SNICKERSNEE
Health Hoaxters: Here a Quack, There a Quack
by Lorna Salzman
Of all the conspiracy theories and myths floating around the internet, perhaps the most dangerous are the ones posted by so-called doctors andindependent health research institutes, most of which consist of one person plying his poisonous potions and philosophy.
These blogs play on the scientific ignorance of the public and the suspicion of Big Pharma and government in general. The credentials of these "doctors" are highly suspect, and their research and recommendations undergo no professional peer review by credible scientific or medical organizations or government agencies.
In the face of increasing calls to the federal government to reinforce public health laws on drugs and foodstuffs, many "health food" stores freely sell untested chemical concoctions accompanied by wild claims of efficacy that range from ending acne to curing cancer.
One of the most popular figures was WBAI's Gary Null, who picked up former South African president Mbeki's ridiculous claims about AIDS, denying the link of HIV to AIDS, denying it was transmitted sexually or by dirty needles, and claiming that antiretroviral drugs actually cause AIDS rather than controlling it. Mbeki's health minister promoted the eating of garlic as protection against AIDS. These claims make it difficult if impossible to articulate legitimate complaints about the regulation of pharmaceuticals at best, and at worst could and do steer the sick away from meaningful, safe and proven treatments.
Global Research Canada and its sole proprietor Michel Chossudovsky are arguably the most culpable. At the risk of being called a right wing patsy for Big Pharma, I conclude that Global Research is nothing but a left wing anarchic one-man show, though admittedly, if one judges from those who refer to it, a highly successful one that plays on pre-existing paranoia and that special vitriol reserved for the U.S. government. He uses as a purported credible source something called "Journal of Clinical Biochemical Nutrition", but I was unable to find anything with this specific name so it remains suspect as an authoritative source. (There are serious credible peer journals with very similar names, leading me to believe that Chossudovsky deliberately chose this name for a nonexistent journal so it would appear legitimate. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book.)
Chossudovsky was active in the nationalist, anti-globalization Canadian Action Party and is a colleague of the extreme leftist James Petras. Though he lists his past experience with groups called Geopolitical Drug Watch and Peoples' International Health Council, these are nowhere to be found. Global Research's relentless campaign against mandatory vaccination is putting the lives of healthy children at risk in all our schools. And its recent post-Fukushima recommendations of dozens of herbs such as garlic extract, ginger, melotonin and other herbs state baldly (and falsely) that these provide protection against radiation exposure---followed by a disclaimer that he is not a doctor or a health professional.
Countless children have been protected from severe illnesses, paralysis and death by vaccinations against smallpox, diphtheria, polio, typhoid, measles and mumps. In Nigeria, the refusal to allow polio vaccinations brought a resurgence of a polio epidemic only two years ago, thanks to African clerics and voodoo practitioners who spread rumors that vaccines cause sterility and AIDS.
Those who oppose vaccination should ask themselves this question: would you feel comfortable sending your child to a school where you knew no one was vaccinated and that one child with a serious disease could cause death to your child and many others? Doctors do not deny that some who are vaccinated may get a serious reaction or get ill or even die. But these numbers are extremely low and the individual risk to a child vanishingly small compared to the huge risk of contracting a disease from an infected person.
Here are some figures from Scientific American, January 2008:
Annual average number of disease cases in prevaccine era, for vaccinations recommended before 1980 (covering eight diseases): 1,027,958
Annual average number of cases in postvaccine era: 22,324
Annual average number of cases in prevaccine era, for vaccinations recommended after 1980 (covering five diseases): 4,351,752
Annual average number of cases in postvaccine era: 682,835
Estimated annual deaths from all 13 diseases in:
Prevaccine era 18,412
Postvaccine era 4,970
Postvaccine era, excluding strep 120
Nine of the 13 diseases showed at least a 90% decline in death and in hospitalization rates.
Vaccines approved before 1980: diphtheria, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), poliomyelitis, rubella, smallpox and tetanus.
Vaccines approved since then target Hepatitis A, acute hepatitis B, influenza (Hemophilus influenzae b), Streptococcus pneumoniae and varicella(chicken pox).
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, Nov. 14, 2007.
A more recent and surprising convert to Quackdom is the Organic Consumers' Association and, less recent, Natural News. These both oppose mandatory vaccination and promote "homeopathic alternatives for treating and building natural immunity to the swine flu". They also promise to "haltdiabetes in 25 days". Each of these groups seems to outdo the other in thinking of more creative health hoaxes. My favorite one, the best for laughs, was an Indian "doctor" who recommended ingesting arsenic and poison ivy to build resistance against swine flu.
But public health is not a laughing matter. What is puzzling is not that there is distrust of Big Pharma, whom we all love to hate and with much justification, but that so many people reject traditional medicine and science which rely on peer review and clinical testing while uncritically swallowing the preachings of unqualified, uncredentialed and politically motivated snake oil salesmen without a moment's hesitation. The tragedy is not only the absence of critical thinking but the very real dangers to those with serious illness who might otherwise seek authoritative expert medical help. How many deaths have occurred from this rejection of science and medicine remain to be counted....all of which were probably preventable.