The case of Desiree Jennings – Steve Novella comments
Readers may remember the case of cheerleader Desiree Jennings who claimed she contracted dystonia, a rare neurological disorder after receiving a flu shot*.
Steve Novella blogged about this before and if you want a more detailed explanation of the case I recommend you buzz on over to Neurologica. He also gives commentary in this story from Inside Edition about Desiree’s seemingly amazing “recovery”.
So is it a hoax? Take a look.
* although the report above says it was the “seasonal flu” just about every news story I heard, flip-flopped between the H1N1 and the seasonal flu vaccine, and sometimes even within the same report. Media FAIL.
Tip o’the hat to Scooter
Have we seen the last of the AVN?
On the day that the Lancet effectively scratched the now infamous Wakefield et al paper of 1998, from it’s records, the AVN also had a bombshell to drop.
In a e-newsletter sent to subscribers, Meryl Dorey president of the AVN announced:
AVN to close it’s doors at the end of the month
The contents explained that after 17 years, Dorey was;
“…in the next 3-4 weeks…tendering my resignation as President of this great organisation and moving on to the next stage of my own personal development as mother, wife, activist and researcher.”
Which seems pretty clear cut, until further in the email she wrote:
“Without a large injection of capital behind me, I simply cannot continue.”
She used the word injection! Ms Dorey you do amuse! (sorry, couldn’t let that one go…)
She explained that closure at the end of the month could be avoided, but only if:
“..a benefactor or series of benefactors come forward to establish a fund that would guarantee the AVN’s existence for at least the next 2-3 years.”
This is not the first time Dorey has asked for money from her members – a few months ago she was asking people to put aside a percentage of their government paid family allowance to donate to the AVN. Then several days ago she asked for “$100 from each and every member” (AVN Message #42021).
But this comes as no surprise to us, we know she has been in financial difficulty of late. According to documents obtained by a colleague via the the Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing (OLGR) (this information is publicly available if a business is registered as a charity), the AVN lost AUD58,000 in the period January through December 2008.
The day following this email, Ms Dorey sent another email clarifying that the AVN would only close if she did not receive the required funds and she was sorry if she had worried her followers.
This clarification became somewhat clouded today however, when she sent another e-newsletter with the masthead exclaiming Living Wisdom/ AVN Closing down sale! (AVN message #42055).
So is she or isn’t she?
Until yesterday I had been wondering why she had not pleaded to the big guns for help, the likes of Generation Rescue and Age of Autism. That was until today when a blog appeared on the Age of Autism website, wherein between asking for an “injection of funds” again (*chortle*). She says the following about the “anti-choice movement”:
“I have had death threats from those who are too cowardly to confront me on the facts of my argument*.
I have had complaints filed against me… I have been called the Baby Killer of Bangalow…and told that I am personally responsible for the current record-high level of whooping cough despite the fact that our vaccination level is currently also at a record high.”
Personally I’m not surprised Ms Dorey wants out, and I suspect it is not solely to do with money. It has not been a good year for the AVN.
There are currently two complaints filed against her with the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), accusing her of spreading false information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. We expect the findings to be handed down in the next few weeks. There are also two with the OLGR, the charity watchdog, one alleging she operated without a charity license for 2 years, whilst still collecting donations.
She has also received considerable mainstream criticism for her campaign of scaremongering and misinformation regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Despite the General Medical Council finding Wakefield “callous”, “unethical” and “dishonest”, a complete retraction of the Wakefield et al paper on February 2nd, and a large body of scientific evidence discrediting his work, the anti-vaxers appear to have not changed their stance that vaccines contain toxic levels of elemental mercury, vaccines cause autism, shaken baby syndrome, SIDS and brain damage.
In August 2009, Dorey and the AVN were the target of a national newspaper advertising campaign, financed by entrepreneur Dick Smith warning parents of Australia not to listen to the false claims of the AVN. In publicity surrounding the publication, Smith criticised the organisation for portraying a public face of “pro-choice” when privately being unequivocally anti-vaccination. In a statement Smith said; “They should put on every bit of their material that they are anti-vaccination in great big words”.
Dorey has been heavily criticised for her misuse of scientific evidence, in particular her habit of “cherry picking” data to suit her agenda whilst publicly insisting she only cites peer reviewed studies from medical journals.
Dorey also outed herself as an “HIV denier” meaning she does not believe that HIV is the cause of AIDS. HIV deniers are a dangerous group of individuals, whose influence on South African President, Thabo Mbeki historically contributed to the unnecessary deaths of over 300,000 Africans as a result of delayed roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs.
Dorey also appeared to subscribe to conspiracy theories despite telling her email group;
“We are already seen as rapid idiotic fringe dwellers by so many in the mainstream, it does our argument no good at all to bring in conspiracy theories which though we may prescribe to them are unprovable”.
Yet, she later published a link to a conspiracy blog describing H1N1 (swine flu) as being manufactured by a group of drug cartels for the express purpose of extinguishing a large percentage of the world via compulsory vaccination, aerosol exposure via chem-trails and the implantation of mind control chips. The original story was attributed to (but not credited by Dorey) the world famous conspiracy theorist David Icke. You can see more here.
To top it off, the AVN was awarded the 2009 Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon awarded annually for the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudo-scientific piffle and chosen from a list of public nominations.
Not to mention she has taken a battering in the press for spreading false statistics and scaremongering, and been forced to change seminar venues when organisers discovered the true nature of her ‘information’.
I think this might be the beginning of the end for the embattled AVN. And I for one won’t miss ’em. At all.
We await to hear the next installment, otherwise mark down February 28th as a victory for science and reason in this country.
—-
*she does not supply evidence for this claim
Snake oil salesman gets what he deserves
He wants 2.5 million dollars to market snake-oil.
Precious metals nanowater? The panel is unimpressed. “Is there insanity in there?” Watch to see them kick him off the set, by calling him “offensive”, “crazy” and “disgusting” when he claims to be able to cure cervical cancer and leukemia.
Thanks to Chris for the tip-off.
MMR doctor “unethical, callous and abused trust”
The doctor who sparked the MMR controversy “showed a callous disregard” for the suffering of children and “abused his position of trust”, a disciplinary panel has ruled.
The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK has handed down their findings on Dr Andrew Wakefield and two colleagues who are credited with catalysing the Measles, Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine scare in 1998.
Thousands of parents opted out of having their children vaccinated following the publishing of a paper in the journal ‘The Lancet’ linking MMR with gastrointestinal disorders and autism.
Wakefield’s findings resonated world wide firmly establishing the anti-vaccination movement and resulting in outbreaks of vaccine preventable disease.
The enquiry sat for 148 days and was estimated to have cost one million pounds. The GMC’s disciplinary panel of experts ruled Dr Wakefield showed a ‘callous disregard’ for children’s suffering and abused his position of trust.
His conduct brought the medical profession ‘into disrepute’ after he took blood samples from youngsters at his son’s birthday party in return for payment. He also acted dishonestly and was misleading and irresponsible in the way he described research later published in The Lancet medical journal. More seriously, he was charged with causing pain to sick children by unnecessary painful, intrusive diagnostic treatments
Dr Wakefield faces being struck off the medical register after the panel decided the allegations against him could amount to serious professional misconduct, which will be decided at a later date.
Although The Lancet study did not demonstrate the MMR vaccine as dangerous, Dr Wakefield warned parents to have single injections against measles, mumps and rubella. The claim has been widely discredited. Subsequent studies into the safety of vaccines have demonstrated no link between vaccination, the mercury based preservative thimerosal and autism.
But the anti-vaccination movement calls the findings “unjust”, a “smear campaign” and “a sad day for our children.” Generation Rescue, a militant anti-vaccination group in the US, issued a statement of support saying;
“Dr. Andrew Wakefield is perhaps this debate’s greatest hero. He’s a doctor who has held onto the truth, unbowed, through pressure that would break most mortals. Dr. Wakefield’s influence in saving other children from the fate that befell so many children is incalculable.”
Already petitions have sprung up in support of the Dr who they call “a man of integrity, courage and proven commitment to children and public health.”
But sadly, the facts surrounding this case do not reflect this belief. Wakefield defends his decision to use children at the birthday party as a control group for his study. He continues to believe it was not unethical.
“I had fully informed parent and child consent. The ethics committee is there to protect NHS patients, and these weren’t NHS patients.”
Investigations by Sunday Times journalist Brian Deer revealed that Wakefield had not revealed serious conflicts of interest when submitting his paper for publication. Deer claims he was paid four hundred thousands pounds by lawyers seeking a link between the vaccine and autism. Further, Wakefield had a patent pending on a single measles vaccine, just like the one he urged parents to seek out the press conference following the publishing of the paper.
In 2004, ten of the twelve authors on the paper withdrew their names from the paper.
“We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient. However the possibility of such a link was raised and consequent events have had major implications for public health.”
The decision as to whether Wakefield is struck off the medical register in the UK is expected to be handed down in the next few months. He currently resides in Texas where he is the director of a alternative medicine clinic, Thoughtful House, which has also been accused of using dubious treatments such a chelation.
The Lord works in mysterious ways
The PrayerMAX5000™ brings together an ancient desert ritual with super modern electricity. It’s POWERFUL!
Hat tip to reasonablehank
You’ve got a degree in baloney
This one speaks for itself.
Scientists, clinicians and an astronomer honoured on Australia Day
Australia Day is a more than just a public holiday in Oz.
It represents the day in 1788 when the English turned up on the banks of Sydney Cove in their tall ships and declared the country ‘ours’.
This was in spite of Aboriginal Australians having occupied the land for more than 40,000 years prior to “white” man setting foot here.
This subsequent settlement has been a vexing issue for Australia, especially since the Aboriginal population has suffered greatly ever since and as such, reflection on their plight forms a large part of the significance of the day. But Australia Day is also about catching up with friends, having a traditional bbq, playing some cricket and downing a few coldies.
Yet, there are some formalities that come with Australia Day in the form of awards which celebrate outstanding contributions and achievements of Australians. Regular readers to this blog might recall my Dad was honored with an Order of the Medal of Australia last year.
For many years, the top of the prestigous Honours list was dominated by sportsmen, entertainers and celebrities whom, although certainly do a great job, are often sufficiently honoured by other means.
So this year, I was thrilled to see a large science contingent honoured in the 2010 awards.
Australia’s first female Nobel Prize winner, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn is a scientist who was jointly awarded the 100th Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine last year for work on understanding the role of telomeres in protecting chromosomes was given the highest honour. Professor Blackburn is among four Australians named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
Also recognised in the medical field is Dr Wendy Hoy, a Professor of medicine at the Centre for Chronic Disease at the University of Queensland.
She’s been honoured for her medical research in indigenous communities. Wendy told ABC radio, “I hope it gives other people the energy and confidence to press on in what’s really a difficult and unnecessarily contentious field.”
Professor Fred Watson is the astronomer in charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Coonabarabran in New South Wales, and was honoured for sharing his passions about astronomy through raising public awareness about space and the universe.
I know someone else like that.
Fred told ABC radio; “As soon as you start talking to people about things like that, about the possibility, even of microbial life on Mars their interest is piqued, it’s very, very easy for an astronomer to engage with the public and engage with people generally”.
Watch an interview with Fred Watson here.
Dr Chris Kennedy, a clinician from Queensland, received an award for his medical work and education. As a doctor working with children, he understands the importance of vaccines as an essential tool in the prevention of communicable disease, particularly in third world countries.
He told ABC news that the cost of vaccines can be prohibitive for developing nations, and encouraged Australia to contribute to the costs where they are desperately needed.
Also from Queensland, Dr Will Cairns was recognised for his services to palliative medicine.
One group of entertainers who were honored for tireless services to entertainment was The Wiggles. But you can hardly not like the Wiggles, unless you are a parent who has a child obsessed (and if you are a parent then you most likely have/will have).
Happy Australia Day all!
Zap! There goes your hard earned money
Or, an exercise in the “put science words in hat and pull them out at randon” fallacy™.
A reader emailed me this site and asked me to take a look. It’s called BICOM Bioresonance Therapy and is described, “as a gentle computer modulated therapy which helps to identify and treat the underlying causes of the disease, not only the symptoms”.
In the BICOM device the disharmonious frequencies are filtered out and inverted. These inverted therapeutic oscillations are now given back to the patient. This makes no sense to me, and I am a scientist.
Has your quack alert been activated yet?
If not, it should have. Familiarise yourself with the seven signs of pseudoscience. This is a great way to learn to spot quack products and avoid yourself getting scammed (or worse, put your health at risk).
BICOM is just another one of those “zapping” devices, sometimes known as Bioresonance therapy or Vega testing, and is not a dissimiliar concept to the E-meter used for personality profiling by the Church of Scientology.
These things claim they will treat or cure just about anything, from allergies and geopathic stress (?) to cancers, but there is scant evidenc that they do any of these things. They all make similar claims, but for the sake of clarity, I will use Biocom as an example to analyse some of these claims.
Bicom fits the “junk science” label pretty well, and also has the dubious honor of hijacking scientific terminology and technology to lend legitimacy to it’s product. This has the effect of “blinding consumers with science” to make them think if it sounds sciencey, then it must work! See the diagram. Science!
This is a particular heinous modus operandi in my opinion, particularly because since these therapies are not based in evidence, they choose to
cherry pick science to suit their agenda.
So, whilst homeopaths will tell you that quantum physics explains that water has memory, on the other hand randomised controlled trials (RCTs) can’t be used on homeopathy – this is usually because the results do not turn out like they want.
*Sulk*.
Wow, looks sciencey, must be good!
Anti-vaxers on the other hand repeatedly demand RCTs for vaccine safety, but reject the mounting scientific evidence that mercury does not cause autism. Convenient hey?
But then I never claimed these people were rational or logical, did I?
But I digress, back to BICOM. I’ve picked some gems from their website as examples of junk science.
First thing you should always look for when determining if a product is a scam if it claims to treat or cure many unrelated diseases.
Bingo!
“The BICOM device detects and treats problems with Candida, parasites, bacteria, fungi, viruses, heavy metals, chemicals, miasms, allergies and food intolerances, immune system, treats geopathic stress, reduces scar interference, detoxifies, reduces pain and inflammation and regulates the hormonal system.
Programmes in the device are applied for a wide range of conditions such as smoking addiction, allergies, ankle problems, bedwetting, blood circulation, blood pressure, bowel and other digestive problems, catarrh, colitis, depression, dizziness, ear complaints, lack of energy, eye problems, fever, hay fever, hip/joint issues, impotence, liver, lymph, MS, pain, prostate, rheumatism, sinusitis, skin, spine, thyroid, warts, etc.”
I stopped counting at fifteen. Note the claims of “detects and treats”. Perhaps the Complaints Resolution Panel of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia’s equivalent of the FDA in America) would be interested in hearing about this? Just a thought.
Also, unlike the conventional science based option, this one will be completely safe, has no side effects and be non invasive.
Oh wait, look what I found.
“It is a highly effective, painfree, and non-invasive therapy without harmful side effects”.
Tick.
Next, look for any connection to quantum mechanics or quantum physics.
“Findings from the area of biophysical and quantum mechanics and quantum physics have opened up amazing possibilities and have led to impressive developments in technology. Such findings are useful to explain the basis of bioresonance therapy.”
Tick.
In the category of “pardon?”
“…it been proven that cells communicate with each other by means of “flashes of light”
No, it hasn’t. You just made this up. Cells communicate by sending messages via chemicals. Not baby fireworks.
“Every substance and therefore every cell of every part of the body (but also viruses, bacteria, pollen, etc..) emit their energy. They have a highly specific, typical wavelength or frequency with entirely individual characteristics. This is termed the ‘frequency pattern’.”
Wha? This is an example of making stuff up and chucking in “energy” to make it sound kinda sciencey. Funny, whenever you ask these people exactly what they mean by “energy” they fail to answer the question. That’s because they have no idea themselves.
This is what I like to call the “put science words in a hat and draw them out at random” fallacy.
But what about the Treatment of Pathological Oscillations? Well Bioresonance therapy can do that too.
“Many diseases start with pathological oscillations or vibrations from toxins, moulds, parasites and chemicals.”
Again nonsense. Why is the alternative medicine crowd are so taken with energy and “vibrations”?
If a therapy present testimonials in the place of evidence you should also be suspicious. Does Bioresonance therapy do this? Yes they do.
If you’re still unsure then always check for the obligatory disclaimer. Here they will tell you themselves (to cover their ass from lawyers) that their product does nothing, their website may be wrong, and don’t take advice from them.
DISCLAIMER:
This website is not designed to be used to make any diagnoses, prescribe any form of treatment or medication or order tests. The information contained is provided as an educational service. The website contains articles on many health and wellness topics; however, no warranty is made that any of the articles are accurate. There is absolutely no assurance that any statement contained or cited in an article touching on medical matters is true, correct, precise or up to date.
Quack alert.
The BICOM Bioresonance is another “zapper*” that does nothing except empty your wallet.
*Hulda Clark sells zappers that she claims can treat cancer. She wrote the book “The cure for all cancers”. She died of cancer.
Terrifying consequences of a lapse in critical thinking
A BBC Newsnight investigation has exposed a “useless” bomb detector device currently being used at security check points in Iraq and Afghanistan. The UK Government has now banned the export of the British made device and the device’s maker, Jim McCormack, has been arrested on suspicion of fraud.
The Iraqi government has spent 85 million dollars, at a cost of 40 thousand dollars each, on the dowsing-like ADE-651 devices, but there are now fears that they failed to prevent bomb attacks which killed hundreds of military personal and civilians. Sidney Alford a leading explosives expert, said the sale of the devices was “absolutely immoral”.
He told Newsnight; “It could result in people being killed in the dozens, if not hundreds.”
This comes after three recent suicide car bomb attacks in Baghdad, with one attack in December killing over 120 Iraqis.
But the ADE-651 devices had never been shown to work scientifically. The device consists of a rotating rod inside a plastic case and a “programmed substance detection card” which is “tuned into the frequency of a particular explosive”. However, when Newsnight had the cards tested by Cambridge University’s Computer Lab, they were found to be nothing more than store security tags.
Dr Markus Kuhn who tested the cards said; “There is nothing to program in these cards. There is no memory. There is no microcontroller. There is no way any form of information can be stored,” he added. Furthermore, the tags which are supposed to be the heart of such an expensive system cost around two to three pence.
“These are the cheapest bit of electronics that you can get that look vaguely electronic and are sufficiently flat to fit inside a card,” Dr Kuhn told NewsNight.
Even the Iraqis themselves are sceptical about the device. “They don’t work properly,” Umm Muhammad, a retired schoolteacher said. “Sometimes when I drive through checkpoints, the device moves simply because I have medications in my handbag. Sometimes it doesn’t – even when I have the same handbag.”
Concerns about the legitimacy of a virtually identical device were first raised by sceptic and magician, James Randi back in the late 1990s (see below). When the devices were investigated by the FBI and others agencies in laboratory tests, they found that “there were no functioning parts and the device failed very definitive tests.”
The dowsing technique used by the ADE-651 devices, is not new and is well known to be bunk. Australian Skeptics have produced a video testing the effectiveness of dowsing to find water, and after numerous tests, found its success rate was no better than chance.
Watch the full story from the BBC. It’s chilling.
As a sceptic, I have been accused of being closed minded, arrogant and rude. Yet, it seems a healthy dose of scepticism with respect to these crank devices quite possibly would have saved lives in this case.
Homeopathy websites ordered to remove misleading material
The websites Homeopathy Plus! and www.d-n-h.org have been ordered to remove information suggesting “homeopathic immunisation” is as effective as vaccination and issue a retraction following a complaint made to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Dr Ken Harvey, a lecturer at Latrobe University School of Public Health, who authored the complaint (read the full complaint as a pdf here), objected to claims on the website that “homeopathic immunisation is effective against poliomyelitis, chicken pox, meningococcal disease, hepatitis (all types), Japanese encephalitis, Hib, influenza, measles, pneumococcal disease, smallpox, typhoid, cholera, typhus, whooping cough, rubella, mumps, diptheria, malaria, tetanus, yellow fever, dysentery and many other epidemic diseases”.
The websites, classified as advertisements for the purposes of the complaint, also claimed that “recent research conducted at Swinburne University by Australian homeopath, Dr Isaac Golden confirmed that homeoprophylaxis provides the same degree, or better protection, than vaccines with none of their side effects or complications.”
About influenza, the websites state that the homeopathic preparation, “Anas Barbariae relieves the intensity and shortens the duration of flu symptoms better than anti-virals…..without the side effects” and “symptoms are sometimes removed in a few hours”.
In reference to the claims about the positive results of Isaac Golden, Dr Harvey noted these claims are directly contradicted by the thesis from where they are sourced. Golden’s thesis contains the statement; “the effectiveness of the homeopathic immunisation programme could not be established with statistical certainty given the small sample size..”. In spite of this, and in lieu of providing further evidence, the complainant stated (in part) that the thesis had “indeed reached a positive conclusion with a high degree of confidence”.
The findings from The Complaints Resolution Panel stated that although the complainant cited references for homeoprophylaxis, they “did not provide complete copies of the papers cited.” Further, the material on the websites was deemed “misleading”, “unverified” and “abused the trust or exploited the lack of knowledge of consumers” (my emphasis).
The Panel found that none of the material supplied by the advertiser supported claims made on the websites, and therefore the information was misleading and “likely to arouse unwarranted expectations” from consumers. The Panel ruled for Homeopathy Plus! and www.d-n-h.org to remove the misleading material and issue a retraction on their websites which is to remain for 90 days. The advertiser has 14 days to comply with the ruling.
Claims about efficacy of homeopathic immunisation are in direct contravention to statements from the National Council for Homeopathy London which “strongly supports the conventional vaccination programme..”. In Australia, The Executive Director of the Australian Natural Therapies Association said “no properly qualified natural therapist would recommend homeopathic immunisation as an alternative to conventional immunisation”.
This comes at a time when NSW Health authorities have issued a warning about meningococcal disease following the death of a woman in Sydney, and a spike in cases in NSW, with eight reported in December 2009, in Sydney.
For more information about homeopathy, see the 10:23 campaign. To participate in a mass homeopathy suicide attempt in Australia, see the events page on Facebook.
