Back off man, I'm a scientist...
I was going to write my own post about how much of an ass Robert Kennedy, Jr. is, but when someone has already done the work for me, why expend the effort?
Skeptico has a nice index of posts on the thimerosal controversy. Here's a quick rundown:
RFK, Jr. wrote a
Salon/Rolling Stone piece in which he states that increases in autism rates are due to mercury (ethylmercury) in thimerosal which is used as a preservative in vaccines administered to infants and children. Methylmercury is a well-known neurotoxin, but ethylmercury has been studied less. RFKJ states that a "secret" meeting in Atlanta between scientists and health organizations proves that there is a conspiracy going on. He cites that they "embargoed" the transcripts and papers handed out -- however, if you actually
read the transcripts you can see that the group was going to release the full transcripts of the meeting a short time after the meeting took place. RFKJ quote-mines, cherry-picks data, and resorts to conspiracy theories and scare-mongering. The vaccines are put into multi-use bottles and need some sort of preservative to ensure that no bacteria are transmitted to the vaccine between injections. Apparently, the CDC, WHO, NIH, US gov't, and Big Pharma are involved in a massive cover-up. They know that thimerosal
causes autism, but they don't want to lose money. This is according to RFKJ who is an idiot.
First, saying that these injections
cause autism is not possible because there was no controlled study comparing thimerosal vaccinations to non-thimerosal vaccinations. Secondly, the data and quotes RFKJ use to show this causation don't actually show any such support for his conclusions. Thirdly, you may ask, "Who cares -- if there is a possibility, let's get rid of the thimerosal!" However, many people have now been scared off of vaccines and without some sort of preservative, costs are too high to enable third-world countries to be innoculated.
Read that Skeptico link and some of the
pages to which he links. You'll find a wealth of information proving not that thimerosal causes autism, but that RFKJ is an ass. You'll find
links to
studies that show no relation between the increase in autism and the use of thimerosal and you'll find information on studies from other countries in which the rates have actually increased since thimerosal use was discontinued. You'll find links to the almost 300 page transcript of the
Simpsonwood conference. You'll find links to actual examples of RFKJ's misuse of data, his shady quoting habits, and his outright lies. There are two conclusions -- RFKJ is either an idiot or he's lying. Of course, I just received my pay-off check from Big Pharma, so I can't be trusted.
This is not to say that one day science will identify thimerosal as a harmful agent, but it hasn't happened yet and until it does people need to refrain from saying anything's been "proven."
Props to
Skeptico and
Skepdic, among others.
New Addiction
I just updated iTunes on my laptop and they now have podcasts listed in the music store. This will allow me to completely nerd-out on science, religion, and skepticism.
Jmac, you should check it out. They have political stuff that you would enjoy.
Coming up soon: A post about RFK Jr. and how much of an ass he is.
Memed again
Jmac memed (I like that better than 'tagged') me, so here it is -- (written Saturday afternoon):
10 Years Ago - I was getting ready to start my Senior year at Westside High School. I had turned 17 in June. I was working at Chick-fil-a with Xon, Chris (Cari), and some other folks from school. I drove an '86 Toyota truck and enjoyed hanging out with Charles, Xon, Jmac, Chris, and Bryan; sometimes Phil and Nick, too. We made really random movies, drove around Augusta in the Hostetter mini-van, went to our Church's MYF group, and acted like your typical suburban teens. I had long hair, too.
5 Years Ago - I was almost a UGA graduate; I was finishing my last class, Human Sexuality, and getting ready to obtain my B.S. in Psychology in August. I began looking into graduate schools and started working at Wal-mart on the Eastside in Athens. Then it was on to grade high school exit-exams with Testing Services. I was living with Bly in an Eastside apartment, under a very very loud Indian family. We got engaged October 27th at a NC waterfall.
1 Year Ago - I had just completed my thesis and in August would receive my M.S. degree. Bly and I had moved into our current house a year before. I was seeing clients and getting ready for my second year in clinical psychology graduate school.
Yesterday - I worked all day assessing patients out at ANC. Bly and I ate at Waffle House in Five Points and then went to Borders where they were busy getting ready for the midnight release of the next Harry Potter book. I looked at an architecture/interior design magazine (
Objekt), a Japanese Culture magazine (
Giant Robot), and four tattoo magazines.
Today - I practiced writing essays for my upcoming prelim comprehensive exams from 10am to 12:30pm with my clinical cohort, went to eat at Aqua Linda, discussed our answers, came home and took a nice, long nap. I'm writing this and soon will get ready to go to the Hot Hot Heat show at the 40 Watt tonight with Moose.
Tomorrow - I will go shopping with Bly to buy my sister a birthday present. We'll probably have lunch somewhere and then hang out at home. I need to mow the lawn at some point, weather permitting.
5 Snacks I Really Enjoy - brownie bites from Sam's, crackers and cheese, Kettle Chips, dark chocolate, croutons
5 Bands/Artists That I Know The Lyrics Of Most of Their Songs - Guster, The Gourds, Interpol, and carryovers from HS, Pearl Jam and Nirvana
5 Things I Would Do With $100,000,000 -
1) Invest around half of it into some sort of low-risk, moderate yield fund or stock or off-shore savings account or somesuch so we make some money with our money (then spend the annual interest on Bly and I).
2) Take care of our families' needs and wants.
3) Buy land and build a large cabin in the NC mountain area (or some other mountain range).
4) Set up a scholarship or research grant in psychology.
5) Donate to various charities and other groups such as
ACR, other animal organizations,
NIH,
NIMH,
ABCT,
SSCP,
JREF, and
CSICOP.
Yeah, I guess I kind of cheated and did more than 5 things -- but with 100,000,000 bucks you could do all that and more easily.
5 Locations I'd Like To Run Away To - Ireland, Blue Ridge Mts. NC, Pacific Northwest, Chile, New Zealand
5 Bad Habits I Have - saying 'that's awesome,' procrastination, sloth, pulling on my goatee, not listening when spoken to (asking "what" all the time)
5 Things I Like Doing - TV/movies/reading (I'm cheating and putting those as one), playing with Napoleon the WonderPug, playing with Bly, various art projects, visiting waterfalls
5 Things I Would Never Wear - GA Tech clothing, a Kangol hat, a Bolo tie, a Fu Manchu 'stache, body glitter
5 TV Shows I Like - LOST, 24, Six Feet Under, the Sopranos, the Daily Show
5 Movies I Like - Fight Club, Newsies, Rushmore, American History X, American Psycho
5 Famous People I'd Like To Meet - Edward Norton, Albert Ellis (or B.F. Skinner if they can be dead), Chuck Palahniuk, Christian Bale, Kurt Vonnegut
5 Biggest Joys At The Moment - sex with the wife (thanks a lot Garrett!), snuggling with the pug, work/school, friends, thinking about future possibilities after school is done
5 Favorite Toys - iPod, laptop, snub-nosed .38 special, Dremel, Bly
5 Of You Who Are Going To Do Your Own - I don't think I know anyone else that hasn't been called on to do one...I'll get Bly to do one here.
This guy was never on Frasier...
I found
this randomly by following links through a few different sites I visit. Fantastic. Read the intro first to get the context of what you're watching...then watch the main movie (in the upper left corner. Then, you
must watch all of the outtakes.
I've heard stories about how odd Portland is, but this guy from Seattle takes the Pacific Northwest weirdo prize hands down.
Friday Pug Blogging
Yeah, so I'm slack and haven't posted anything since last Friday. I've been busy. I recently started working at a place outside of school so I'm really only in front of the computer Monday through Wednesday now. I usually blog during downtimes or breaks at school, but the new job is pretty steady work from 8am to 4pm or so -- running assessments and testing folks all day long.
So, anyway, here's the pug.
Bones make me crazy:
