Health and Sanity category archive

At Psychology Today Blogs, Dr. Thomas R. Verny points out that “(s)ome people spread disinformation meant to erode the public’s confidence in medicine” and offers suggestions to avoid being taken in. Here’s one of them; follow the link for the rest.

What is the track record of the writer or proponent? Have they in the past made mountains out of mole hills to concoct wild theories from kernels of truth and to promote, frankly, quack medicine?

Via Job’s Anger.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Susan A. Nolan and Michael Kimball note that

• A zombie fact is misinformation that persists in the face of evidence against it. . . .
• False beliefs about vaccine risks (a zombie fact) have fueled an outbreak of measles in the United States.

They go on to offer some simple techniques to keep your brains from being consumed by zombie facts.

Given the number for zombie facts careening down the disinformation superhighway, their article is well worth a look.

The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini is less than sanguine about RFK Jr.’s stewardship sewership of the Department of Health and Human Services. A snippet:

I’m old enough to remember a time when the federal government, by way of the Department of Health and Human Services, worked hard to keep as many Americans alive for as long as possible.

But that was way back in … 2024.

The plan now seems to involve thinning the herd.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Timmen L. Cermak argues that we are in the midst of a war on science. In light of, say, just to pick one example, the anti-VAX movement, which is willing to endanger endanger everyone’s health based on one discredited article, despite over two centuries of evidence that vaccines work, methinks he makes some good points.

Here’s a tiny bit:

Three origins of these attacks include the sheer ignorance that comes from a lack of education. For example, political leaders criticizing studies of “transgender mice” propagate misinformation, since these studies are actually of transgenic mice—those in which genetic material from other species has been inserted into their DNA, like the GMO foods that suffuse our diet. Attacks also stem from the typical short-sightedness of business-oriented leaders who value quarterly profits over investing in research and development needed to maintain market position over the next decade. And finally, ideologies that value transactional power tactics and loyalty tend to denigrate academic and bureaucratic experts as elites, who are viewed as obstacles to their “end justifies the means” philosophy.

Follow the link for the rest.

Pediatrician Susan Kressly, who happens to be president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, writes that anti-vax lies about vaccines have pediatricians worried. An excerpt (emphasis added):

. . . I’m getting emails, phone calls and texts from worried colleagues across the country. They have stories to tell of children who were permanently disabled or killed by diseases that we can now prevent with vaccines. They are afraid we will be back in that uncertain and terrifying place, watching a child suffer and being helpless to offer real relief for their pain. While the vast majority of parents vaccinate their children, misinformation has caused more parents to question the routine vaccinations that we’ve come to rely on to keep children healthy.

The stupid. It burns.