Best as I can tell, most of the internet has denounced ABC’s decision to hire Jenny McCarthy as a cohost of The View, a popular daytime talk show on American television. The uproar, in case you just returned from a week-long, off-the-grid monastic retreat, owes to McCarthy’s role as a prominent spokesperson for the anti-vaccine…Continue Reading…
I’m looking forward to seeing the video and transcript of Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s keynote speech at this year’s AutismOne/Generation Rescue conference. This is the annual confab of the anti-vaccine movement, where all the diehards gather to share their latest pseudoscience, quack therapies and conspiracy theories. Last year’s keynote address was given by actress Jenny McCarthy….Continue Reading…
For years, Portland has ranked as one of America’s greenest cities. While its eco-minded culture has been famously lampooned in Portlandia, the city’s environmentally friendly reputation is well earned, as (Seattle-based) Grist notes: Portland’s public transit system is held up as a model for the country. Per capita carbon emissions are down 26 percent since 1990. Portland consistently tops…Continue Reading…
Nobody in the blogosphere takes on the anti-vaccine movement with more passion than Orac, who is a surgeon and biomedical researcher. Stylistically, Orac is a bit long-winded for my taste, but his thoroughness is admirable and appreciated. While some may disapprove of his acidic tone, his persistent deconstruction of the arguments and propaganda advanced by the…Continue Reading…
Last week, two tireless bloggers who are often highly critical of the media had opposite reactions to ABC, one of the major broadcast networks in the U.S. Joe Romm praised this segment on the recent floods in Australia and Brazil as one of the best climate change stories ever to appear on a major network’s…Continue Reading…
This headline to a book review in yesterday’s NYT made me think of a sideline conversation I had with Robert Lee Hotz last week. It was after the Amy Wallace talk at NYU, which Hotz, a science columnist for the WSJ, moderated. We were chatting about the rise of the anti-vaccine movement. Hotz speculated that…Continue Reading…
The crusading, hydra-headed anti-vaccine movement deserves more consistent coverage in the media. Here’s the title of today’s press release from the American Academy of Pediatrics: How the anti-vaccine movement threatens America’s children Paul Offit, a pediatrician and the author of “Autism’s False Prophets,” (who didn’t tour bookstores because of death threats he received from the…Continue Reading…