, but not someone running for President who will set policy at the CDC.
Yet another reason why the proposed Science Debate is a good idea. Several thousand individuals and organizations associated with science, technology and medicine have been pushing for this. Since it would be a debate about substantive issues and not Tim Russert asking dumbass questions, no candidate has committed.
posted by Matt Bors at
5:15 PM
4 Comments:
“It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise among children,”
I think most intelligent people would agree with this statement.
“The question is, What’s causing it? And we go back and forth, and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”
Of course, a lot of people debate this. However, if you read his statement carefully, it's not as absurd as you claim it is. First he says it is there is "strong evidence" - that doesn't mean it is causing it, it just means we need to investigate further.
Also, he states that "it's got to do with a preservative in vaccintes". He doesn't say thimerosal. There are many toxic preservatives in vaccines. And when you inject tiny humans (babies) with toxins, it can't good.
By the way, the CDC recommend flu shots for prenant women and babies and that shot is loaded with thimerosal.
My opinion, although I think thimerosal is a red herring, the drastic increase in the number of vaccinations giving to babies is correlated to the drastic increase in autism. In the old days, there were fewer shots and those shots were giving to children, not infants.
In the old days, though, there isn't any reliable numbers for autism so it can't be studied.
Regarding the possible correlation: correlation doesn't equal causation. There have been a ton of factors, environmental and otherwise that could be causing it.
And I don't think McCain was referring to another preservative. The debate in the science community over a autism/vaccine link is basically over. Maybe not in the public debate, but there just isn't a reason to think the preservative is causing it. (especially thimerosal--a pregnant woman gets more mercury from fish than the vaccine).
Man, the ugly head of Pseudo-science is reared once more!
Corganic, there is no actual documented rise in autism. The increase in reports of autism is a statistical artifact of changes in the clinical definition of autism. In other words, all the talk of many more autistic kids is caused by doctors getting a better understanding of what autism is and thereby recognizing it more often. If you want to read the peer-review literature, a good place to start is:
Gernsbacher, M. A., Dawson, M., Goldsmith, H.H. 2005. Three Reasons Not to Believe in an Autism Epidemic. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 55–58.
This paper shows how the supposed 273% increase in cases of autism from California is probably due to the changing definition. As an example of the power of statistics, they show how changes in the definition of “tall” can mimic this trend. If you change your definition of tall from “anyone over 74.5” to “anyone over 72”, then you get a similar jump of 273% more tall people than you had previously.
Of course, maybe tall-ness is a result of increased vaccination...
Matt Bors, keep up the good work! Hopefully we can all get to watch McCain shit himself at the ScienceDebate 2008 when asked about AIDS research or something.
Like any other "Internet Debate", we can hand pick "stats" and call it "science" to back up our own "opinions".
I don't think it is always wise to rely on "science". There are too many times that the "facts" are generated by someone's agenda.
For years we were told smoking is good for us. Then they backed off that statement. Finally, it seems that the consensus is that smoking is bad for us.
There is a great book out there called "The Health Benefits of Tobacco", written by an MD. It shows the other side of tobacco.
It's fun to read the "science" of both sides of any health topic. (since the medical system is still more an art than a science)
Eventually, everyone has to choose a side.
Nice chatting with you!
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