Tuesday 12 October 2010

Excellent piece on the dangers of anti-vaccine wingnuttery

An excellent piece today in The Guardian on the dangers of anti-vaccine lies. Those hateful people like Stone, Jake Crosby, Jenny McCarthy, Meryl Dorey et al should give it a good read, then think about their actions, and the number of children they're helping to doom to an early death.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Fascinating figures you're quoting 'Brian' - where does the 85,000 glassings each week come from? The Home Office figures (http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1109chap3.pdf) quote 903,993 offences of violence against the person in 2008/2009 which, at least according to my maths is approximately 75,000 offences per month... presumably you didn't just pluck a random number out of the air?

And, perhaps more importantly, when making a choice about vaccination, it's a good idea to acquaint yourself with all the information (including the fact that death isn't the only serious outcome of infection with Measles, Mumps or Rubella)

Measles:

pneumonia/bronchitis (1 in 25)

convulsions (1 in 200)

meningitis/encephalitis (1 in 1000)

conditions affecting blood clotting (1 in 6000)

late onset subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) (1 in 8000 children under 2 years)

deaths (1-2 deaths in 1000 reported cases in recent years)
viral meningitis (1 in 20)

Mumps:

encephalitis (1 in 1000)

permanent hearing loss (1 in 20,000)

inflammation of testicles (4 in 10 adult males)

inflammation of ovaries

Rubella:

encephalitis (1 in 6000)

birth defects (90% chance baby will have birth defects if mother catches rubella early in pregnancy). Birth defects include blindness, deafness, learning difficulties and heart disease

conditions affecting blood clotting (1 in 3000)

Of course, if you've an aversion to professional research (presumably there are some gifted amateurs out there somewhere...) you might not be convinced, but then I'm not at all convinced by what you refer to as 'logic' (especially as what you go onto describe is nothing more than a logical fallacy... and, indeed, the whole reason that professional research is so necessary).

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Ah I see, apparently you mistyped, (hence my confusion about the numbers).

85,000 per *year* was the figure quoted in the Times article: glad we cleared that up.

From reading your multiple posts, it is clear that you value 'belief' over evidence and, as you've pointed out repeated, that is your right.

I'm just unclear why you feel the need to share your 'faith' with the rest of us?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Becky said...

"Why am I trying to spread my beliefs, which may not be correct?"

Because you're a fucking scaremongering twat.

Now fuck off until you've got a sensible point to argue.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I *really* hate it when people make 'internet diagnoses' of others based on what they type... 'Brian', please don't use terms you clearly don't understand.

I used to diagnose personality disorder for a living and it is one of the most stigmatising and misused labels even within psychiatry. Using it as nothing more than a term of abuse only compounds that.

[I appreciate you might've already gone... but I'd hate for your misuse of such an emotive, medical term to be the last word on the matter]

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Becky said...

Not aggressive, "Brian". Just angry that dickheads like you are still promoting a pro-disease agenda.

David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E. said...

I'm with Becky on this!