American Council on Science and Health

Pinterest: A Sewer Pipe of Anti-Science Propaganda

The American Council on Science and Health has just launched a new page on Pinterest. (Please follow us!) As part of our mission to serve as trusted guides on complex science and health issues, we felt that it was imperative for us to have a visible and active presence on one of the world’s most popular social media sites.

And wow, do we have our work cut out for us.

After just a few minutes on Pinterest, it was crystal clear that the site served as a gigantic sewer pipe for the worst sort of anti-science propaganda and paranoia that the Internet can vomit up.
Take vaccines, for instance. When I searched for “vaccines,” these were the top five posts: you want to find a hotbed of homeopathy, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO and other wacky anti-science rants, look no further. Worse yet, Pinterest is the 13th most popular website in America and the 32nd in the world -- more popular than CNN. We fully intend to rectify this situation. We hope others join us in doing so.......Read more


Why Won’t the Andrew Wakefield Nightmare End

Every time I think that this nightmare might be over, Andrew Wakefield is back in the news.
This time, the rights to his 2010 book have recently been acquired, and it looks like my nightmare is going to become a Hollywood film.

Wakefield’s book entitled “Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines — The Truth Behind a Tragedy,” is his version of a story that we now know all too well — his view of the events surrounding the retraction of his Lancet paper published in 1998 describing a false link between vaccines and autism. In it, Wakefield, who has been barred from practicing medicine, strives to “reveal the inside story.”*

Judging by the filmmaking couple behind the acquisition, Terry Rossio and Dr. Jocelyn Stamat, it appears that this will not be a small movie, either.

Terry Rossio is an incredibly successful screenwriter who wrote, most notably, “Shrek” and the three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. Dr. Jocelyn Stamat is an ear, nose and throat doctor who has been trying her hand in “the business” over the last eight years.......Read more