Medicine
Report: Expanding Medicaid programs a win for both residents and state budgets
Posted by Kim Krisberg on March 25, 2016 Here’s what states get when they expand Medicaid: more savings, more revenue, more jobs, more access to care for their communities.
Mystery solved: It was Robert De Niro who got Andrew Wakefield’s antivaccine propaganda film selected for screening at the Tribeca Film Festival
Posted by Orac on March 25, 2016 
Over the last three days I’ve been complaining about how the Tribeca Film Festival selected for screening Andrew Wakefield’s antivaccine propaganda- and conspiracy-laden quackfest of a documentary entitled Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe. I also took TFF to task for its extremely disingenuous response about its being about “discussion and dialogue.” You might also recall…
When alternative medicine cancer cures fail, it’s always the patient’s fault. Always.
Posted by Orac on March 25, 2016 After a trilogy of posts on the lamentably bad decision on the part of the Tribeca Film Festival to screen a pseudoscience- and misinformation-filled documentary by hero to the antivaccine movement, Andrew Wakefield, that is basically one long conspiracy theory, I thought it was time for a change. I had briefly toyed with the idea…
“Sorry it took so long”: OSHA issues rule to protect workers exposed to silica dust
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University on March 24, 2016 JT Knuckles was 58 years old when he died from silicosis in 1998. I’m remembering him today as OSHA announces a new regulation to protect silica-exposed workers.
New Research Sheds Light on Zika
Posted by Wesley Dodson on March 24, 2016 
Scientists working to understand the implications of Zika’s new prevalence in the Americas have found strong evidence that infection with the virus can cause fetal abnormalities and even miscarriage in pregnant women. On The Pump Handle, Liz Borkowski examines a series of studies conducted on Zika, including one which found the virus infected “most of…
Andrew Wakefield and the Tribeca Film Festival: Criticism of a bad decision ≠ “censorship”
Posted by Orac on March 24, 2016 
Ever since I mentioned on Tuesday that the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival had taken a massive dump on reality and science by selecting for screening Andrew Wakefield’s antivaccine propaganda “documentary,” Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe, dedicated to the so-called “CDC whistleblower,” the topic has taken over, as topics sometimes tend to do here. In response…
Study: Vaccine refusal is fueling the spread of potentially deadly diseases
Posted by Kim Krisberg on March 23, 2016 A recent study finds vaccine refusals have, indeed, accelerated the resurgence of whooping cough and measles here in the U.S. The findings are making headlines around the country — and comment sections are filling up with vitriol from anti-vaxxers — but it would feel amiss not to highlight the study on a blog dedicated to public health. But first, let’s remind ourselves of the pain and suffering that preceded vaccines.
The Tribeca Film Festival’s disingenuous excuse for screening an antivaccine propaganda film by Andrew Wakefield
Posted by Orac on March 23, 2016 
I wasn’t sure if I was going to write about this again so soon, because one post seemed adequate to describe the massive dump that the Tribeca Film Festival just took on reality by announcing the screening of a pseudoscientific antivaccine propaganda film by The One Antivaccine Quack To Rule Them All, Andrew Wakefield. Any…
What’s going on here? Andrew Wakefield’s antivaccine propaganda film to be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival
Posted by Orac on March 22, 2016 
When last we left Andrew Wakefield, hero to the antivaccine movement, he was a headliner on the Conspira-Sea Cruise, a cruise filled with conspiracy theorists, crop circle chasers, cranks, quacks, and antivaccine activists. It was a huge come down from his formerly exalted position as chief spokesman and “scientist” for the antivaccine movement, a position…
How overdiagnosis produced a nonexistent “epidemic” of thyroid cancer in Fukushima
Posted by Orac on March 21, 2016 One of my favorite topics to blog about over the last six or seven years has been the topic of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. These are two interrelated phenomena that most people are blissfully unaware of. Unfortunately, I’d also say that the majority of physicians are only marginally more aware than the public about these confounders…
