DISQUS

Excellent article, Arthur. Vaccine fear mongers have been around since Jenner's day, and not one of their claims have passed the laugh test. Yet despite their shaky grasp of vaccines, statistics, epidemiology and toxicology, these people are still exerting an influence that far outweighs their means. I'm not particularly worried, though. In the end this controversy, as phony as it is, will be decided by the science. Your input is duly noted and appreciated.

It appears that Shoemaker has bought into the anti-vaccine paranoia, and believes that Big Pharma has hired a small army of bloggers to shill for the industry. That's the only plausible explanation that occurs to me. It's obvious that whatever his motivation, Attorney Shoemaker badly miscalculated the blowback from this move. It would be great if the Virginia Bar Association followed up on the complaint that is sure to arise from this travesty.

John McCain, the straight-talking tort reformer, needs to understand how much of the anti-vax movement is driven by lawsuits and questionable vaccine court claims. I urge everyone to read Kathleen Seidel's excellent investigation of shady junk science "experts" who make a living testifying for plaintiffs in vaccine injury cases.

http://www.neurodiversity.com/weblog/

At what point is an idea so discredited that journalists will stop treating it as a legitimate, opposing point of view? No responsible news organization would quote a Klansman to balance a piece on civil rights. The 9/11 Truth nuts have been given no quarter by the popular media. Even "creation science" claims raise eyebrows in the newsroom. So why not the thimerosal-autism canard? It's as destructive as the notion of white supremacy. Vaccine scare mongers such as David Kirby and RFK, Jr. take as many liberties with the truth as the ironically named Truthers. And like the young-earth zealots, the Mercury Militia also bow to the God of confirmation bias with every new, crackpot "study".