10 April 2012 by Scott Gavura
This is the first of a series of posts adapting a presentation made at The Ontario Public Health Convention in April, 2011. The presentation, “Fighting in the Trenches: Countering Anti-Vaccine Sentiment with Social Media” was a panel discussion from Skeptic North contributors Scott Gavura and Kimberly Hébert: One of the best parts of the infectious [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Featured, Health, Skepticism, Vaccines6 Comments
11 February 2012 by Richelle McCullough
9 Questions That Stump Every Pro-Vaccine Advocate and Their Claims found its way onto the Facebook page for the Winnipeg Skeptics when a member’s friend posted it, along with the qualification “if you can give me a good, scientifically-backed answer to each of these questions, I will vaccinate my children.” Oh, if it only were all [...]
Posted in Vaccines20 Comments
18 December 2011 by Melany Hamill
Hey there skeptifans. Here are the media Fails and Wins you sent me last week. ‘Proof’ that homeopathy doesn’t work Blogger Darwin Harmless sent in this link. It’s a win for reporting that an experiment showed homeopathy did nothing. It’s a fail for putting proof in ironic quotes, and citing a lot of useless anecdotal [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins3 Comments
30 November 2011 by Richelle McCullough
Source There has been much abuzz about “pox parties” – the practice of parents getting a bunch of unvaccinated kids together with an infected one (pick one, really, though chicken pox is the focus of the recent article in Time) in the hope that their little sweethearts become ill and therefore “naturally” immune to the [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Skepticism, Vaccines79 Comments
06 November 2011 by Melany Hamill
Bonjour skeptifans. Here are the media Fails and Wins you sent me last week. America’s Toxic Flu shots: 250 times EPA mercury limit Lorne sent in this link. If you have followed the vaccine “controversy”, you are probably familiar with thimerosol. Thimerosol is a preservative used in vaccines, and according to this article it is [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins0 Comments
19 June 2011 by Melany Hamill
Hello Skeptifans. Here are the Fails and Wins this week. Which is more dangerous, the phone or the sunshine? Where’s the Panic Button on This Phone? Michael sent in this story. This excellent article covers the facts about cellphones and cancer, as well as reasons why we get so hysterical about the issue. It thoroughly [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins33 Comments
12 June 2011 by Melany Hamill
Hello Skeptifans. This week’s Fails and Wins in the media were all about vaccines. I only wish that there weren’t any stories related to MMR, but unfortunately we are going to be battling the effects of that B.S. for a long time. Canadian vaccine offers hope for global scourge of E. coli Lorne sent in [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins3 Comments
06 March 2011 by Melany Hamill
Hello skeptifans. March is a weather-diverse month in Canada. Some of us are walking around in light jackets enjoying the sunshine, and some of us are braving the snow and -20C cold. Wherever you are, I hope you’re staying warm and skeptical. Canada’s ex-defense minister: U.S. knows how aliens can make us greener Roger sent [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins36 Comments
16 January 2011 by Melany Hamill
Hello Skeptifans. My inbox was absolutely overflowing with Fails and Wins this week. Thanks to all of you who sent me links, and especially to those regulars who I see in my inbox every week. Doctor’s discredited vaccine-autism link leaves a legacy of preventable death and disease Fred and Lorne sent in this Win covering [...]
Posted in Skeptical Fails and Wins2 Comments
13 January 2011 by Scott Gavura
This article was written by Scott Gavura, Pharmacist, and Kim Hebert, Occupational Therapist. Immunization has transformed our lives. This single invention has prevented more Canadian deaths in the past 50 years than any other health intervention. Our parents and grandparents accepted illness and death from diseases like smallpox, diptheria, and polio as a fact of [...]
Posted in Skepticism, Vaccines5 Comments
