March For Science: Will You Include Autism?
By Teresa Conrick
Today, Saturday, April 22nd, is March for Science Day. In Washington DC and in 517 locations around the world, supporters will be marching to, ---
"unapologetically advocate for science and all members of the scientific community.....The March for Science champions and defends science and scientific integrity, but it is a small step in the process toward encouraging the application of science in policy. We understand that the most effective way to protect science is to encourage the public to value and invest in it."
I would probably be marching if I did not have a daughter with severe Autism because I instead need to go car to car to ask for donations for real research and SCIENCE funding for AUTISM on that same day. The MICROBIOME is becoming the most important area of research for Autism and so many other diseases. I would probably march with thousands of Chicagoans as I too, believe what they are marching for:
Science is meaningful to all of us whether we are scientists ourselves, enthusiasts of science, or simply Chicagoans that value a method to uncover truth. We were motivated to become a guardian of science despite our differences.
And this too, I truly believe:
"We affirm that the scientific process provides meaningful answers to our society’s most pressing questions"
"We spotlight the accomplishments of science and offer a platform to the voices, often hushed, discredited, ignored or forgotten, that have critiqued and called for systemic change toward inclusivity and representation within the field."
"The practice of science has been flawed with bias, prejudice, and self-interest despite its ideals of objectivity, neutrality, and collective benefit."
"When unchecked, these biases influence funding decisions, who or what is studied, and who benefits from the results of research."
This is not solely about Autism research but it sure sounds like it. There have been decades of bias, prejudice, and self-interest and it continues way too much today. The average person has no idea how much money is wasted on GENE research yet the ENVIRONMENT plays a much bigger role in cases of Autism. The average citizen probably also has not heard about how children and now young adults who have an Autism diagnosis have a MICROBIOME that is acutely different when compared to neurotypical peers. There is severe pain and suffering for so many diagnosed. In a similar situation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation has made the Microbiome a big part of research in Parkinson's Disease, as toxins seem related to both an Autism and Parkinson's diagnosis, "certain neurologic conditions that have classically been studied as disorders of the brain may also have etiologies in the gut,"
I will not be able to march as I have a daughter who regressed after vaccines, especially after her MMR vaccination. I know that is taboo to say but it is true. Thousands of other families share this tragedy. We wish that it was not true, that vaccines could be safe for all but the reality is that there seems to be an increasing trend of injury and immune damage to both gut and brain. It may be that the Microbiome has different avenues of harm.
So, to my many, fellow Chicagoans who march, please keep us with you in spirit. We believe in true, ethical science, just like you. To all the researchers who devote their lives to pursuing true and meaningful science, an enormous thank you.
Teresa Conrick is Contributing Editor to Age of Autism.
Grace Green yes, and it also seem strange that many who are concerned about injecting poisons into people's bloodstreams are putting down other people for expressing their concerns about toxins in the environment. I don't know why we have to take sides - both are legitimate concerns.
Posted by: Twyla | May 01, 2017 at 11:48 AM
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Great post Denise Anderstrom.
First off this is far beyond the scope of the education of most people and they only know what they have been fed by the propaganda machine of Pharma and the liberal press and media. Even the majority of physicians are completely baffled by autism and cannot accept the vaccine scenario because they have not researched it and will not research it because they have been taught to believe otherwise.
Basically you are asking them to disavow all the lies that they have been taught and still believe, and they simply cannot do it. The reality that they have fallen prey to the drug dealer craft of manipulation of media and politicians is simply not fathomable for them.
Your other children simply have no other way to deal with it. They are being told by everyone that vaccines do not cause autism- everyone as in – Pediatricians, news media, debate forums, and an endless number of useful idiots some who know the truth but many who do not- They lie and tell them that vaccines have literally saved the entire world!!!!. In FACT the world was flat and someone got a vaccine and rounded it out!!!
They, your other children, then have to weigh this information/hyperbole, against what you and a few others are saying- a few others as in – AOA, people like me etc. By the way we are all labeled quacks and unscientific and uneducated and irresponsible – never mind that we are right. This is what they have been told and they are thoroughly hoodwinked, some are very well educated but yet and still, thoroughly hoodwinked.
They cannot get it they do not have the passion or education or time to believe us they really do not. I have stopped talking about it in family gatherings or crowds or party’s because it ruins the party and I am the “Vaccines Cause Autism” goat. My wife gets pissed and is hurt and so I just avoid it- FOR NOW.
When the truth comes out, and it will come out, then it will be my turn and I am not going to let it go and if fact I am going to be pretty obnoxious about it to everyone and especially the school people who are complicit in my view.
Just tell your family NOW in a calm and measured tone that because they are your family that you will forgive them when the truth comes out because you know that despite their reprehensible conduct they did not really mean to be callused, pig headed, narrow minded, academically lazy and uneducated, arrogant blowhards who were dismissive of your accurate assessment of the cause of harm to the other member of the family.
Tell them all you know for a fact that….
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Posted by: Willie | April 27, 2017 at 01:53 AM
@Nonnymouse: the film isn't based on Sinclair's book, it's just that there is confusion regarding the titles, as the Amazon reviews make evident. It's certainly possible that Harbou and Lang were readers of Sinclair ( translated into German ) but there is no paper trail. Aside from the fact that both works concern themselves with the disparity between rich and poor and ultimately express socialist politics, they are really nothing alike. Sinclair's book is set in the real world of its time, as opposed to a future society where a robot is made to look like a human Terminator-style. The Goodreads writeup even uses the phrase "draws upon ancient myths to form a compelling vision of the future". The same cannot be said for Sinclair's book.
Posted by: arawn | April 26, 2017 at 07:27 PM
The march for science is nothing more than another big money funded piece of utter pharma controlled propaganda that is sucked into by liberal minded, open minded people whose critical thinking skills have been dumbed down by their own need to deny what has been going on. Many such people are in my own family. How can one's own family who sees what has happened (I mean the severely affected autistic child, the elephant in the family living room) and yet denies it??? Why? Fear. It is heartbreaking to know that my other two children who have children seem to support the idea that ??? Well, don't know what idea they support, but it seems they do not understand that it was, in our case, the MMR, the classic regressive autism, but the siblings don't appear to get it? They are classic knee jerk mainstream media liberal college graduates, successful members of society who are duping themselves because they don't want to see that it could have been them and their children instead of their brother's? Yes, it is extremely disturbing to me. Surely there are other families so deeply pulled apart by autism? And, hey why is this not discussed? Are there other people whose families are not going through this unspoken about nightmare?
Posted by: Denise Anderstrom Douglass | April 26, 2017 at 01:49 AM
Twyla, I totally support your position on this. Doesn't it seem strange that those who are concerned about the environment think it's fine to inject poisons into people's bloodstreams?!
Posted by: Grace Green | April 24, 2017 at 04:38 PM
Lisa, I think anti-fungals can have nasty side effects. In my experience, the best way to deal with a yeast overgrowth is a completely sugar free wholefood diet. As you will know if you have made bread, yeast needs sugar to feed on, and without it soon dies. When the yeast in the digestive tract has died the probiotics take over the gap, and crowd out any chance of a return of the yeast.
Posted by: Grace Green | April 24, 2017 at 04:31 PM
Hi Lisa, Thanks for thinking of me! Yes, very true for asd too, and BHARE actually is funding research on this very topic. "BHARE Foundation Hitting the streets for 2016 TAG Days! In 16 years, our small, fully volunteer, and committed group, has donated over $630,000 to research. Because of your help, over 12 different studies have been published, many of which, have influenced the direction of current research. As I look back over 2015, and now into 2016, I feel encouraged more than ever. Mainstream researchers for a variety of disorders, NOT including autism, are spending more funds on gut research than ever before. Autism is an immune/gut/brain disease, and as such, research into the gastrointestinal tract will almost certainly give us some answers by default. Because of the bacterial infection Clostridium difficile, and other gastrointestinal diseases, wonderful groundbreaking work is being done. We are hopeful that people afflicted with autism will finally benefit from other “unrelated” work. Studying the gut has been our most exciting and promising research. Dr. Jim Adams, at Arizona State University, along with Dr. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and Daewook Kang, have published studies proving major differences in the total make up of types and groups of populations of bacteria in people with autism. Recently, the team has requested financial support to study fungi/yeast, and the possible connection to autism. I hope you will assist us in helping to fund this work. Our goal for the Spring/Summer is to raise $15,000. With your help, I know we can reach it. Further research areas we would like to explore include Helminths (parasitic worms), FMT (Fecal Microbial Transplant) and Medical Cannabis. ...."
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | April 24, 2017 at 03:08 PM
Hi Teresa.
Don't know if you saw this recent study. Thought it might be relevant to your research. The researchers found probiotics to be effective in alleviating some symptoms of schizophrenia, but less so for those who had yeast overgrowth in addition to other imbalances in the gut bacteria. This makes sense to me, since probiotics cannot kill yeast; only anti-fungals can do that.
https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/04/09/presence-of-yeast-helps-determine-how-probiotics-impact-schizophrenia-symptoms/118823.html
I would suspect the same is true with autism -- that some autistic children who do not improve on the GFCF diet and probiotics are not improving because they have hard-to-detect yeast. They need anti-fungals.
Posted by: Lisa | April 24, 2017 at 10:57 AM
I marched in one of the larger marches yesterday, and primarily I saw posters expressing concern about the environment. There were also various witty digs at our president, and jokes such as using the word "sine" instead of "sign". I did see two pro-vaccine posters. One said "Don't hate, vaccinate," and I don't remember what the other one said. But most of the signs were about the environment.
I for one believe that manmade pollutants such as carbon emissions are causing global warming. The sea level is rising, the polar ice is melting, we have record breaking high temperatures, and an increase in catastrophic weather such as hurricanes and tornadoes. I also believe that we are gradually polluting the ocean, and even though the ocean is huge if we keep it up we will seriously damage and change the ocean to the point where life forms are seriously disrupted. To me, these problems are just as important as vaccine problems because we are looking at planet-wide changes that could affect life as we know it on Earth.
Robert F Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Here is an article by the NRDC about what is wrong and scary about President Trumps approach to environmental issues:
100 Days of Harm
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/rhea-suh/100-days-harm
Here is an article from National Geographic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/
Here is a letter from an environmental scientist about why he is retiring from the EPA, including because of denial of climate change science, extreme budget cuts, and the appointment of political staff who are openly hostile to the EPA:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3538076-EPACoxlet.html
I marched, and I carried signs that mentioned environmental issues, the right to make choices on vaccines, that science says vaccines cause autism, and that the CDC whistleblower William Thompson should be subpoenaed. I wore my VAXXED shirt. Nobody gave me any grief. I marched with an old friend who doesn't see any problems with the vaccine program (because polio is dangerous!) but who didn't mind me carrying my signs expressing my views. I was disappointed that I didn't see anyone else advocating on behalf of vaccine safety issues and the need for better, disinterested science on adverse reactions and the true causes of autism.
I marched primarily for two reasons. One is my great concern about the environment. Another is that I don't like for the vaccine defenders to think that they have a monopoly on science. Usually it is those on our side who actually read and cite specific science, while the vaccine defenders just make vague statements that the Science has spoken and must be revered. And this was a chance for our views to be visible to people with an interest (or even a career) in science or medicine.
And yes, certain statements annoy me such as saying that only facts matter, not opinions. That can be used to mean that "facts" arising from manipulated biased research matter, and people's experiences and testimony don't matter. But I would rather be out contesting that way of thought than just sitting at home complaining.
Posted by: Twyla | April 24, 2017 at 03:46 AM
About the movie Metropolis. GoodReads explains the (slight) controversy --
"Thea von Harbou, creator of the screenplay for Fritz Lang's iconic 1927 film, wrote this novel to expand upon the movie's ideas and concepts. Vivid in description, rich in characterization and symbolism, the story draws upon ancient myths to form a compelling vision of the future. Noted science-fiction authority Forrest J. Ackerman hailed the book as 'a work of genius,' and a century after its initial publication Metropolis continues to captivate readers."
So the answer is that Upton Sinclair wrote his novel; then Thea von Harbou expanded on it in hers; and then Fritz Lang turned it into that classic silent movie.
Posted by: Nonnymouse | April 23, 2017 at 11:03 PM
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
There is real science and there is fake science
Vaccines are not just fake science BUT they are the quintessential fake science.
The people who market and sell vaccines are in commerce of these expensive drugs. They have taken credit for everything good concerning the eradication of any disease that they may be loosely associated with and they make a lot of money so and with the money they make they can buy air time and more propaganda, just like that.
Add the endless number of people that have been beguiled by the propaganda and this includes the unsuspecting medical students who are fed these lies in medical school and who become physicians and then throw in the money grubbing politicians who want to associate themselves with something they think is good Viola you have fake science
Most of the people that are marching are clearly leftist despite their claim to be neutral or non partisan and thus they are even more prone to be willingly misdirected and hoodwinked.
Bill Gates speaking on Autism is like Steve Jobs speaking on how to cure pancreatic cancer. To that end Bill Gates is wrong and Steve Jobs was too and it cost him his life. Your ability to create a computer and fulfill the needs of the tech people does not translate into knowledge about a field of science which you know little about no matter how much toilette reading you do, it just does not.
Science by definition is open to challenge and that is the whole point of science – corrections of past theories we thought were right that we subsequently proved wrong. Anybody remember when we were all taught that Saturn had 7 rings? Now the answer is between 8 and 30 according to some and up to 100 according to others. The point being is that we did not close the book on Saturn and its rings we kept it open because that is what real scientist do because they understand that science stands or falls on it own merit not propaganda. What is true today maybe heresy tomorrow and that is in all fields of science.
Back in the 80’s I was dating a OB doctor and I watched her do a circumcision on a newborn child and the child screamed and writhed in pain. When I asked her why she did not give the child an anesthetic she told me that babies do not process pain the same way as we do. When I asked her who said that she informed me that the pediatricians taught that to everyone. I of course was simply not buying it, as a male of any age cutting a part of the penis will cause pain and I told her that and she laughed and said you are taking it personal and I told her well that is a pretty personal area you are talking about cutting on.
Years later of course they reversed their course on pain in newborns and gave them medication for pain.
It was all fake science
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Posted by: Willie | April 23, 2017 at 10:25 PM
Hi and thanks to all for the thoughtful comments! Gary, I will check that out and thank you.
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | April 23, 2017 at 04:13 PM
Thanks, Benedetta, for pointing that out. I realized at the end of the video Pan and Josh Coleman (his energy levels are amazing!) were actually at the D. C. march!
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 23, 2017 at 02:39 PM
Barry; my first kick reflex reaction was - let us demand the death penalty. But that would be too quick and over with; even if it took years of courts dates and such.
Life; life sentences -- Yeah.
Posted by: Benedetta | April 23, 2017 at 11:29 AM
Josh Coleman filmed Dr. Senator Pan in a white lab coat, surrounded by his little minions on the march out in California.
Posted by: Benedetta | April 23, 2017 at 11:27 AM
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."
physicist Richard Feynman
Posted by: greyone | April 23, 2017 at 11:21 AM
The phony science march to protect the vaccine program didn't even make Trump flinch. This was part of the white house statement.
“As we do so, we should remember that rigorous science depends not on ideology, but on a spirit of honest inquiry and robust debate,”
In other words, you guys can march till you are blue in the face and chant about the "science is settled" and "vaccines do not cause autism" but in the real world, THE REAL SCIENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT YOUR IDEOLOGY. Science is NEVER settled, and vaccines DO cause "autism".
Keep marching knowing that the science is not on your side. The people at the science march are industry insiders and shills like Richard Pan. Now the massive industry with it's endless supply of money will make a hard push to infiltrate Congress with paid for science shills who care more about money than the health of the public.
The marchers do not want to have a debate about vaccines. They know they are dead wrong and the science will prove it. They will just continue their deceptive tactics and avoidance of honest debate.
In case you "science" shills are still confused, the white house statement basically equates to Trump giving you a good old fashioned tea bagging. We all see right through your phony movement.
Sincerely,
Parents for Real Science and Honest Debate.
Posted by: TrumpWinsAgain Umad? | April 23, 2017 at 09:18 AM
I'll march in the streets when someone does it to demand criminal prosecution, for anyone who had anything to do with intentional poisoning of our children... under the guise of science.
Posted by: Barry | April 23, 2017 at 08:28 AM
@Nonnymouse
The silent film "Metropolis" is not based on the book "The Metropolis" by Upton Sinclair. It is based on the book "Metropolis" by Thea von Harbou ( the director's wife ).
Posted by: arawn | April 23, 2017 at 05:51 AM
Sure enough, a TV news report tonight on Minnesota's capitol march showed one woman's handwritten sign reading, "Remember polio? Vaccines save lives!"
Meanwhile the U of M Daily newspaper reported (1) mumps cases are increasing; (2) mumps are contagious, and (3) U of M students have a very high rate of vaccination. But the article failed to state how many mumps cases were in vaccinated students -- if you read between the lines, likely all. And of course made no mention of the Merck whistleblower virologists whose fraud case is still pending in an East Pennsylvania court.
Today's raucous public display of stubbornly entrenched crony scientism brings to mind this insight by Leo Tolstoy:
"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives."
Posted by: nhokkanen | April 22, 2017 at 11:19 PM
For anyone who wishes to understand the march, Judith Curry has a very good post today, on Climate, Etc., "Untangling the March for Science."
Posted by: Gary Ogden | April 22, 2017 at 06:35 PM
OT, but perhaps meaningful?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/21/surgeon-general-dismissed-replaced-trump-administration/100767454/
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 22, 2017 at 05:29 PM
In NYC, my daughter wanted to march with friends and so I accompanied her, given the large crowds. There was a mixture of those who wish to silence any who question vaccines and only want to listen to 'evidence-based science', and an encouraging sign: someone in a lab coat holding a sign 'First, Do No Harm' and in Latin on the other side 'Primum non nocere'.
Not sure it was entirely about vaccines but it was encouraging, nonetheless. There is plenty of science showing that vaccines can do harm. I saw it with my son. It's spreading the word, each and every one of us.
Posted by: nocposts | April 22, 2017 at 04:31 PM
Teresa: Driving to the market this morning I remembered what I had intended to let you know about. A week or so ago, Dr. Mercola interviewed a physician by the name of Zach Bush. He is both a researcher and a clinician. He has a book coming out this summer, "Gut Biome." Very bright guy with some interesting insights. I suggest you listen to the interview (or read the transcript, as I did).
Posted by: Gary Ogden | April 22, 2017 at 03:40 PM
Speaking of Upton Sinclair . . .
In 1908 he wrote the book "Metropolis" which was thereafter made into a movie; a silent movie. Fritz Lang was the director. It's a classic.
Consider Sinclair's words from the book, and think about the juggernaut of vaccine-related industry and the billions of dollars involved. And think how some researcher(s) and pediatrician(s) may feel, if they ever wake up from marching in lockstep to the vaccines-are-wonderful "opium haze" --
"He was burning with a sense of outrage. He had been tricked and made a fool of; he had been used and flung aside. And now there was nothing he could do — he was utterly helpless.
"What affected him most was his sense of the overwhelming magnitude of the powers which had made him their puppet; of the utter futility of the efforts that he or any other man could make against them.
"They were like elemental, cosmic forces; they held all the world in their grip, and a common man was as much at their mercy as a bit of chaff in a tempest."
Posted by: Nonnymouse | April 22, 2017 at 02:27 PM
The average "scientist" -- and there are lots and lots of people who proudly call themselves that, but do not follow or understand the scientific method -- the average "scientist" and also the average pediatrician . . . they truly believe it must be genetic.
Well, yeah! It's genetic because everything is directed by genes. They've "found" . . . what, a thousand genes that are affected in autism? Okay, maybe not a thousand. But more than a hundred.
It's a global, systemic (and random) effect of damage or deficiency from a whole variety of things. And yes, thimerosal a/k/a thiomersal is one of them.
The so-called scientists mostly don't inquire into anything but gene studies because they can't get funded. The pediatricians mostly don't inquire because -- as Upton Sinclair famously said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Got it? The biggest meal ticket for pediatricians these days . . . vaccines. Whether they would admit it or not.
Arthur Caplan -- a self-proclaimed, alleged "ethics" expert -- doesn't know squat about biochemistry. He believes what Bill Gates says. And Bill Gates doesn't know squat about biochemistry either.
And so it goes.
The answer would be in biochemistry. Teresa Conrick knows that; she keeps working on it. But doctors whine and complain that they don't "need" it, so why are they required to take something so "useless" in med school.
A doctor who doesn't know biochemistry is like an economist who doesn't know mathematics.
End of rant.
Posted by: Nonnymouse | April 22, 2017 at 02:19 PM
Thank you, Teresa, for highlighting some of the neglected and just beginning science concerning autism.
I'm very concerned this event is aimed at pre-convicting the scientific mavericks (including Trump if he still is able/willing to make maverick statements and back them with action--recent events suggest that on some trajectories he has been blocked) in the minds of those still naive to what has been happening, further marginalizing independent researchers, and justifying more institution of control over what gets researched and how it gets "researched," IOW promoting Orwellian "science."
I'm concerned that "a more human science," "ethical science" will come down to justifying censoring and manipulating data to fit certain ends, as "vaccines save lives," "benefits outweigh the risks," phrases have facilitated systemic participation in censorship in allopathic medicine. With vaccination particularly, we see what whole groups of people with only pieces of the picture are capable of participating in for "the greater good."
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 22, 2017 at 11:57 AM
This week as I listened to the all news station in the car (1070) I heard Pan speak.. He said in a battle cry sort of way, "The SCIENCE is SETTLED" when referring to the forced vaccinations required in order for children to be Permitted to go to either Public School or Private school. What I did Not hear him say is that Kindergarteners in the Los Angeles school district had a 17% Increase in autism during the first three months of school.
Pan is racing to the March in DC. according to what I read.
SCIENCE HAS FALLEN INTO THE PAN..
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | April 22, 2017 at 11:41 AM
I would march for science free of corporate chains. Nowadays science is so corrupt by global corporate cartels that it is not worth defending. It is witch craft and quackery. The pseudoscientific mantra "vaccines are safe and effective" and enforced mass vaccinations of infants, pregnant women and adults with extremely toxic vaccines are responsible for exceptionally high infant and maternal mortality in the US, for massive maiming of American children (60% of whom have now have chronic, debilitating diseases) and for shortening of life expectancy in the US - which is unprecedented in the world. US with its insane genocidal vaccination policy is the most primitive and barbarian country in the world. Mass vaccination of people is anti-science, it is based on corporate greed, moronism and corruption of American politicians. US must abolish mandatory, enforced vaccinations if it wants to survive. No vaccination is true science.
Posted by: no-vac | April 22, 2017 at 11:04 AM
A March for Science? As if anyone is anti-science. Seriously, have you ever met a single person who said, "I'm anti-science." Nobody is anti-science. Hurling the epithet "anti-science" at other people plays into the hand of the Controllers who teach our children that GMOs are needed to feed a starving world and that millions will die without the miracle (a religious word) of vaccines. The March for Science is really a March for the Religion of Scientism. If the Creators of Scientism can convince The Herd that only the High Priests of Scientism can read and understand the Holy Scriptures of Science, then The Herd will be reduced to the status of dumb animals, blindly sacrificing their bodies and the bodies of their children on the Altar of Scientism, unaware that no religion is more corrupted by money and power and more amoral than the Religion of Scientism.
Posted by: Brett Wilcox | April 22, 2017 at 11:04 AM
From what I have read (on Climate, Etc.), this action has been organized by the politically-correct-science crowd, largely in response to Trump spokespeople questioning the consensus belief given to us by mainstream media and mainly Democrat politicians concerning climate change. Real science is a noble venture, a quest for understanding our fascinating world through the evaluation of evidence. It does not operate by consensus, or belief. It is never "settled." There is, in fact, great uncertainty among climate scientists about both the rate of warming we can expect in the future, and the role of human activities in causing it. Judith Curry has written an excellent blog post of her congressional testimony about how science is terribly broken, and how to fix it. Vaccine "science" is not her field, but what she says about the state of climate science, as presented by the media, is just as applicable to it, though far more costly. So this march is as meaningful as the recent women's march; nothing more than political theater.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | April 22, 2017 at 08:54 AM
I too support science. But not consensus science. And not throwing around science to diminish other health modalities by claiming there is no evidence when there is but they choose not to read it. Part of being a scientist is being curious but it seems to have devolved into being arrogant. "I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.
“Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.
“There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.”
“… Finally, I would remind you to notice where the claim of consensus is invoked. Consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough. Nobody says the consensus of scientists agrees that E = mc². Nobody says the consensus is that the sun is 93 million miles away. It would never occur to anyone to speak that way.””
--Michael Crighton
Posted by: Kathryn Berg | April 22, 2017 at 08:17 AM
My heart is with the author, but my head ( and experience) provide me with little hope. The "greater good" has never been about the "collective benefit." Rather it has been driven by business like "cost benefit analysis." That is the overwhelming cause of vaccine injury, declining education and the deterioration of our environment. This has been the domain of the few, rich and powerful. The desperate grip of greed and control prevents them from any other behavior. The ( intended humor) line I think of comes from "Shrek": "Some of you may have to die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make"
Posted by: Mark Wax | April 22, 2017 at 08:16 AM
"The practice of science has been flawed with bias, prejudice, and self-interest despite its ideals of objectivity, neutrality, and collective benefit ...... When unchecked, these biases influence funding decisions, who or what is studied, and who benefits from the results of research."
If the purpose of the "March for Science Day" is to RECALL historical examples of "science that had been flawed with bias, prejudice an self-interest" .. absent .. "objectivity, neutrality and collective benefit .. such as .. using scientists spewing "sounds like science" .. that defied efforts to remove lead from gasoline, denied cigarettes and tobacco cause cancer or promoted dangerous products like Thalidomide to unsuspecting pregnant women .. to name just three of MANY other "scientific CAUSED health catastrophe's" since the beginning of time .. I AGREE.
However ... if the march is meant to encourage people to simply ACCEPT whatever a "consensus of scientists" claim .. such as .. the "herd protection" benefits provided by a "one size fits all vaccine" far outweighs the well-recognized RISKS associated with vaccines ... and .. ANYONE who dares disagree is guilty of being "anti-science" .. I DISAGREE.
To Theresa .. and .. all the researchers who devote their lives to pursuing true and meaningful science, an enormous thank you.
God bless you all for your courage and dedication to finding the TRUTH.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | April 22, 2017 at 07:02 AM
Thanks, Teresa, for sharing this; it does indeed parallel our community's asks for honest, patient-focused autism research.
The phrase "collective benefit" is also part of the "greater good" argument.
I've come to think of the vaccine juggernaut as Borg collective, a la Star Trek -- a seemingly unstoppable dogmatic and impersonal mass consciousness that forces new members into its ranks and destroys dissenters.
But any mechanism ill equipped for self-examination is ultimately doomed to break down.
Posted by: nhokkanen | April 22, 2017 at 06:58 AM