Stories from the trauma bay: Busting Vaccine Myths

A brilliant post from DocBastard.



Stories from the trauma bay: Busting Vaccine Myths: Ooooooh boy. I have no idea what kind of rabbit hole I'm entering here, and this may end up being the 1) longest, 2) least read, and 3)...

Revelation TV & Dr Grady McMurtry

Dr Grady McMurtry is a big favourite of Revelation TV. He features regularly in their schedules and barely a week goes by without him making several appearances, either recorded or live. In particular, he is a regular guest (via Skype) on The Q&A Show along with Revelation TV founder and host, Howard Conder. In December 2014 Revelation TV embarked on The Q&A Roadshow which involved Conder and McMurtry visiting eight venues in various parts of the UK.

Who is Dr Grady McMurtry? He is the head of Creation Worldview Ministries based in Orlando, Florida, USA. According to his website, the organisation consists of himself and one associate. He's not a big player on the creationist scene. Creation Worldview Ministries is more Conference North than Premier League, Stockport County rather than Chelsea FC.

Get Well, Stay Well?

I've blogged before about Revelation TV and its promotion of Felicity Corbin Wheeler (here and here) but feel moved to do so again. Felicity Corbin Wheeler, who in her present incarnation is no longer described as the Reverend Doctor, has a weekly show titled 'Get Well. Stay Well'. The programme is hosted by Cyrus Fernando, a relatively new presenter on Revelation TV. Mr Fernando is no Jeremy Paxman and the format is for him to ask a series of obviously rehearsed questions which give FCW the opportunity to reel off the details of a wide-ranging number of quack therapies which, she claims, will prevent disease and/or cure disease. Most of these are diet-based with an emphasis on the supposed benefits of juicing.  To emphasise the point, Cyrus and Felicity usually have a glass of freshly prepared juice in their hands. Ironically Cyrus, being conspicuously overweight, is a poor advert for Felicity's methods,  as are many of Revelation TVs presenters.

The programme broadcast on 6th June 2014 was devoted to extolling the supposed benefits of the Gerson Therapy. This particular form of quackery has been around since 1928 and yet in all that time, "Gerson's therapy has not been independently tested or subjected to randomized controlled trials, and thus is illegal to market in the United States". Cancer Research UK says, "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that Gerson therapy can treat cancer. In fact, Gerson therapy can be very harmful to your health."

Quacks rarely allow scientific evidence to get in the way of a marketing opportunity and Felicity Corbin Wheeler is no exception. She introduces Dr Patrick Vickers who is, it seems, the new face of the Gerson Therapy.According to his website, "Giving up careers in professional golf and entertainment, Dr. Patrick obtained his undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Life University before going on to receive his doctorate in Chiropractic from New York Chiropractic College in 1997." He's not a dietician, a medical doctor or an oncologist, he's a chiropractor. In North America,  chiropractors can use the title Dr but in the UK they are not considered to be registered medical practitioners. Felicity Corbin Wheeler avoids making this clear.  Sense About Science has a useful summary which evaluates the evidence for the efficacy of chiropractic.

Most of the programme is taken up with Cyrus Fernando introducing YouTube videos of Patrick Vickers explaining the virtues of Gerson Therapy. As we all know YouTube videos trump peer-reviewed scientific research any day of the week. In between the videos Felicity Corbin Wheeler adds some commentary and it is interesting to note how frequently what Patrick Vickers says is in direct conflict with the advice given by Felicity Corbin Wheeler. She waves this away by saying that different doctors have different ideas.

There is no evidence that Gerson Therapy has ever cured anyone of anything. It's just another way of preying on the weak and vulnerable and separating them from their money. Revelation TV continues to promote this sort of nonsense.

Ray Comfort & The Talking Snake

Ray Comfort posted this on his Facebook page:

"This isn't a Jungle Book. Snakes don't talk.” Nick Murray

Do animals have a language? Do they communicate (talk) to each other? My dog shows me that he understands English when he obeys me, when I speak English. He also tells me (in his own language) when he wants something to eat or drink. Every night, at around 6:00 PM, he goes into the back yard and speaks with another dog a couple of doors down (in the language of dogese). The dog he speaks to him always answers. Do elephants or dolphins have a language in which they speak to each other? How about whales? Of course they do. Parrots manage to talk without vocal cords.
How ironic, that people who believe that they are animals mock the thought that any animal could talk.

The post is referring to the story in Genesis 3.1 which describes the events in the Garden of Eden which led to the Fall of Man. For Christians, especially fundamentalists who believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, the story is of special significance. It justifies their belief in Original Sin and the need for atonement.

We have come across Ray Comfort before. He espouses a particularly aggressive form of creationism and constantly rails against atheism and evolution which he sees as responsible for all the evils in the world. Inevitably he takes up ridiculous positions as evidenced by his statement above.

• Do animals have language?  - No they don't.
• Do they communicate (talk) to each other? - Some communicate with each other but they do not talk.
• My dog shows me that he understands English when he obeys me, when I speak English. - No he doesn't. He recognises the sound of your voice.
• Do elephants or dolphins have a language in which they speak to each other? - No, they can't speak but they can communicate.
• Parrots manage to talk without vocal cords. - Parrots are mimics. They can't talk.

Is Ray Comfort ignorant or is he stupid? Animal communication is a complex area of study. Ray Comfort claims expertise in a scientific field because he has read the bible. Not for the first time - or the last.

Juicing For Health?

Sky News recently ran a news item entitled ‘Second-Rate Care’ for Heart Attack Patients. It highlighted the difference in heart attack survival rates between Sweden and the UK attributable to how quickly the heart attack victim received primary angioplasty after the event. The report was accompanied by a video which featured someone who had survived a heart attack because of the prompt treatment he received. Unsurprisingly the gentleman concerned has made changes to his lifestyle and in the video is described as a ‘paragon of healthy living’. To illustrate that point, the video includes a scene to show how his life has changed.

Those who aspire to be paragons must take up juicing it seems.

Juicing is a staple of many quack treatments and comes in a variety of forms. One extreme version is the Gerson Therapy which claims to be a cure for a wide range of diseases including cancer. Followers of this therapy are required to drink one glass of juice hourly, thirteen times a day. This, it claims, ‘ boosts the body’s own immune system to heal cancer, arthritis, heart disease, allergies, and many other degenerative diseases.’  Cancer Research UK warns that, ‘Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that Gerson therapy can treat cancer.’

Other proponents of juicing are more modest in their requirement for the volume of juice consumed but just as extravagant in the claims of health benefits. Most of these are centred around the pseudoscientific notion of detoxing, It seems that our unhealthy lifestyles cause a build up ‘toxins’ in our bodies which can only be eliminated by a juicing regime.

We believe there is fundamentally only One Disease and therefore One Solution. The body gets sick due to two basic things – Toxicity and Deficiency. If we remove the Toxicity and replace any Deficiencies, the vast majority of common ailments improve or go away completely. We believe it really is that simple.

The above quote is taken from the website of Jason Vale, the Juice Master, who is, ‘one of the UK’s leading authorities on health, addiction, and most obviously, juicing.’ Despite being a ‘leading authority’ Jason seems to be remarkably ignorant when it comes  to basic human physiology and Germ Theory. (A programme on Revelation TV featuring Felicity Corbin Wheeler alerted me to the internet presence of Jason Vale.)
Jason’s website is littered with the usual quack red flags – celebrity  endorsements, personal testimonies, anecdotes, a complete lack of evidence-based science and of course, lots of things to spend your money on.

Every food on the planet has come under some criticism with the notable exception of fruit and vegetables. These foods nourish every cell in the body, help prevent disease, flush the system of waste and contain more vitamins and minerals than you can rattle a plum at, and there isn’t a single person on the planet with any shred of common sense that could possibly argue against these magnificent foods! Jason Vale – Why Juice?

There are some people who argue against such a sweeping generalisation. David Colquhoun’s blog, Improbable Science has an excellent post entitled ‘We know little about the effect of diet on health. That’s why so much is written about it’. In it he quotes epidemiologist John Ioannidis who says,

Almost every single nutrient imaginable has peer reviewed publications associating it with almost any outcome.

That would seem to rule out juicing as an answer to all our ills.

There is no convincing scientific evidence that extracted juices are healthier than whole foods.
American Cancer Society