Category Archives: Blog
Flu Vax Reactions; Bad Batch Ruled Out, the Search for the Cause Continues
One of the criticisms being leveled at the government for the recent adverse flu events is the question of how thoroughly the current 2010 seasonal flu triple antigen has been tested. This year’s vaccine contains three viral components, A/California/7/2009 (NYMC X-181) (A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) – like) 7.5 µg haemagglutinin per dose, A/Wisconsin/15/2009 (NYMC X-183) (A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2) – like) 7.5 µg haemagglutinin per … Read on »
Meryl Dorey’s Fear Factor: Hypocrisy in print.
From Vaccinate You Children In May 2009, the AVN’s Meryl Dorey penned Pertussis: The Fear Factor, an article that could best be described as a work of fiction, and at worst an exercise in deliberate deception. About the only accurate point in Meryl’s article is the loose comparison she makes between seatbelts and vaccines. Quite appropriate, given … Read on »
Climate debate: opinion vs evidence
Stephan Lewandowsky is a Winthrop Professor and an Australian Professorial Fellow at the University of Western Australia. This article was originally published on the ABC’s The Drum Unleashed. What exactly is “balance”? Our society rightly strives for balance, and many issues are deservedly considered by presenting a balanced set of opinions. There are however clear cases in … Read on »
Differences in Attitudes
Ken Mcleod is a retired air traffic controller and all-round stirrer. In 2009, he lodged a complaint to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission against the Australian Vaccination Network. Ruling on this complaint is pending. Najla Angela Ghalbouni Dimech’s Facebook post where she said “I thought the vaccines go through vigorous testing before we inject children,” got … Read on »
New Science Curriculum Under the Microscope
Michael Adams, a high school English teacher, explains why he nominated ACARA to the Bent Spoon Award. In nominating the ACARA and the authors of the Draft National Curriculum Science document for a Bent Spoon, I was hoping to raise awareness about what I see as essential flaws in the document and encourage people to respond … Read on »
The truth behind the AVN claims
Tom Sidwell is in his third year of a Bachelor of Science at Monash University. He tells what happened when he decided to look into some of the claims made by the AVN. As I’m sure most of you know, mid-2009 Ken McLeod submitted his now-famous complaint regarding the Australian Vaccination Network to the New South Wales … Read on »
A case of Bad Science
From The Sceptics’ Book Blog Homeopathy as good as Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer — and non toxic! When this (an alert from Homeopathy Plus!) appeared in my inbox yesterday, courtesy of Richard Saunders (who was kind enough to ask me if I was sitting down first) I initially *facepalmed*, then sought about getting the original paper where this apparent break through … Read on »
Briskepticon Reflections
Margaret Kittson, convenor of Briskepticon 2009, takes a personal look back at the Skeptics conference – a successful event that raised a few concerns about skepticsm. Back in April 2008, people from the various skeptical groups scattered around Australia met up in Wagga Wagga to have some conversations about future directions for the Skeptics movement in Australia. It was … Read on »
Comments from a philosophical skeptic
by Peter Ellerton What a great convention Briskepticon was. I won’t go through all the bits and pieces, but suffice to say that a good time was had by all. We even went through a few emotional responses listening to the guest speakers; some of whom were funny, some intense, but all of whom had … Read on »
Steven Novella shares his thoughts on Carl Sagan
Dr Steven Novella, an academic neurologist, sceptic and host of the popular podcast, The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, tell us his thoughts about Carl Sagan on his blog Neurologica this week. Many people remember Carl Sagan for his many quotes about the universe and all its beauty. Of course there is the much cited … Read on »
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